Car Co's won't sell us efficient models that they DO sell in Europe

[n2doc]

Why You Can't Buy This Car
By Warren Brown
Wednesday, March 7, 2007; D01

GENEVA, March 6 The Opel Corsa OPC is a little sports coupe that looks sharp, runs fast and gets 30 miles per gallon. It can be parked in the tightest of parking spots. It proves beyond any reasonable doubt that fuel-efficient cars don't have to be boring. And even at the stiff price of 34,664 Swiss francs -- about 22,000 euros in most of Europe -- Opel, the European subsidiary of General Motors, expects the Corsa OPC to be a big and profitable seller.

But Opel has no plans to bring that hot little number to the United States, where the Corsa OPC would list for about $30,000.

The reason: "Europe and the United States are two different worlds," says Robert Lutz, GM's vice chairman for global product development.

more:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/06/AR2007030601807_pf.html

So some wanker in a Detroit office decides for all of us that we just "won't buy" an energy efficient, sexy car model that sells well in Europe. No Wonder they are losing boatloads of money. Toyota and Honda didn't make that assumption....