Why are cars sold in other countries so much more fuel efficient than in the US?!
 

EDIT: I believe this is one of the answers:

"German automakers seem dead-set on exporting their “clean diesels” to the United States. However, to sell a diesel engine in this country, it must be equipped with an exhaust after-treatment system, and a special fuel injection system in order to meet our strict air quality rules.

European emissions rules allow a diesel to emit up to 0.29 grams of nitrous oxide (NOx) per mile — which is about what the typical diesel school bus or trash truck emitted 5 years ago.

US regulations on the other hand, only allow a diesel to emit 0.07 grams of NOx per mile, making compliance a costly effort.

Smaller firms like Honda or Subaru would have to spend hundreds of millions of dollars to develop a compliant engine, for a historically small US market. So it’s tough for many of them to justify such a big investment." - http://www.practicalenvironmentalist...l-cars-usa.htm

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Take for instance the Seat Ibiza Ecomotive rated at 80.7 mpg,
or the Ford Fiesta ECOnetic rated at 78 mpg,
or the Volkswagen Polo BlueMotion rated at 74.3 mpg.

(I do believe those are imperial measurements, which would translate to: 67mpg, 65mpg, and 62mpg, US).

These are not even hybrids, but diesels. What is going on in the world where we have to live with 20-30 miles per gallon like-like-like, like animals?! This is an affront. This is gross injustice. This is a crime against humanity. This is an outright conspiracy, and it calls for a violent overthrow. A revolution. An uprising. I refuse this. I refuse it to its face. Are there any Londoners on Ecomodder? Of course not. And why? BECAUSE THEY'RE ALL ENJOYING 100MPG WITHOUT ENGINE OFF COASTING AND REMOVING PASSENGER SEATS AND PUTTING RIDICULOUS MODIFICATIONS ON THEIR CARS AND DRIVING WITHOUT AN ALTERNATOR WHILE CHARGING THEIR CARS AT NIGHT LIKE ANIMALS. They don't even laugh at us man... They pity us, like the poor and the homeless. I'd rather be openly mocked than pitied. But my sedan kammback still makes me look sexy.

Because as a whole, we are pigs. And our tax structure doesn't reward efficiency.

There may not be any Londoners on here, but there are several Britons. And from my limited experience, trying to drive in London is insanity. There are also a goodly number of Europeans driving non-fuel efficient cars, often as status symbols, though (as of a few years ago, anyway) they were more likely to be upper-range BMWs & Mercedes than SUVs.

As for why those efficient cars aren't sold here, the automakers apparently don't believe they can sell enough to make a profit.

And the terrorists win while we drink up their oil like an obese child on a milkshake. I think it's more than that. It just doesn't add up. We have to question. We have to question everything, and to not accept things as they are. From the UK to Australia to every single other country in the known face of the earth there are these super fuel efficient cars. I don't buy it at all. They'll sell and introduce an electric vehicle here with the range of three and a half feet, but a diesel that gets 80 miles a gallon? Oh no no, that wouldn't sell. No one would want that. We want ugly hybrids and lackluster Civics and more of the same dead and mediocre sameness. I am disgusted. Is there not an elephant in the room? Is the emperor not as naked as the day he was born, and yet we do not speak up? But I will have hope and optimism, and not pessimism. And I will simply ask when. When will these cars finally come to the US? Or are politics are as corrupt as we believe them to be? Let's not be naive.

Also, many Americans don't feel safe in a small econoboxes, especially when they are being passed left and right by speeding SUVs. Kind of a snowball effect.
But this is also happening in Europe - Ferraris, Hummers, Range Rovers, etc., only on a smaller scale.

I'm from London & joined ecomodders to help me save some money

im in my early 30s , on average wages & have recently got our 1st home, with two kids under the age of
4.
This is not a common thing for people my age near London as prices are high.
It's probably the same thing for young people worldwide

My hobby of finance & a love of reliable / economical Hondas have helped me loads !!

It probably has to do with the fact that they pay $8+ a gallon on average. Instead of getting higher efficiency cars, we worked at cheaper gas prices. Plain and simple, the US took the wrong approach to solve the gas problem. Until recently vehicles were getting larger, less aerodynamic, and more powerful. All it took is an economic crash to make this country realize we need efficient cars, and cheap gas.

Few reasons:

Best selling cars in europe are all small cars:

List of best-selling automobiles in Europe - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

VS US best selling cars/ trucks There arent any small hatcbacks on that list which are more fuel efficient in most cases:

Top-selling cars and trucks in the US in 2012

Also as mentioned above most people are afraid to drive with small cars because most cars are those trucks like F150 which drive like lunatics there because fuel is cheap.

Worst selling cars in the US:
http://www.goodcarbadcar.net/2012/08...ling-cars.html

Car manugfacturer needs to sell about 100000+ cars per year to be profitable. So around 30-50 thousand per year wont make any profit. There are many eco models in that worst selling list...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6vGqK1FuFq4

In Finland gallon of diesel is 7,54 $/gal and petrol costs 8,16 $/gal

There are also those big F150 and bigger in Finland but the drivers don`t have the money to drive even according to speed limits in their pockets :D. They usually drive 80 or some 100 km/h.

I will propably make a sticker to my car this summer that Can`t you afford to drive faster with your truck. I am usually on the left lane on motorway speeding way over the limits and burn under 4 L/100km fuel consumption or 59 MPG us.

By the way best selling car in 2012 Finland was Nissan Qashqai in front wheel. Biggest reason for that is that its pretty cheap and big car so you feel also safer because you sit higher than smaller cars out there. Also many people buy the 4 WD version, because they think they need it drive on icy roads or they summer cottage road.

I have driven to many places with my lupo that has 80mm ground clearance than some SUV drivers with their 4 WD trucks that are marketed as off road capable. If driver does not know how to drive that 4 WD will not help much, specially those cheap market trick 4WD which are only 2WD drive cars in bad situations.

As Frank Lee said... it's all about the tax structure.

The US has less gas taxes, which means it hurts less to fuel up and run big cars. On top of that, CAFE regulations and gas guzzler taxes penalize cars based on the footprint system more than trucks. Want to avoid the guzzler tax? Just shove that motor in a truck.

Then you have the Chicken Tax (which is hurting Ford's ability to bring in the Transit, and has helped marginalize the compact/midsized global pick-up class in the US), diesel emissions regulations that are out of sync with EURO regulations (and the rest of the world) and an entire society built around big roads, cheap gas and long commutes, and you have a country where bigger and faster are always better.

The American transport grid is the big exception to the rule, where unadjusted size- and displacement-based taxation and higher gas taxes have gotten people used to paying more money for smaller cars with smaller motors. The paying more part means car companies can profit off of small cars outside the US, something which they have a hard time doing inside the country...

If the maximum weight of the car is more than 3500 kg the speed limit is 80 km/h and the car is registered as a light truck!