“Unfortunately, this goal is presently only achievable by reducing vehicle weight “
That is simply not true. Most if not all are mileage increases are coming from better engineering of the transmissions and things like shutting off cylinders when they are not needed.
Not to say we cannot reduce the weight and enhance performance. Think fighter planes....
Exactly, think fighter planes at millions of dollars a copy. That should give you a feel for what new cars are going to cost to comply with this crap. But don't confuse fighter planes with the performance you can expect.
Are you saying that cars are going to cost millions and millions and millions...?
And most of those engineering efforts have been done already. When it comes down to it, you simply need to burn X amount of fuel to move Y amount of mass; so the most direct way to reduce X is to reduce Y. And yes, it can be done, as it is done in fighter planes... but fighter planes, strong as they are for moving through the air, are remarkably fragile when they encounter solid objects.
What happens when two fighter planes hit?
It is mostly true. During the energy crunch of the ‘70’s they reduced the size of brake rotors on most full size cars and trucks from 10-11” down to 8-9” to cut weight. They then rid themselves of the higher impact metal bumpers with a coil mount system that usually could withstand a bump of 15 mph (try that with any of todays cars, you’re looking at a $2500 price tag). I could go on about it if you need more.
They want to reduce weight so it will make cars smaller, which will rid us of the evil SUV
Not to say we cannot reduce the weight and enhance performance. Think fighter planes....
If this continues, a car will cost about the same as a fighter plane.