Cheap Cars Cheapen Respect for Nature

In light of melting polar ice caps, the latest push for the world to go "green" has been ever present in the world of marketing. From "green buildings," to "green supplies," and from Wal-Mart going "green," to Apple removing arsenic from their iPods, big business is taking notice of society's reaction to An Inconvenient Truth.

Nissan, and its Asian division, Nissan-Renault, don't seem to be operating in conjunction with the "green" trend. With the shifting population in East and South Asia, the race to build a $3,000 car has been going on for over 10 years now. Just the thought of selling millions of cars to unsuspecting working class individuals, and making billions of dollars in the process, has the auto industry salivating.

But the competition seems to have arrived at a winner. Nissan already has a leg up on the low-end car market industry in India and China, but with the new $3,000 Logan Sedan, the auto-maker looks to make the first big push to get middle class East Asia off of bicycles and scooters and into automobiles.

But wait a second?

Doesn't the mass production of oil-driven cars pretty much neutralize, if not completely override, any attempt at the rest of the world going "green?"

With all due respect to the rise and upcoming of the working class in China and India, but there's a chance for these nations to learn from the past, and it's not being taken. When America got hooked on Taylorism, and Ford turned Taylorism into the biggest automobile industry in the entire world, it started what is one of the most horrible global effects ever caused by humans. Now, with the $3,000 car, gas guzzling is about to turn into an understatement overnight, and yet this is supposed to be some great corporate strategy that's supposed to make the world more accessible to us all?

And yes, it will affect us all. Because if you think that the $3,000 car won't make its way over to the U.S., you are mistaken. Yeah, it probably won't cost $3,000 because U.S. safety regulations are higher than any other country's, but at an estimated six or seven thousand dollars a pop, there are a lot of people who will be buying cars that they couldn't purchase before.