Quote:
Originally Posted by Martinjlm
CAFE.
Remember, it wasn’t just GM. The whole INDUSTRY went from RWD to FWD. Europe was already there. They have historically had stricter emissions and fuel economy rules and higher fuel prices than the US, so fuel economy improving technologies tend to happen there first. At the old levels of efficiency, FWD vs RWD on vehicles of similar size and mass was a 1 or 2 mpg improvement. In regulation-land that’s huge, especially when the average fuel economy was significantly under 20 mpg. One mpg improvement on a 20 mpg car is 5%.
Remember the Ford Probe? A little FWD coupe? That was shockingly close to becoming a Mustang replacement. Before you hurt yourself laughing at that, remember the Chevy Beretta? A little FWD coupe? Was almost Camaro replacement. And who could forget the K-Car? All FWD. All reactions to the early CAFE rules.
On a more positive note, those rules drove a lot of invention. The industry learned how to get huge power and decent fuel economy out of relatively small engines because it had to. The industry learned how to make transmissions more efficient while also being capable of handling huge torque loads because it had to.
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The late 70's and 80's were difficult times for domestic manufacturers. Between the EPA and OPEC, the Big Three had to pretty much revamp their entire philosophy overnight. The trouble was that the Japanese had been making small, "efficient" fwd cars for years, and were better at them.
The Big Three also had a hard time letting go of the idea of big luxurious vehicles. The cars went from powerful engines to weak engines, yet the mass of the cars stayed the same. It wasn't until 1992 when the Corvette finally got back to the 300HP mark.
But taking all that they learned and outcome of that knowledge, just think if back in 1988 you would've told them that in 2018, we would see a Corvette with 755 HP, that you could drive to work everyday with the A/C on and get an "rated" avg of 15mpg (13city/19hwy). They would've called the funny farm boys to bring those jackets that tied the sleeves in the back and take you where reality didn't matter.