re: There's a reason the auto industry is in trouble.
Because it's producing big, inefficient piles of crap, and has been for decades?
Consumers have not been inclined to buy anything more efficient because of low fuel prices?
Industry hasn't been inclined to make anything more efficient because there was no incentive to do so? Neither carrot, nor stick.
Cheap, efficient, comfortable cars have been available in Europe for decades. Cars that get double, trebble, even four times the mileage of the average airport rental car at NY-JFK airport.