

Have U.S. Automakers Built the Wrong Cars at the Wrong Time — Again? - ideas101
http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article.cfm?articleid=2012

======
mechanical_fish
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.

