Economy Car - Economy Cars Today

Economy Cars Today

Today economy cars have specialised into market niches. The small city car, the inexpensive-to-run but not necessarily very small general economy car, and the performance derivatives that capitalise on light weight of the cars on which they are based. Some models that started as economy cars such as the Volkswagen Golf and Toyota Corolla, have increased in size and moved upmarket over several generations, and their makers have added smaller new models in their original market niches. The 2003 Volkswagen Golf Mk5 had put on so much weight, that some models weigh the same as a Volvo 200 Series. The supermini 2002 Volkswagen Polo Mk4 was longer and wider than the 1970s Volkswagen Golf Mk1. Gordon Murray the Formula 1 and Mclaren F1 designer, said when designing his new Murray T.25 city car: “Today with all the promises of hydrogen and hybrids and electric cars, if you could take ten percent out of the weight of every car, the effect in the next ten years would be more than that of all the hybrids and electric cars on the planet.”

The City car market in Europe in recent years has seen increased competition with the launch of the Toyota Yaris, Citroën C1/Peugeot 107/Toyota Aygo (built in the same factory), the Mercedes-Benz A-Class, aluminium Audi A2, Fiat Panda, Kia Picanto, Chevrolet Matiz, Volkswagen Fox, Smart ForTwo, Smart Forfour, Mitsubishi Colt, Ford Ka, BMW Mini Audi A1 and Fiat Nuova 500.

A development in recent years in Europe, has been the launch of small MPVs/people carriers. The idea first emerged in Japan with the 1993 Suzuki Wagon R Keicar class car. This was sold by GM in Europe from 2000 as the Vauxhall/Opel Agila. This was followed by the slightly larger supermini based cars like the Renault Modus, Citroën C3 Picasso, Fiat Idea, Nissan Note, and the Vauxhall/Opel Meriva that is also produced in Brazil. Their tall packaging designs offer the interior space of a larger car. The higher seating increases visibility for the driver that is useful in urban driving. They also make it easier to get in and out, which is useful for those with personal mobility problems, such as the elderly and the disabled.

Another niche that was popularised in Europe in 1993 by the Renault Twingo and Ford Ka in 1996, is the 'designer' city car. The first car of this kind was a limited success, the 1985 Lancia Y10, which had been hampered by its poor ride from being based on the original Fiat Panda. Also, Lancia was a dying brand in the UK at this time. This was followed by the Mercedes-Benz A-Class, Smart ForTwo and Audi A2. It took off with the 2001 BMW Mini. Other cars of this type include the VW Polo based Audi A1, Fiat Panda based Fiat Nuova 500, Citroën C3 based Citroën DS3 and Fiat Grande Punto based Alfa Romeo MiTo.

The Toyota iQ, designed in France, went on sale in January 2009 in the UK. It follows the Issigonis philosophy of packaging, with innovations including a flat under floor fuel tank and specially located steering rack and final drive unit to maximise floor space for passengers. It seats four adults in a car 2.985 m (117.5 in)long, 1.680 m (66.1 in) wide, and 1.5 m (59.1 in) tall, and achieves 65.69 mpg (4.300 L/100 km; 54.70 mpg) with a 99g/km CO2 rating. It also achieved the top Euro NCAP 5/5 stars safety rating.

The conflicting design goals for economy cars — small size with maximum usable interior space; low cost and light weight with acceptable safety performance, light cars have a higher ratio of unsprung suspension mass to sprung mass which affects ride quality, and the need for light materials with acceptable durability, continue to stimulate innovative development. Technology improvements such as electronic engine management, adoption of four valves per cylinder, variable valve timing, direct injection of petrol/Gasoline and diesel, hybrid power, and smoother, more powerful diesel engines with very high pressure electronic injection, have dramatically improved fuel economy and performance. The latest technologies to improve efficiency are down-sized engines and automatic engine stop-start. Automatic engine stop-start systems like VWs BlueMotion, shut the engine down when the car is stopped to reduce idling emissions and boost economy, and it is now mandatory not to idle unnecessarily in cities in Germany. It is an updated version of the 1980s VW 'Formel E' system that was developed into the 1990s VW 'Ecomatic' system. Also extremely important, is the application of turbo-charging to down-sized engines in order to turn its efficiency benefits into fuel economy / emission benefits instead of for performance. The recent Fiat 'Multiair' system, is an electro-hydraulic development of variable valve timing that allows the engine management computer to control valve timing, improving engine efficiency, giving better torque, power, economy, and emissions. Safety design is a particular challenge in a small, lightweight car. This is an area where Renault has been particularly successful. Sport compacts and Hot hatches have developed into a their own competitive genre, although their economy has been compromised, these models offer higher performance because of the lightness of the platforms that they are based upon.

As an alternative to manual synchromesh gearboxes, automatic continuously variable transmission (CVT) gearboxes are optional on some economy cars, such as Audi, Honda, and the MINI ONE and MINI Cooper. Tata Motors from India, recently announced that it too would use a variomatic transmission in its US$2,500 Nano. CVT application to economy cars was pioneered by Fiat, Ford, and Van Doorne in the 1980s. Rather than the pulled rubber drive belts as used in the past by DAF, the modern transmission is made much more durable by the use of electronic control and steel link belts pushed by their pulleys.

A crucial difference between the North American car market and the markets of Europe and Japan is the price of fuel. Fuel is heavily taxed and therefore relatively costly in most first-world markets outside North America; fuel is about two and a half times the price in the UK than the U.S. Fuel costs are also a much higher proportion of income, due to generally higher wages and lower living costs in the U.S. Only during occasional fuel price spikes such as those of 1973, 1979–81, and 2008-9 have North American drivers been motivated to seek levels of fuel economy considered ordinary outside North America.

The growth of developing countries has also created a new market for inexpensive new cars. Unlike in the postwar period this demand has not been met by utilitarian but advanced 'peoples cars'. Adaptation of standard or obsolete models from the first world has been the norm. Production of car models superseded in first-world markets is often moved to cost-sensitive markets like South Africa and Brazil; the Citi Golf is an example.

Some mainstream European auto makers have developed models specifically for developing countries, such as the Fiat Palio, Volkswagen Gol and Dacia Logan. Renault has teamed up with India's Mahindra and Mahindra to produce a low-cost car in the range of US$2,500 to US$3,000. The Tata Nano launched in January 2008, in India by Tata Motors, may mark the beginning of the return of so-called "people's cars" because of its low announced price - claimed by Tata as the world's cheapest car at US$2,500. The Nano, like the 1950s Fiat 500, has a rear engine and was styled by Italians. It is designed to get whole families off scooters and onto four wheels. Tata has also announced plans to export their Tata Indica that was formerly sold in Europe as the City Rover.

The narrow profit margins of economy cars can cause financial instability for their manufacturers. Historically, Volkswagen in the 1970s and Ford in the 1920s almost collapsed because of their one model economy car business strategy. Ford was saved by the Model A and Volkswagen was saved by the Golf. Ford started the Mercury and Lincoln brands to diversify its product range. VW moved away from the narrow profit margins of economy cars, by expanding its range so that now it spans from very small city cars like the Volkswagen Up to Audis and Bentleys, and it also owns SEAT and Skoda.

China has become one of the fastest growing car markets, recently overtaking the U.S. as the largest producer of cars in the world. It is followed by India with a preference towards inexpensive, basic cars, but they are both moving upmarket in their tastes as their economic rise continues.

India is becoming a global outsourcing production centre for small cars. The Suzuki Alto and Hyundai i10 are already being exported to Europe from India. In March 2010 at Chennai, the Renault-Nissan Alliance opened a US$990 million plant to produce 400,000 units per year at full production. The first vehicle to be produced at the plant will be the new Nissan Micra, for the Indian market as well as for export to over 100 countries in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Production of the Micra has been re-located from the UK and other developed countries. In 2011, the plant will start production of the Renault Koleos and Fluence, for the Indian market based on the same platform.

Gordon Murray the Formula 1 and Mclaren F1 designer, said when designing his new Murray T.25 city car: "I discovered why people didn't make what they call 'Sub A' segment cars, small city cars – you don't make any money on them. Because the tooling and development cost for a small car is almost the same as for a bigger car. So people would rather build larger cars and make more profit. That's when I started thinking, that if this is going to work there needs to be a new way of making the cars, that is cost effective. That high capital pressed components using low labour cost countries a long distance from developed world markets has a large environmental cost. Car manufacturers say that production emissions are small compared to tailpipe emissions, but in fact they are a very significant proportion of total emissions. We need to re-think the Henry Ford design of mass production." Murray's solution is a laser cut tubular steel space-frame chassis built with an automated tube mill, braced with bonded low cost composite sheets that would be a cheaper and greener means of production. Murray's 'iStream' simplifies each process with an eighty percent smaller factory with lower cost production, making light weight efficient cars. There are no sheet metal presses, spot welders or paint plants. It would be built local to its market. Murray is currently negotiating production licences.