GM May Sell 40 MPG Mini-Car In US

General Motors Corp., which popularized the 7,800-pound Hummer, may begin selling a mini-car more than a foot shorter than anything else it markets in the U.S. to win back buyers deterred by record fuel prices.

GM may bring the production version of the Chevrolet Beat to the U.S., people familiar with the plan said. The car, which would normally be reserved for markets such as Asia and Latin America, gets as much as 40 miles a gallon, a fuel efficiency topped in the U.S. only by hybrids.

Read the whole story here.

Comments

[willo]

It should come standard with a trailor hitch for towing a boat. Us mericans love towing boats.

[Village]

I drive a 1997 car, sticker price $22,000, that gets 38 mpg.

It's a Saturn SC2, with leather seats. It is designed inside like the Z-Car 300ZX touring car, down to the little button to increase horse power. Driving the Saturn is like driving a toy car with a rubber band engine, but it delivers the gas millage.

I don't understand why it is so hard to find a car that offers excellent gas millage. I bought mine 10 years ago. Aren't they still making them?

[truthynesslover]

Normally reserved for markets in asia and europe??what else are they holding back on us?

[acidfree]

The problem is that they aren't really holding back on us. Most of the automobiles and motorcycles available overseas aren't allowed in the US because of crash test, emission, and insurance constraints.
Unless the automotive makers allow the US government to crash test, what I believe is at least 100 automobiles (I could be wrong, I'm sure someone will correct me), they are not allowed in the US.
While I don't think Europe or Asia force automotive companies to install catalytic converters on their autos to decrease harmful emissions, the US does. Catalytic converters are one of the reasons American cars have lower mileage as the exhaust no longer has a free flow out of the exhaust. If you were to remove the catalytic converter from your car, which is illegal in the US, you would get an immediate bump gas mileage.

[zephyrus]

What I'd like to see is a higher-quality compact vehicle that has good fuel economy. I drove a Geo Metro back in the early 90's. It had a manual transmission and was pretty zippy. It wasn't uncommon to get more than 40 mpg on the highway, but the real problem was the cheap construction. I'm not terribly tough on vehicles, but in my opinion is that things like locks and door handles should never break. I was a poor college student, so it was a good option for tooling around. The Toyota Corolla and Honda Civic seem to have some better construction, but they are not really much better than Bic lighters (the Geo Metro would be some knock-off lighter, not even a Bic). I ended up wrecking the Metro at a red light when a truck hit my (stopped) vehicle and sandwiched me into another pickup truck in front of me. Completely totaled the sucker and damn near scalped me. To the vehicle's credit, I didn't die that day (was using a seat belt), but I haven't got back into driving a small vehicle and I still get very nervous riding in these wheel-based coffins.

http://www.comics.com/wash/opus/archive/opus-20080629.html
http://www.comics.com/wash/opus/archive/opus-20080706.html

[BlackbirdHighway]

But people need those big SUVs to tow boats!

Haven't you noticed all the people towing invisible boats to the office, the grocery store, the nail salon, the drycleaners, etc?

[MajorKong]

I used to have a boat. Now I just take a cold shower and tear up $20 bills while going "Vroooom!"
I end up cold, wet and broke just the same and I don't have to bother driving to the lake.

[KillTheMessenger]

A lot of boats get one mile to the gallon. Three turns around the lake and you have to refill for $400. Boating is so much fun!

[Portnoy]

What's the towing capacity on these things? Probably null. Not good. How do I pull my baot around to go fishing?

Is Obama going to MAKE us drive these things, like he's goin to MAKE us do civil service?

[truthynesslover]

And your gonna have to wear an OBAMA T shirt!!

[BlackbirdHighway]

This is America, the president doesn't make you drive anything. If you're one of the very, very few truck owners that actually DOES tow a boat, then you want the price of gasoline to be lower.

If the other 99% of truck owners, who never, ever, tow anything were all driving more efficient vehicles, then the demand for gas would be lower, the price of gas would be lower, and you could save some money when you tow your boat.

Now, don't you feel better about people saving gasoline?

[Portnoy]

From OBAMA'S own web sitge:

Require 100 Hours of Service in College: Obama will establish a new American Opportunity Tax Credit that is worth $4,000 a year in exchange for 100 hours of public service a year.

REQUIRE = MAKE.

[Portnoy]

99% Care to back up your stats?

Didn't think so. COme up to Michigan in the Winter with your little Prius hybrid. See how far down the road you make it.

[WIpatriot]

Not at all...you will be free to be as stupid tomorrow as you are today.

[Sumocat]

The Toyota Prius is a mid-sized car (previous versions were compact) that gets 40+ mpg that was introduced to the U.S. about seven years ago. The Chevrolet Beat is a subcompact that gets up to 40 mpg that may be introduced to the U.S.... sometime. GM, I don't want to tell you how to run your business, but you might want to take this comparison as an indicator of why Toyota is overtaking you.

[EinChicago]

Th ePrius is not midsized. It's barely compact.

And it's fine, provided you live in a city that is 100% flat and never have to actually go up any hills.

[KillTheMessenger]

Actually, it is perfectly mid-size for a European car. Americans simply suffer from super-sizing syndrome. The average person has no reason to drive anything larger than a Prius. Mine happens to be the largest car I have ever owned. And I have not felt a need for it to be any bigger even once. When I need to transport something, I rent a truck for fifty bucks a day. That's cool... a rental truck you can scratch up and beat up all you like. If you do that to your own car, it loses more than the $50 in resale value immediately. I call it penny wise , pound foolish NOT to get a rental for hauling.

[thegreatgiginthesky]

Take the hummer dealerships and convert them into dealerships that sell this car.

[SteveL]

Let"s see. Sell this or continue with the Hummer line? These guys have to think about this?

[KillTheMessenger]

Hybrid Hummer... made from plastic it could hummer along at 18mpg. I think that should revive the brand!

/sarcasm off.

[paulbikes]

I'm sorry, but 40mpg absolutely sucks.

You can get 45mpg+ in a 10 year old 5 speed civic with the right kind of driving.

Where is 60mpg? or 80? or 100?

They are still suckling the teet of the oil giants. yummy.

[WIpatriot]

My 89 Civic got 30-36, dude, that's it. I may have been able to squeeze another 2-3 if I didn't drive it at 65 on the interstate, but I was quite happy with that regardless.

[KillTheMessenger]

My parents have one of those, albeit with an automatic transmission. My Mom's driving is very aware of the traffic, she never accelerates quickly and she lets it roll out when she can. Still, the car never even gets close to 45mpg. They wish because in Europe gas is beyond $8/gallon and it does cut into their fixed income.

Maybe the manual transmission performs well if hypermiled. The automatic does not. It might get 30mpg or so. At most. The US version is advertised at 26/31mpg.

[drkazmd65]

What you typed paulbikes,

I already get ~40mpg real-world in my 2000 Mazda Protege. And it actually has room for me, my stuff, and a couple of passengers.

What I want to know is - why did it take GM so many years of collapsing sales on SUVs to decide to market AN EXISTING AUTOMOBILE with this kind of milage within the USA?

It's not like they had to engineer this car from scratch.

[WIpatriot]

You answer your own questions, doc...GM has few options.

[Gasparilla]

You mean they finally figured it out?

[WIpatriot]

What GM has figured out is relative.

[riverhouse]

Anyone who lives and drives in traffic should drive a hybrid. Under 40 you'll use very little of the gasoline engine. I've had one for two years now and love it. I"m looking forward to a plug in hybrid when they come on the market.

[The 13 Colonies]

The guy with the lawn chair, balloons and a bb gun has the right idea. Point A to point B, anyway you can.

[francoise]

GM is already manufacturing efficient cars : Opel Agila, Opel Corsa, Ford Ka, 50 mpg.

I drove a Corsa for 15 years, did 200 000 km without a problem, and gave it to a student who's still driving it when I changed for an Italian Fiat Seicento.

Perhaps one of the solutions, apart from driving smaller cars, is also starting to drive non automatic cars. Automatic cars use more gas.

[drkazmd65]

Good point francoise - I love my 5-speed manual. Sometimes I wish it had a 6th gear for holding highway speeds over 50 even more efficeintly though.

It is more efficient, and you have better control of your speed than an automatic trans. It does (however) mean that the driver actually has to pay attention to the road and CAN'T spend their time driving surgically attached to their friggin' cell phones.

And THAT would just be un American.

[paulbikes]

I hate automatics.

[MajorKong]

How is the average American driver supposed to talk on their cell phone, eat their Big Mac or put their makeup on if they have to drive a manual transmission?

[paulbikes]

Ive mastered it!

I can shove taco bell down my throat while on the phone and shifting gears.

[SeriousBlack]

OK.

First, why didn't this happen 20 years ago?

Second, "gets as much as 40 miles a gallon". The keywords being AS MUCH AS. You ever tried verifying the sticker MPG on a car after buying it? I'll be surprised if the actual MPG turns out to be little more than 30 MPG.

American business and industry in the 21st century - about as effective (and honest) as the government has been.

[drkazmd65]

The estimates on my Protege (when new) were 25mpg city and 32mpg highway.

I don't do enough city driving to get a good estimate any more - but I do get a consistent 40-42mpg (almost entirely highway) real world.

The realized milage of just about any car is highly dependent on the person driving it and their driving habits.

Of course if the driver tears around at 70+ mph their realized gas milage is going to suck. Part of the issue is retraining Americans not to drive like impatient, aggressive, always late idiots.