Cars

When arriving at Quito late at night, I noticed many things that were different right away, but the one that stuck out the most was the types of cars that they were driving.  I am a car enthusiast, and I realized that the American car companies like Chevy and Ford are making cars that I have never seen before.  The cars they were driving were small, fuel-efficient hatchbacks.  All ones that I believe many Americans would drive, yet it raises a question. Why wouldn’t they make these cars for the U.S. also? American car companies have a stereotype of Americans only wanting gas guzzling, luxury cars.  We can afford larger cars and afford to pay for the gas for them, so they are the cars we think we desire.  This is becoming a problem.  For example, in the United States, we look at a euro van as an ugly van.  We would rather ride in the large, 15 passenger, Ford vans if we are in a large group leaving the airport.  However, the smaller euro vans are much more efficient and cheaper to own.  It is this American assumption that car companies use to decide that they will only release certain types of vehicles to the United States.  As a consumer though, we are never given that choice.  It was already decided for us that we would prefer the larger more luxurious cars instead of these more efficient, smaller ones.