No no, that's no conspiracy BS! CAFE has turned the US market into a vehicular bizzarro world. I was a big crusader against it (meaning I ranted on forums) back in the day when all I wanted in the world was a sporty station wagon.
(I wanted this video to be a link, can't figure out how to make it not be embedded.)
I guess I won't get too into it, but a quick search found at least one article:
Quote:
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One of CAFEs biggest impacts in recent times has manifested itself in how auto makers classify products. Under CAFE, vehicles can be labeled “passenger cars” or “light trucks”, with the latter category required to meet less stringent standards for fuel economy and CO2 emissions. A decade ago, the Chrysler PT Cruiser was the most egregious example of this.
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https://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/20...tation-wagons/
The short of it is CAFE enables a special environment for the Big Three to thrive in, where trucks and other big vehicles are given a huge advantage. 22mpg truck = a 45mpg station wagon, stuff like that. Good thing the Big Three can do giant trucks well, and profitably!
THAT SAID.. I honestly think it's just human nature that people want bigger badder vehicles. Industry (and government!) definitely helped people along in forming that opinion but I think it was mostly inevitable. Most Europeans don't WANT to be driving microcars.. or probably even station wagons for that matter. They just have to. So I put the CAFE tin foil hat away. It's still sad for the environment.
Sports cars are a different sociology topic all together I think. Many many people like them, but the percentage of those people that will consider actually buying one seems to be a function of culture and economy of the day more than anything. I have a feeling that when gen Z are in their late 20's to early 30's and can spend money, some weird stuff is going to happen.