MotorTrend January 1980

This is it. This is the issue that takes us into I980 and the decade to follow. The past 10 years have been turbulent, even destructive; but for all the environmental, social and economic problems, these years have afforded the auto industry time and technology to develop a more mature automobile. The struggle over automotive issues continues, but the attacks between clashing factions seem less personal and more consumer oriented. The automobile, its industry and our regulatory government have grown and, if you can believe it, have grown together. We pride ourselves at Motor Trend on the fact that we care for our readers’ needs. We constantly provide information we believe to be of service to you. And we are going to expand that service by making you an offer…

SEMI-PRECIOUS STONE I protest your biased and slanted attack on Opels in your September “Detroit Report.” You stated: “Rest easy, Buick fans, the ugly little nit has been banished forever. No further Opels will be imported, etc., etc.” I purchased an Opel based on an article in Consumer Reports, which indicated that their tests revealed the Opel Isuzu to be an outstanding example of the best in German engineering and the best in Japanese production methods. C.R. SteffeyLas Cruces, N.M. Would you buy an egg-beater based on what we told you?—Ed. I resent your remarks about Opels. I have owned Opels for I9 years, and they are the most satisfactory cars I’ve ever had. The American car magazines are always making flippant remarks about Opels…maybe because they weren’t built to…

THE I982 GM J-CAR Give or take a line or two, this is what the Chevrolet and Pontiac J-Car will look like, and it will be ready for production in the spring of I981. Several body styles will complement this 4-door, including a sporty version to replace the current Monza and Sunbird. Buick and Olds will get their copies in the I982 or ‘83 model year. The J-Car will be the first true world car in that it will be simultaneously produced in Europe, Japan, Australia and South America. COSMIC DEBRIS All this stuff is used in every I980 Chevrolet Caprice or Impala and represents a combined weight saving of I25 pounds over the same components used in previous cars. This substantial weight decrease and the advent of the electronically…

In the following special section, we will be exploring the future of the automobile in the decade I980-I990, not just as an item of manufactured goods, or as the most popular mode of personal transportation on this planet, or as a prime consumer of fossil fuels, but also as the extremely powerful social instrument it is, because the automobile in these and many more aspects will change over the next I0 years as it has never changed before. The largest single portion of the exploration that follows has been given over to the presentation of the candid thoughts and opinions of some of the most expert and powerful men in the world auto industry from America, Europe and Japan, Along with these opinions there are messages from the spheres of…

The automobile has an effect on us that goes far beyond its ability to move us from place to place. In ways both obvious and subtle, it has im measureable impact on our lives. The fuel shortages of recent years have made us appreciate just how much of a mixed blessing the car is and how dependent we are on it. It’s something we can’t live without and are finding increasingly difficult to live with. It is a situation that has caused rapid change in our life styles. This change is most obvious in our automotive tastes: the biggest is no longer considered the best. As a consequence, the cars of today are considerably different from the cars of five or I0 years ago. In the future, automobiles will be…

The automobile may have moved to center stage in the great American drama of the last quarter of this century, but what does the stage look like? To find out, we talked to Dr. Roger Mack, a social economist and professor at DeAnza College in Cupertino, California. Mack’s vision of the world focuses on migration patterns, size and kind of family units, and national attitudes. So, for example, we may have wonderful cars, but the societal climate may turn against the automobile in the latter part of the ‘80s, and we may feel guilty driving our new technological marvels. Is that likely? Or might a variety of social pressures encourage continued high use of the automobile as personal transportation? Here’s Professor Mack on the universe in which the car will…