With the size-based system, they could sell no smaller vehicles and still meet the standards.
Both of those rigs actually have lower costs of ownership than many smaller vehicles.
GM's Mr. Reuss also sees fuel prices playing a factor in a sales shift to smaller vehicles.
These bureaucrats want to force automakers to weaken SUV frames and make other changes to give smaller vehicles a more sporting chance.
"As launch vehicles get more expensive, the ability to launch on smaller vehicles will become more important, " Dr. Harrison said.
Smaller vehicles will have to meet more stringent fuel economy targets than bigger vehicles, and all would have to improve somewhat.
Mr. TOM LASORDA (CEO, Chrysler Group): Well, I think what you'll see is a shift with the Chrysler Group into smaller vehicles.
So the more smaller vehicles, the more it'll be a little bit more adjusted to what demand is in the car market.
The smaller vehicles in each class generally have higher death rates.
But they really didn't go far enough and they sort of underestimated how quickly and how far people would go back to cars and smaller vehicles.
The company has been rebranding itself to target fuel-efficient, smaller vehicles.
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Smart cars made up just 7% of the company's sales in 2009, and about a quarter of Daimler's total sales can be classified as smaller vehicles.
The SUV boom clashes with Beijing's efforts to push automakers to develop electric cars and to sell smaller vehicles to help curb smog and demand for imported oil.
U.S. carmakers complain they now have to sell large numbers of money-losing smaller vehicles in order to sell high-profit larger vehicles and meet the overall fuel economy average.
Ms. MAYNARD: And one of the things that Chrysler definitely needs are smaller vehicles because this was a company that was 75 percent pickup trucks and minivans and SUVs.
Already, in passenger cars and sport-utility vehicles, buyers are downsizing to smaller vehicles, not only for the better fuel economy, but because auto makers are offering them with more options and features.
Mr. LASORDA: Well, I know, and we're glad that they have smaller vehicles over there and we're glad our Durango fits the needs of people here not only drive their kids, but they also have sporting lives and they have other things beyond work.
It is, therefore, far easier for carmakers that make mainly smaller vehicles, such as Honda Motor, Toyota Motor and Hyundai, to meet the regulation than carmakers such as General Motors and the Chrysler unit of DaimlerChrysler, which sell hundreds of thousands of big ol' pickups and SUVs every year that can tow small houses.
Besides, smaller utility vehicles are coming along that truly blur the differences among cars, vans and trucks.
But officials held Leekley and his boat back, fearing they might block the path of smaller rescue vehicles.
His company, Coaching in Bavaria, has three employees and a fleet that includes two coaches, two post omnibuses, four smaller sporting vehicles and a hearse.
Moving seven passengers with greater efficiency leads to the consideration of lesser (and smaller) vehicles, like the GMC Acadia Denali, or a minivan like the Toyota Sienna or Honda Odyssey.
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The AA said rising prices and greater use of smaller and diesel vehicles had contributed to the fall in consumption.
Four fire engines at stations in the Birmingham and Coventry area would be replaced with three smaller Brigade Response Vehicles (BRVs).
The Lincoln MKC concept is Lincoln's attempt to show it can win over customers who like their utility vehicles smaller -- a lot smaller.
The Obama Administration, dreaming of a million electric cars on the road by 2015, loaned Ford the money to help it pay for development of hybrids and EVs, and to retool its factories to produce smaller, cleaner vehicles.
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Stories of owners ditching larger vehicles for smaller ones have started to become widespread.
The German luxury-sedan stalwart is losing even more of those younger buyers to rivals' sport utility vehicles and smaller sedans.
Taking that assurance at face value, prime contractor General Dynamics launched a campaign to convince Congress and the Obama Administration that buying a smaller number of the vehicles while upgrading current amphibious systems would be more cost-effective than canceling the program and starting over.
Ford, GM and Chrysler were caught flat-footed when US consumers began switching en masse to smaller, more fuel efficient vehicles.
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