My Take On: The relentless attack on automobiles
The recent VW diesel emissions scandal has shed some light towards the difficulties faced by automakers when it comes to making their cars more economical. The word "downsizing" is probably used quite often when an automaker sets out to make a new car. You see, things are just not the same anymore. Every country seems to be setting a fuel-emission limit. Europeans, Americans, Asians and Arabs are all setting fuel standards for cars. In the USA, they say the average mpg achieved by a car should be brought up to 50 mpg in 10 years' time, and as a result, automakers are doing whatever they can to meet those regulations. Even resorting to cheating. And that has led to some tough times for the "purists" among the car guys. I'm not one of them, but sometimes I think whether they're right about the downsizing thing. For those of you who do not know, there was a time, 10-15 years ago to be honest, when a BMW M5 had a naturally-aspirated V10, and the ...