Richard
you are probably right on that point, at least for a large proportion of the population, but there are quite a few of us who'd rather drive something smaller for a number of reasons (*), but can't, because smaller cars with reasonably good gas mileage and size simply are not available in USA.
(*) multiple reasons: well, gas price, finding a parking space, having a garage built in the 40s, i.e., a tad smaller than it would today, and just this shameful feeling I get wasting resources or money that I'd rather spend on my flying);
i.e., this idea that Americans won't buy small cars has become a self fulfilling prophecy: even if they wanted to, they couldn't.
What kind of privates do you drive 2621On Sun, 18 Sep 2005, Sylvain That's true. Most of them aren't allowed into the US, because they don't comply with US safety standards. The logical buttumption is that they're...
For instance, car manufacturers who sell cars both in Europe and USA, only sell a subset of their models in USA; e.g., try to buy a Nissan Micra in USA; better yet, since someone mentioned it, the Smart car; I'd love one of those (they actually are pretty cool); the manufacturer (Mercedes) actually started selling them in Canada and Mexico, but *not* in USA; it gets even more goofy than that (these marketing folks live in a world of their own): they will actually start selling cars under the 'Smart' brand in USA, but guess what, it is going to be a... SUV.
The funny thing though, is that a local company (www.zapworld.com), which does not belong to the manufacturer (Mercedes) has secured the rights to import-sell this Smart car in USA; and from the look of it, they are having no trouble finding buyers, even though these cars are not particularly cheap.
--Sylvain
