drive-by-wire

[Dave Williams]

-> but why do European cars have those small pathetic sub-3 liter
-> engines? AFAIK Europe never had V8 engines in 'normal' cars. Only
-> European V8 I know of outsid expensive british sportscars or luxary
-> cars would be the opel diplomat back in the 60s?

 European countries typically tax automobiles by displacement and number
of cylinders.  Much over 2.5 to 3.0 liters and your potential market is
going to be scared off by what it will cost to get the car registered.

 The US' various states typically tax by weight instead of displacement.
The range is also typically small - the lightest car is $19/yr where I
live, $26 for the heaviest, though other states might be as much as ten
times more expensive.

 Italy and Japan are probably the worst for displacement taxes, which is
why you see so much work done on high performance sub-1-liter cars for
their home markets.  It's cheaper and more reliable to do the same thing
with displacement, which is what they do for export models.