I’m sitting here thinking about what to write about and I started thinking about the future of green cars.  I believe they are a very viable option.  Already Toyota and Honda are doing well with their hybrids, the Prius and the Insight respectively.  It took Honda a couple of tries to get it right but they finally did with the new generation Insight. Another segment embracing green technology are the high performance cars.  This to me is very interesting given the upcoming higher CAFE (Corporate Average Fuel Economy) standards for 2016.  Think about it though they can build the high performance cars but they have to build something to offset them.  When the CAFE standards were introduced in the 70′s the carmakers didn’t have the technology they have today to build high performance cars with higher fuel economy.  This all changed in the 80′s when the technology started to catch up.

Don’t let the standards for 2016 scare you, already the cars on the road today are beating the standard of 27.5 mpg by 5 mpg.  This means the target of 37.8 mpg by 2016 doesn’t seem impossible given the technology of today.

The technology we have today is vastly different from years gone by.  Automobiles today offer more than twice the power using less fuel.  This can be attributed to several different things like fuel injection, variable valve timing, and just more advanced transmissions.  Hybrid technology and electric cars also have a lot of promise for the future.  BMW and Porsche offer hybrids and Ferrari is working on one.  Pure electric cars are also here, just look at the Tesla. Audi and Mercedes have also shown electric concept cars.

Going green isn’t a bad thing for the future of automobiles.  Many manufacturers have proven that they can make great cars while meeting high fuel economy standards.  Don’t be afraid to look at these cars when you’re thinking about that next auto purchase.  I’d be happy to help you make the decision on what to buy.  Just let me know.