I think it's more of a marketing/dollar revenue issue. My impression is that in the U.S. and to some extent Canada, they car manufacturers largely are moving in a implicit direction of putting the 4 speed automatic, torque lockup into larger vehicles with taller gearing/lower final drives, while leaving the smaller cars with less tall/higher final drives, either for torque response.
Ultimately the overall direction is to create, largely, a circumstance where they can still sell SUV's or larger vehicles because they are finally moving them towards getting better effectiveness and by their manipulation of the market, there isn't as large a gap between them and smaller vehicles. Since they can charge more, they can make more $.
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