Today's low gasoline prices make consumers willing to indulge their

Today's low gasoline prices make consumers willing to indulge their preference for larger cars, which consume greater amounts of gasoline as fuel. So United States automakers are unwilling to pursue the development of new fuel-efficient technologies aggressively. The particular reluctance of the United States automobile industry to do so, however, could threaten the industry's future.

Which of the following, if true, would provide the most support for the claim above about the future of the United States automobile industry?

(A) A prototype fuel-efficient vehicle, built five years ago, achieves a very high 81 miles per gallon on the highway and 63 in the city, but its materials are relatively costly.

(B) Small cars sold by manufacturers in the United States are more fuel efficient now than before the sudden jump in oil prices in 1973.

(C) Automakers elsewhere in the world have slowed the introduction of fuel-efficient technologies but have pressed ahead with research and development of them in preparation for a predicted rise in world oil prices.

(D) There are many technological opportunities for reducing the waste of energy in cars and light trucks through weight, aerodynamic drag, and braking friction.

(E) The promotion of mass transit over automobiles as an alternative mode of transportation has encountered consumer resistance that is due in part to the failure of mass transit to accommodate the wide dispersal of points of origin and destinations for trips­