There is No Choice in the Land of Opportunity

While Europeans enjoy fuel economies of 50MPG and higher on non hybrid cars, most Americans are stuck with fuel economies in the mid 20’s to 30’s. When I first heard this fact, I did not believe it. After taking time to research this story, what I found shocked and angered me. The European fuel economies far exceeded our economies even on identical car models.

The few American’s that have heard of this discrepancy make foolish claims to defend our lagging economies. They cite that American safety, emissions, and luxury standards are above European standards and this reduces our fuel economies. After close examination these statements are found to be false. Many of the cars sold in Germany have lower emissions ratings than their American counterparts. Though many European and Asian cars are smaller and blockier than most American cars, BMW, Mercedes, and Ford make and sale the exact same cars in Europe and the United States.

Even these cars show a huge disparity in the range of fuel economies available.

Let us not take the word of the author on this matter, www.fordvehicles.com and www.ford.de are legitimate Ford websites. Ford advertises that they sale “the most fuel efficient mid-sized sedan in

America.” I will compare the Ford Focus sold in the US and in Germany. This Ford Focus is advertised to give 24 city MPH and 35 highway MPH or a cumulative mileage of around 29.5 MPG.

By our current standards this is a good fuel economy and almost reaches the minimal fuel requirement

for 2016. The Ford focus in Germany is advertised to travel 100 kilometers on 3.61 liters highway (65MPG), 5.61L/100KM city (42 MPG), or a cumulative of 4.31L/100KM (54.5 MPG). This is a huge disparity. The cause of this disparity rests not in the car and its features, but rather the engine. The engine most commonly used in the Focus in Germany is a 1.6L diesel engine. The German population are not limited to this engine, however, when the German’s buy a new car, they chose the car they want, then they chose the engine they want in that car. The Ford Focus in Germany has a selection of 8 different engines, with economies ranging from 3.61-13.81L/100KM(17-65MPG).

The majority of German vehicles use diesel rather than gasoline. Diesel, though offering a slower acceleration, delivers a higher MPG. The choice of engine is the first demand I think the American population should make of out auto suppliers, foreign and domestic. Aside from the choice of engine we should also have the choice of fuel. I am not speaking of octane rating. Current engines can handle up to a 15% ethanol blend without any adjustments to the engine. Ethanol burns cleaner than gasoline and is renewable. At current productions ethanol is relatively the same cost as gasoline.