Quote:
Originally Posted by derklug
Expect to see 2.0 liter engines replaced by 1.0L DI Turbos, V-6's replaced by 4s and V-8's by 6's. The V-8 cars in the near future will be 450BHP and above(and priced out of the reach of the masses).What the EPA couldn't achieve with emissions standards, they will get with CO2 standards, namely the elimination of big displacement engines. Congrats go out to the engineers who have foiled the enemies of horsepower.  |
Except that there are big V8 engines achieving the fuel economy of some small turbo'd 4 bangers (while making 1/3 more power too ... ). I'm thinking we'll see the death of the Evo & STi before V8 Camaros go away (or become unattainable). Keep in mind that CAFE is an average, so 30k Camaro SS's may sound like a lot but if you have a V6 with a CAFE score into the low 30's (or possibly low 50's depending on if the E85 loophole is still open) the net impact by Camaros is somewhat low. And ~90k Camaros isn't a whole lot next to a fleet volume of 2,500,000
I don't expect to see V8's disappear from too many more segments in the near future. They'll be in trucks, SUV's, performance cars, and luxury sedans. Perhaps V8 market share in those segments will continue to whittle away as it has, but in all of those segments a V8 is simply a better way to suit the needs of a significant portion of the buyers.
The two places where I think they'll get squeezed out of is in regular (that is, non-luxury) full size sedans like the Charger and midsize trucks (Dakota, Canyon & Colorado). Its already pretty much gone from the full size sedan now anyway (name 2 such cars which can be bought with a V8 for less than $35k). And mid size trucks will either mostly disappear from the US market, or they'll be given a sizable cost & fuel economy advantage over their half ton brethren, and that means smaller & lighter, which in turn means they probably won't be designed to accommodate a V8 under their hood.