There have been car research prototypes, which can achieve 100 mpg and these prototypes were developed nearly 30 years ago. There really is nothing smart about the Smart Car.
Today it is completely possible using advanced technology to produce a production family car which can attain the goal of 100 mpg.
The British Austin AR6 protoype dating from 1982 was constructed from lightweight Aluminium and composite materials and had a high efficiency 3 Cylinder Diesel engine developed from the K series engine line.
A similar car could be produced using similar recyclable materials and together with improvements in aerodynamics (Giugiaros Ital styling) and electronic regenerative braking and modern computer controlled fuel injection control systems, 100 mpg is easily achievable. To see the future, you sometimes have to look back in to the past.
The problem though, is that a modern version of that vehicle would be significantly heavier. It would need to meet modern safety and emmissions requirements, which add a lot of weight (which hurts fuel mileage). To try and keep the weight down they would need to use expensive light weight materials. You might get the weight down, but then the price shoots way up. As the price goes up, the less people are going to buy it. Few people want a $70,000 family car with no immenaties, even if it does get 100+ mpg. There is always a trade off.
If we didn't have safety and emmissions requirements it would be easy to get 100+mpg. Quite a few production cars in the past got close to 100mpg; the Peel P50, made in the 60's, got well over 100mpg.
Today it's a lot harder than it used to be. I think they could produce them, but I don't think it's financially feasible for any manufacturer currently. Over time, fuel mileage will increase. For right now, your best bet for awesome gas mileage is still a motorcycle/moped.
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