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Have U.S. Automakers Built the Wrong Cars at the Wrong Time — Again?

• mechanical_fish 18y ago
  It's tempting to blame the U.S. automakers for being shortsighted... but, really, when gas prices in the USA were (and still are, believe it or not) so much lower than in the rest of the world, how can we be surprised to find U.S. automakers evolving to suit that environment? Hummer-scale SUVs weren't just an available, overwhelmingly tempting marketing niche for U.S. automakers -- it may have been the only niche that could have kept them alive during the last couple of decades. I remember when we nearly buried the US auto industry the first time, back in the 1980s. Toyota and Honda had already sewn up the market for well-engineered, highly efficient small vehicles. Competing directly with them didn't look like a winning strategy then, just as it doesn't look like one now. But, back then, there was a choice... and who can really blame the automakers for making that choice when the only clear alternative was to go broke? If you want to change the design of cars you need to change the cost of fuel... just as, if you want people to reduce carbon emissions, you need to increase the cost of carbon emissions.