If you put together all the news stories about the auto industry recently, you can see a picture of historic change in the industry. The end of domestic car leasing because of massive losses. The very possible end of one of the big 3. Big changes.
And yet, as I read this WSJ review of the new Nissan Murano by J. Sabatini I was dumbfounded by how unchanged things are. They compared 4 vehicles: 2009 Nissan Murano S AWD, 2008 Mazda CX-7 Sport AWD, 2008 Ford Edge SE AWD, and 2009 Subaru Tribeca 5-Passenger.
4 family sedans (cross-over SUV's) under $30k and every one of them weights 4,000lbs, has almost 2x the power of my 1996 cross-over SUV and gets 18MPG max. Given that EPA estimates are overstated by 10%, that means all these family vehicles gets LESS than 18MPG!!
It is criminal. Where are the carbon fiber vehicles? Where are the electric vehicles? Where are the high MPG vehicles?
What will it take to force us to change our ways?
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