Fuel Efficiency in 1975

Fuel Efficiency in 1975

Since 1806, when the first American-built passenger car was sold, the fortunes of automobile manufacturers have been in the hands of the public the individuals who make their car-buying decisions based upon how well a vehicle meets their transportation needs. Just as with the first Duryea automobile, we still sell our cars one at a time. But unlike the purchaser of that first U.S. car, Americans today have literally hundreds of different cars and trucks from which to choose. What an individual finally decides to buy is determined by many different factors — price, comfort, convenience, looks, economy, reliability and trade-in value. All those considerations are still important, but the name of the hottest game in ICT-TO today is fuel economy. Our customers know from experience how much more it costs now to filler up. They're understandably concerned about how much fuel they're going to use. They are demanding the best fuel efficiency we can give them. This high-priority demand for better fuel economy will be the major influence on the design of our new cars over the next few years. The cars we will be offering in the remaining years of the 1970s will represent, as always, what we think people will need,,want and be willing to buy. So what,do we see people wanting? We see the growing popularity of small cars but also continued strong demand for efficient, larger models Since weight is the most important design characteristic affecting fuel economy, we are putting our larger models on a crash diet that Is costing billions of dollars. Overall, General Motors' response to the marketplace demand for better fuel economy can be stated in terms of the most ambitious and costly new-design program in the peacetime history of the industry. Since the oil embargo ended in the spring of 1974, GM has introduced six new smaller models. Taken together, these new cars average better than 21 miles per gallon, using the Environmental Protection Agency's test procedure and composite fuel economy formula. This formula is weighted to reflect 55 per cent city driving and 45 per cent on the highway. READ MORE