CARazed

Looks like the people at SlashGear are going to get a front row seat at next week’s North American International Auto Show (NAIAS) in Detroit. GM invited them to get a close-up first hand looks at this 500 HP Chevrolet Camero that runs on E85 (85% Ethanol, 15% Gasoline). At CARazed we’re on the lookout for green cars that don’t suck, meaning if we can have our twisty roads and clean air too, why not? The NAIAS starts up next week and we hope to have a lot more green highlights like this to share with you. Be sure to bookmark us and our RSS feed.

Many people seem to ask this same simple question. Why don’t American auto makers give us the small super fuel-efficient cars they sell in Europe? We think the answer is simple. Americans choose to buy bigger cars, and American efficiency requirements are lower than Europe’s.

It’s fair to say that Europeans have been struggling with fuel cost and environmental concerns longer than we have in America. We live in very different places, with different population densities, different values, different cultures, and different governments. But the reality of cost and pollution affects us all in very similar ways. Fuel efficiency, which you could think of as a combination of miles per gallon and CO2 emissions, is a common growing pain point for all of us.

In Europe the same auto makers that make our cars, and a few more like Peugeot, Citroen, and Fiat, have taken a different approachs to the problem of efficiency than they have for us, for the most part. To see the difference compare the cars listed as the top 10 green cars on Yahoo’s Green Car Centre (UK) and Yahoo’s Green Center (USA).

American’s seem to get bigger more powerful cars from the same auto makers. The American green cars look luxurious and powerful next to the Citroen C1, Toyota Aygo, and Peugeot 107. You’ll also notice the fuel economy numbers are different. This is due in part to the different methods of calculating fuel efficiency but it is also due to the fact that these are slightly different cars.

The point is simply that Americans seem to demand a different product, so we’re delivered a different product by the same people. We seem to want more physical space and power, and it seems we’re OK with spending more money on fuel and expelling more CO2 into the air.

As fuel costs increase and the value of the dollar drops, more and more American’s are seeing that smaller and lighter might be better for now. It can be a hard transition to make but the payback is felt immediately at the pump and in your bank account. If you are environmentally conscious driving green will also give you a bit more peace of mind.

We can also rest assured that as the majority of Americans shift their auto buying preference to more efficient cars the auto manufacturers will also shift to meet that demand. It is the simplest economic model in action, supply and demand. Government regulation might have some effect on moving us in the green direction but it is our buying power that will really invoke change. The pen might be mightier than the sword, but the dollar is definitely the bottom line. It can move mountains.