In the past forty years, the efficiency of the American car has hardly improved. The rest of the world has left the nation behind in the race to raise their miles-per-gallon. There are some legal reasons that have prevented the U.S. from changing: safety regulations requiring cars be thicker, and, until recently, low CAFE standards.
But most of all, auto manufacturers haven't sold efficient cars here. Not for decades, anyway. While the Toyota Prius spent years as the most-sold car in the nation, and electric and smart cars gradually make their way to our roads, our own *past* was more efficient than we are now. In 1984, the Honda Civic had 51 city / 67 highway mpg. But by the end of the decade, every successive model was less fuel-efficient than the last. The Honda Civic Hybrid, which in 2003 used 48/47, now use only 44/44.
We therefore petition that Honda begin building the Honda Civic again as closely as possible to its efficient original design. The United States needs these cars, the way they used to be. Whether for economic reasons or environmental ones, it is imperative that they be back on the road. The technology existed then, exists now, and can make a world of difference.