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What Is an Economy Car?

by James Hamel

Overview

The VW Bug was one of the first and most successful economy cars.

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An economy car is any vehicle designed and built to not only sell for a low price but also to be very efficient in its use of gasoline. One of the most successful economy cars of all time was the VW Beetle which sold over 21 million units and was manufactured all around the world until the last unit rolled off an assembly line in Mexico on July 30, 2003.
History

The original economy cars were not designed exclusively as separate models but were rather regular Chevys or Fords with smaller engines. It was not until the Arab oil embargo of the 1970s and the rising popularity of cars such as the Toyota Corolla and VW Beetle that American car companies started to make their own economy cars.

The Toyota Corolla also helped start the economy car revolution just as the VW Beetle.

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Emissions

Pollutants from cars were also a big concern around the time of the OPEC oil embargo so the government passed CAFE (Corporate Average Fuel Economy) which regulates emissions standards of all passenger cars in the U.S. Although the Big Three (Ford, GM and Chrysler) said at the time that the standards could never be achieved, the little Honda Civic CVCC did it without even using a catalytic converter.

In the 1970s the government released Corporate Average Fuel Economy requirements that they hoped would convince automakers to manufacture more fuel efficient, less polluting cars.

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Bad Reputation

During the 1970s, however, manufacturers who were inexperienced at making inexpensive, fuel-efficient cars released some highly unsafe and unreliable designs. The most famous of this was the Ford Pinto which had a gas tank that could explode when the car was rear-ended. Although it was later fixed in a recall where Ford replaced the weak tanks and repositioned them, the public relations damage had already been done.

Ford made many variations of the Ford Pinto, but the best seller was the two door hatchback.

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The Heavyweights

Two vehicles have dominated the economy car market in the United States since the 1980s, and they are the Toyota Corolla and Honda Civic. This continues to this day as evidenced by the fact that Honda sold 339,259 Civics in 2008 alone while Toyota sold 371,390 units a year earlier in 2007.

Old Corollas, such as this liftback coupe from the 1980s, are a common sight on the road.

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The Future

The definition of the economy car is changing thanks to the increasing popularity of the affordable hybrid car. Hybrids such as the Toyota Prius may cost up to $4,000 more than your typical economy car thanks to the batteries and hardware, yet can get as much as 50 miles per gallon on the highway.

The hybrid Toyota Prius is a very high-tech and reliable economy car.

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