Large, powerful cars have always symbolized the good life. But in the shadow of this ethos of big, there's long been a contrarian philosophy of smaller, lighter, cheaper. Inside the colorful history of the small car.

General Motors' legendary design boss Harley Earl once summed up the theory of automotive evolution as a forward march in the direction of 'longer, lower, wider.' Indeed, large, powerful cars have long symbolized the good life, fueling the fantasies of would-be drivers and filling the coffers of automakers. But in the shadow of this ethos of big there's also long been a contrarian philosophy of smaller, lighter, cheaper. Now as the realities of expensive fuel and global warming bump up against the hunger of huge numbers of people in emerging nations for wheels of their own, the colorful history of the small car is about to add an exciting new chapter. Photo: Ralph Crane / Time Life Pictures-Getty Images

 
 
The Weekly Obsession

The 'Weekly Obsession' is a new video series dissecting the issues that dominate our 24/7 news cycle

green rankings - sum total-environment
Sum Total

Behind every statistic, there's a good story. A look at how facts and figures can add up to something greater than themselves.

7 Things

In this series, NEWSWEEK interviews the artists, celebrities, musicians and newsmakers that fascinate us. In their own words, cultural icons get real about their art, their passions and life on the A-list. (Or B-list, as the case may be.)

Download NEWSWEEK Video Podcast with iTunes
Sponsored by
 
 
 
  • Social Networks
  • Links to this article
 
  • Digg It!
  • Newsvine
  • Del.icio.us
  • Post to MySpace! MySpace
 
 

Email To A Friend

Please fill in the following information and we'll email this link.

Separate multiple addresses with commas

SPONSORED BY
 

Discuss

Member Comments

  • Posted By: MeDotOrg @ 04/03/2009 1:54:50 PM

    Where's the Corvair? If there were not Corvair, Al Gore would have been elected President in 2000. I'd say that makes it a significant small car.

  • Posted By: Alanst3 @ 04/02/2009 11:19:11 PM

    In Southern California where the population is spread essentially in a huge grid, any new mass transit solution seems doomed. My ametuer picture as a planner looking at the data, the population density is far to low to solve problems for most commuters with mass transit. there are just not enough people that want to go from the same point a to point b.
    So that leaves us with indivual transportation of essentially one body at a time. Hummer H2 6600lbs, mimi cooper 2600, motorcycle 500 lbs.
    looking at the cost dimension: small scooters $1000, interstate scooters $6000, motorcycles for the interstate, $6000 to
    $30,000, so around $10,000 a commuter could buy an auto instead of a bike. Nano changes this entirely. Now at somewhere between $2,500 and probably $4000, the cummuter has an enclosed auto choice.
    the solutions are obvious, the politics will be the problem.

  • Posted By: EVtransPortal @ 02/21/2008 7:11:00 PM

    What? No electric cars? You are remiss! Visit http://EVtransPortal.com to see what I mean.

Reply

Report Abuse

Enter comments if any for reporting abuse

View All Comments »