I would guess GP was talking about safety, not trying to promote oversized cars.
Edit: There's a specific bottom end part of the market with small Chinese cars that have horrible safety problems.
Edit: There's a specific bottom end part of the market with small Chinese cars that have horrible safety problems.
Many of these Chinese vehicles have the safety features of a 1950's era vehicle, so without airbags, good construction techniques for absorbing force, etc. I imagine they would all get horrible safety ratings by Consumer Reports.
However, if energy scarcity pushes us globally toward a situation where we need more essential cars for slower, shorter routes, then it would make sense to downgrade a bit those tests, as the typical use would be closer to a Topolino driving 70km/h on a country road than an M8 dashing at 170km/h on the highway.