Before posting an expletive laden comment you might want to pay attention to what you're saying. The point isn't that US safety and environment standards are better than Europe's. That can be debated elsewhere. The point is that US safety and environmental standards are different than Europe's and that they have an impact on performance and efficiency. You try to impress your audience by spouting out various name brands and how wonderful they are but you simply make my point. All of the companies you mention (BMW, Mercedes, Volvo, Renault) either sell less efficient cars in the US than they do in Europe or they don't sell them here at all. For example they all sell Diesels in Europe that have not until recently met US emissions standards (not to mention the even stricter standard in CA and some other states). If you look across the lineup of BMW, Mercedes and Volvo in the US you will be hard pressed to find many cars that you would call fuel efficient. There may be a few relatively efficient cars in their showrooms but not many. BMW and Mercedes have been two of the biggest payers of CAFE fines over the years. (http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/portal/nhtsa_static_file_downloader.jsp?file=/staticfiles/DOT/NHTSA/Rulemaking/Articles/Associated%20Files/CAFE_Fines.pdf) It's interesting how these companies that are touted for their efficiency and safety in Europe, struggle when confronted with US standards. Again, I don't claim the US standards are better but they're here and we are stuck with the consequences.

In response to the one specific example, the Ford Focus in the US is entirely different from the European Focus. The European Focus is a great car while the US one is pretty poor. But highlighting the fact that one has rear drum vs. disc brakes proves nothing (other than your ignorance) as they are entirely different vehicles. The US market Volvo S40 and Mazda3 are more comparable to the European Ford Focus and they have disc brakes all around.

Here you go again. The argument isn't about which country has the best safety standards. This issue is that the US safety standards are different and one of the results is that our car options are less efficient. You cannot continue to say that all European market cars exceed US safety standards because that's just not true.

Here's a good example because it's current. Fiat just brought Chrysler and both the company, dealers and consumers are excited to welcome the Fiat 500 to US shores. We are looking at a minimum of 18 months before it arrives. But wait, MacK.. says that the Fiat 500 already exceeds all US safety and environmental standards. So why does it take 18 months? How long does it take to change the km/hr to m/hr? Well, the reality is that there are a lot of US safety regulations from airbags, to LATCH, to electronic safety systems, to roof strength that are different from what is required in Europe. As such, the Fiat 500 will take another 18 months to arrive and I wouldn't be surprised if it is somewhat less efficient from it's European counterpart when it does.

(Here is a short article on the introduction of the Fiat 500 that mentions US safety standards and regulations that must be met before the car is imported.)

Just an article that confirms the effort required to meet US safety and environmental regulations.

http://rumors.automobilemag.com/6550655/news/fiat-500-being-readied-at-chrysler-headquarters-for-us-market/index.html

When books are burned in the end people will be burned too.

Thank you for this although it's a case of too little too late. I would like to see more headlines like this but preferably in the present tense about politicians who are still relevant. There may be something to learn from Edwards' commitment to the poor but it is more important for us to learn about the true intentions of those in power today rather than those who aspired to power a year ago.