B
Bob Peterson
The hole large enough to drive a freight train through in this analogy is that the main reason the car was made was to meet the government CAFE requirements. IIRC, supposedly Chrysler barely broke even on them, even though they were reasonably popular cars. No manufacturer will make anything for any length of time for little or no profit when they can put the same resources to work at something else and make a lot more money at it. And don't blame the car companys for not building stripped down models. There just was very little market for such a vehicle. Even low end car buyers want some of the amenities, and it was far more cost effective for the car companies to make the cars with what most people wanted rather then adding just a few options to every vehicle to satisfy a particular customer. If you look closely at the car market, you will find that no car manufacturer really wants to have a sub-compact high mileage car. They only do it to meet govt CAFE regulations. Bob Peterson