The latter solves the former much better than government regulation, underlining a fundamental truth, human beings will (mostly) move to their self-interest faster and more effectively voluntarily rather than coercively.
OPINION
Detroit's (Long) Quest for Fuel Efficiency
By PAUL INGRASSIA
February 19, 2008;
"Our cities have been straining at their seams," declares a full-page newspaper automotive advertisement. "Traffic is jam-packed. Parking space is at a premium. And our suburbs have spread like wildfire. People are living farther from their work, driving more miles on crowded streets."
Were these words touting a new, fuel-efficient small car, such as the Toyota Prius or maybe the tiny Smart Fortwo? Not exactly. They appeared in newspapers across America on Sept. 27, 1959. The ad -- preserved in the National Automotive History Collection archives at the Detroit Public Library -- came from the Chevrolet division of General Motors, which was heralding a revolutionary new compact called the Corvair. If nothing else, it proves that the quest for small, practical, fuel-efficient and non-polluting cars isn't exactly new.
But now, with gasoline over $3 a gallon, this effort is gaining new urgency. You know things are changing when Automobile magazine, a lover of all things fast and fuel-thirsty, puts the battery-powered Tesla roadster -- produced by a Silicon Valley startup company -- on its cover. The Tesla, which is just now going on sale, surges from zero to 60 miles an hour in a neck-snapping 4.7 seconds, about the same as the fastest Corvette. In this atmosphere, it's useful to glean some lessons from a half century of efforts to revolutionize the automobile.
- Lesson One: Incremental progress shouldn't be dismissed. The Corvair was one of a new generation of compacts, which included the Ford Falcon and the Plymouth Valiant, that were launched in late 1959 and early 1960. The other two were essentially smaller versions of full-sized cars. But the Corvair used a rear-mounted, air-cooled engine, like that in the Volkswagen Beetle -- though the Corvair was longer and bigger. This design produced enormous weight savings by eliminating the need for a radiator, coolant and the drive shaft that connected the front engine to the rear drive wheels in conventional cars of the day. Corvairs got about 29 miles per gallon on the highway, incredible back then and not bad even today.
