The other day I saw a commercial for a Japanese car it said it got 30.2 km/l (car shown above). I was interested to know what this translated to in mpg because I had always heard that Japanese cars had better fuel efficiency. Well, I looked up what 30.2 km/l was in mpg and it is about 71 mpg! I was amazed and shocked at this number because never would I have imagined a 71 mpg car being sold to average citizens in any country. After finding this out I did some looking around at car dealerships and found that there are multiple Japanese cars that have around the same fuel efficiency. I can understand why this case. The whole time I have been in Japan I have not seen any bulky cars besides large company trucks driven by professional drivers. I have not seen any citizens driving trucks, besides the ones that are very small compared to American trucks (picture shown below).
So if this mpg information is correct then there is both good and bad news. The good news is that Japan has really fuel efficient cars that from what I have heard have an average of 40 mpg. The bad news is that if these cars exist, why are there none in America? Our highest mpg hybrids are around 40 which is the average in Japan, and is much lower than 71 mpg car I saw advertised on Japanese commercials.
In America the gas prices are much cheaper than in Japan but I see no reason why this should excuse the lower fuel efficiency of most cars. Like I said I was interested in knowing how Japanese cars compared to those in America and now that I do know I am kind of disappointed. Nonetheless, I remain hopeful in the fact that foreign cars are gaining popularity and this is causing American companies to produce more eco-friendly cars themselves. I hope that this trend continues not only in Japan but all over the world, for the sake of the environment and the overall health of the planet.