Hi, Back in the mid-70s Honda began importing into the US market their first car. Earlier they had just imported motocycles. A friend of mine had one and he loved it. Unfortunately, after a couple of years that model was discontinued and Honda only imported larger vehicles. I was told that the DOT regulations were changed to require cars to have a longer wheel base than that early Honda. At the time, I thought it was for safety reasons. Now, I wonder if there wasn't some other reason why those regulations were put into place. Anyway, when I lived in Europe in the 80s, I often saw neat small city cars, like the Fiat 500 and the original Mini. Again, I was told they weren't exported to the US market because they were too small to meet regulations. So...my take on why the VW Lupo and the MB Smart Car aren't in the US market is based on these DOT regulations, not on some sort of problem with the engine. And, that is why they are considering an upsized model of the Smart Car in 2006 for the US market. If we want to see these small fuel efficient models in the US market, even just for city/town use, something needs to be done about the DOT regulations which require a minimum wheel base.
Derek > I wonder, will Smart make the little SUV (Smart Urban Vehicle?) weigh in at > 6,000 lbs to qualify for the tax write-off? ;) > > Ryan > -----Original Message----- > From: Neoteric Biofuels Inc [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > Sent: Friday, May 07, 2004 7:38 AM > To: biofuel@yahoogroups.com > Subject: Re: [biofuel] Re: smartcar > > > > RE: name...Maybe SUV "Sport Utlity Vehicle" is a name that needs > reclamation anyway...the ones out there now are neither sporty nor > utilitarian. > > Edward Beggs > > > On Thursday, May 6, 2004, at 07:51 PM, Brian wrote: > > > "Smart" does have plans to start marketing in the US in 2006. They > > are designing an SUV for our market, and not planning to market the > > fortwo here. Isn't Smart SUV an oxymoron? I'm thinking that the > > name of the company says it all when it comes to why they're not > > selling in the US. No market for such a product here. > > > > Brian > > > > --- In biofuel@yahoogroups.com, murdoch <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > >> On Thu, 6 May 2004 17:11:34 -0500, you wrote: > >> > >>> Murdoch, > >>> > >>>> Isn't this partly an issue of Ultra-Low-Sulfur Diesel not being > >>>> commonly available here, yet, the way it is in Europe? If the > > fuel > >>>> appropriate to how they designed the engine were common, > > wouldn't they > >>>> be more inclined to sell the vehicle here? > >>> > >>> I'm not familiar with the fuel requirements of the Lupo. > >>> > >>> However, ULSD is only a few years away in the US, market wide. > >>> > >>> Todd Swearingen > >> > >> I think, by one measure, a few years is probably not that much > > time. > >> A refinery engineer, looking at the costs or difficulties, might > > have > >> a thing or two to tell us about this. > >> > >> But at the same time, I think this few years has been part of why > > we > >> haven't seen the advent of such cars as the LUPO or many other > >> affordable promising mileage-oriented excellent New-Diesel- > > Technology > >> vehicles in the U.S. > >> > >> It could even be used as a pretext to prevent (for awhile) > > admitting > >> the Smart Car. Apparently, though, the diesel fuel in Canada won't > >> take the engine out of warranty, so I don't know about that. > >> > >> As I mentioned, with respect to the Smart Car, I think we should > >> anticipate that devilish pretexts will be used to delay or prevent > >> admission of something as promising looking as the Smart Car. If > > I'm > >> wrong, then I will be the happiest about this. I am just erring on > >> the side of assuming that "the opposition" (for want of a better > > way > >> to put a face to a name) will not discontinue operations because > > we've > >> finally found a promising alternative. Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Biofuels list archives: http://infoarchive.net/sgroup/biofuel/ Please do NOT send Unsubscribe messages to the list address. To unsubscribe, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/biofuel/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
