The Toecutter |
11-11-2006 02:36 PM |
Quote:
Speaking of govt/auto industry consortiums, whatever happened to the PNGV projects? Millions and millions of dollars sunk into it and where are the results???
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The results have been shelved, never to see production. Midsize cars like the GM Precept, Ford Prodigy, and Dodge Intrepid ESX2 did 0-60 mph in ~11 seconds, sat 5 adults, were each about the size of a Ford Taurus, and got around 80 mpg. The cost penalty to make them would have only been a few thousand dollars over conventional cars. We could have had 80 mpg midsize cars that did 0-60 mph in 11 seconds, that were in the $20,000 price bracket, in the 1990s. This is a 3-fold improvement in fuel economy for a practical midsize car, without any major sacrifices entailed on part of the buyer.
That was the PNGV project. The auto industry built the prototypes, they worked, and then the industry never sold them to the public. They pocketed the rest of the pork money they had left over. $220 million taxpayer dollars down the ****ter.
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