Are two small cars better than a mini van?

With dual-income families on the rise, it is not uncommon for families, especially those with younger children, to have a mini van and a second vehicle for one of the working spouses. But is having a mini van truly necessary? Perhaps it would be more economical (and better for the environment) to have two small cars, and for special events or trips, when a larger vehicle is necessary, rent a mini van for the day or weekend. One Ottawa blogger ponders the question: Are two small cars better than a van and a compact?

Fiat to go micro in 2009 and green by 2012

In an interview last week with Automotive News Europe, Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne mentioned that the company is hoping to sell its first microcar by 2009. It's a "true beauty," said Marchionne. We can speculate that it might look quite a bit like the concept microcar that Fiat presented to the world in 2005, pictured here. Perhaps they can call it the "Piccolo" (italian for small), but more likely it will end up being a variation on the Panda, their current (slightly ugly) almost-micro car.

Fiat has been having great success with its updated version of the Fiat 500, the Fiat Nuova 500; it's selling very briskly in Europe and is garnering many awards, including the prestigious EuroCarBody 2007 and the European Car of the Year 2008. It would appear that this success is giving Fiat confidence to go even smaller... Roughly 30 centimeters smaller to be precise (to get into the microcar category).

In the same interview, Marchionne asserted that "Fiat will be the carmaker with the lowest average emissions in 2012," and that they "do not need hybrids to get there." To all the hybrid devotees out there (yes, it almost seems like a religion these days), this must sound scandalous. But it's actually quite simple; going with increasingly smaller cars is likely the way they are going to achieve this goal. Perhaps he was reading my post from March...

Slowdown in new car sales is slower than trucks

Following up on my last post, although I wasn't able to find the data for small cars specifically (for now, it seems that all sales data that is publicly reported in Canada lumps all car sizes into one "passenger cars" category; this needs to change!), there do seem to be some noticeable divergence in car sales vs. truck/SUV sales in Canada. In the last Statistics Canada New Motor Vehicle Sales report published November 15th, we find that 4% less passenger cars sold in September 2007 than a year before. In the same period, trucks and sport utility vehicle sales declined 5.2%. Canadians were buying less new vehicles, but the slowdown was more acute for bigger vehicles. This is consistent with the anecdotal reports I've heard of increasing sales of small and economy cars; my suspicion is that the passenger car data is being buoyed by this segment.

Interestingly, the slight positive lead in growth (if you want to call a slower slowdown a "lead", at least for September) for cars has only been evident back to July 2007. Before that, for a solid year, and generally prior to that, the truck and SUVs category was the one growing faster in Canada. It would seem that the Canadian addiction to larger vehicles is only barely starting to fade. Let's hope we don't fall off the wagon...

Sales of the smallest of cars are growing fast

But still not as fast as small SUVs. This chart, from the seattlepi.com, is for the U.S. I wonder if, in Canada, the small cars might have started to outpace the growth of the ever-popular SUVs. I'll try to find out...

Small is greener than hybrid

After electrics and hydrogen-powered, hybrids have the least emissions -- right? Not necessarily! The carbon dioxide rejection rate is roughly the same for a Toyota Prius (touted as the most efficient hybrid currently on the market) and a Citroen C1 (a smart-looking small car, sadly not available in North America) -- roughly around 100ish grams per kilometer. I'm sure that an even smaller car, such as a Smart car, would be even lower...

But that's just the start. One could then argue that the environmental footprint of the C1 is smaller than the hybrid Prius simply because it can be manufactured with less stuff; it is lighter, its engine is simpler, it is easier to recycle. Not to mention that its smaller physical size is good in other ways; it doesn't require as wide a road to operate, needs smaller parking spaces, etc. -- so it doesn't comtribute to the general encroachment of paved space into the world's green spaces.

I don't buy the way hybrids are presented as the responsible, green choice. It's good marketing for sure, but the truly environmentally responsible choice is to go small!

(Hints to Citroen: make a hybrid version of the C1, oh and don't forget to bring it over to the U.S. and Canada!)