Increased Euro sales? ... not for long.

[LongTimer]

The European Common Union has just passed some pretty strange laws. Apparently there are some country members in which 30% of all accidents are pedestrian related (so much for getting more out door exercise in Europe). To reduce injury, these laws require an "... enormous, soft-crumple zone, while still maintaining car-to-car crash performance in offset barrier tests AND still satisfying low speed parking impact protection." Auto makers are saying that hood lines will rise an average of 2.75 inches - and they aren't talking about a C6 type starting point. Also the hood must be 5.9 inches ahead of the nearest "hard oint" (read as radiator housing). This happy little law will take affect on new introductions following October 2005 in the ECU.

Imagine a BMW or an Aston Martin with a Beauty Rest strapped to the front of the car.

Hill has stated that the C6 redisign intended to, among other things, make the car more accepted in the ECU. Well it looks lkie the C6 may make it under the implementaition of this law, but will that apply to the Z06 C6 too? Kinda hard to retrofit a California King to the front of a sports car!

I say, survival of the fastest, opps I mean fittest. If they can't move fast enough to get out of the way, the breed is improved!

I know we have some contributors from Europe here, what are your thoughts / concerns?

 

[ROCKETBLOCK]

Hey Longtimer! No one has responded. I don't know what that means but I will chime in with this thought. If people in the ECU want Euro in their cars they don't have to go overseas for it. People in the ECU should want the Corvette because it is truly American. I wonder where do-gooder regulations will take the auto industry and sports cars in the not-too-distant future. :confused

 

[Johan]

I haven't heard of these laws, though it sounds very similar to the (American) laws from the mid seventies concerning the bumper design. If you remember, all cars changed from nice shiny crome bumpers to big ugly rubber bumpers that could sustain a 5mph crash without damage. It sure did have a great impact of the design of the Corvette...
(And the 30 year old rubber bumpers on my '74 for sure cannot sustain a 5mph crash any more... )

In the past decades, I do think that American laws (concerning safety, pollution etc.) have affected the car industry much more than European laws.