To address your 3rd point (can't talk about the first 2 ones), it seems very Western-centric. If you go to a poorer countries you'd see old cars imported from E

To address your 3rd point (can't talk about the first 2 ones), it seems very Western-centric. If you go to a poorer countries you'd see old cars imported from Europe (or Japan - in the eastern parts of Russia you see a lot of right hand drive cars!) which are there because they're no longer economical to run in their home countries. Also trucks and buses. Without regulations or any sort of push, these vehicles will probably keep chugging along for another few decades. A benevolent leading country like the USA that seem to only exist in myths and legends of the past would probably push the poor countries by coupling economic aid with environmental regulations, and then selling them "new and clean" vehicles made in Detroit. Maybe China will step up, although of course we in the West attribute their actions to wanting something in return, unlike the benevolent USA. ;) Let's not talk about the EU government, which is just a stupid club of paper pushers...