The European industry uses litres if only one decimal place of precision is
needed and cc if more precision is needed.  Thus, I drive a 1.6 L car, but
my registration documents say that its engine is 1598 cc.  The real reason
is that Europeans do not have a hang-up about converting between cc and
litres.

 

  _____  

From: owner-u...@colostate.edu [mailto:owner-u...@colostate.edu] On Behalf
Of John M. Steele
Sent: 10 June 2010 11:12
To: U.S. Metric Association
Subject: [USMA:47632] Re: Metric motors in the USA

 

He doesn't get much sympathy in the comments.

 

One "fact" he has wrong.  The auto industry wasn't targetted.  The Big Three
CHOSE to go metric in the early 70's, mostly because of their foreign
operations.  We drove our suppliers including the steel industry.  The steel
industry claimed to Congress that the cost of conversion would be
astronomical.  When GM said they were buying metric sizes, the industry said
"what sizes would you like, sir."  The rest of us followed in their wake.
No other industry supplying us put up much of a fight.

However, I will freely admit that if it really sold more cars, we would be
glad to divide the engine displacement by (0.254 dm/in)³.  I'm not sure why
we prefer liters and the European industry prefers cubic centimeters.

 

I hope the author doesn't think engine displacement is the only thing metric
on the car. :)

 

  _____  

From: Pat Naughtin <pat.naugh...@metricationmatters.com>
To: U.S. Metric Association <usma@colostate.edu>
Sent: Thu, June 10, 2010 2:58:54 AM
Subject: [USMA:47631] Metric motors in the USA

Dear All, 

 

This item from USAToday might interst you:
http://content.usatoday.com/communities/driveon/post/2010/06/metric-madness-
how-automakers-refuse-to-give-it-up/1 

 

Cheers,

 

Pat Naughtin

Author of the ebook, Metrication Leaders Guide, see
http://metricationmatters.com/MetricationLeadersGuideInfo.html

Hear Pat speak at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_lshRAPvPZY 

PO Box 305 Belmont 3216,

Geelong, Australia

Phone: 61 3 5241 2008

 

Metric system consultant, writer, and speaker, Pat Naughtin, has helped
thousands of people and hundreds of companies upgrade to the modern metric
system smoothly, quickly, and so economically that they now save thousands
each year when buying, processing, or selling for their businesses. Pat
provides services and resources for many different trades, crafts, and
professions for commercial, industrial and government metrication leaders in
Asia, Europe, and in the USA. Pat's clients include the Australian
Government, Google, NASA, NIST, and the metric associations of Canada, the
UK, and the USA. See http://www.metricationmatters.com/ to subscribe.

 

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