The SUV in America

I'm reprinting this from a Critical Mass mailing list i'm on, just because i think it's so dead on. Big-assed cars are just gluttonous, and they go along with our big couches, Big Gulp's and our big, fat asses.

Begin forwarded message:

The auto industry is gun shy, remembering the small, efficient car debacle of the 1970's oil crunch. Those big gas guzzlers (Chevy Impala, Ford Thunderbird, etc) were replaced by 1200cc Japanese econoboxes. What people did was to drive MORE when they got better gasoline mileage, their reasoning being that they then could afford to move even farther out into the suburbs and drive farther to shopping centers etc. The people got tired of the tiny cars and low-powered engines. They went to their local auto dealers and asked for larger cars with larger engines. They were told that the law mandated small, high-mileage cars which meant low

powered engines. However, they were told, *commercial* vehicles had no such requirements. They could buy a large engined pickup truck and add a camper shell. They did, then they wanted to knock out the rear window so the kids could crawl from the camper shell to the cab. Thus the SUV was born.

So, our American drivers may talk the talk, but they would not walk the walk when it comes to sacrificing vehicle room and/or power. And you can not have a motor vehicle with lots of room, lots of power, and high mileage.