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terpfan1980
terpfan1980
Join Date 08/2004
+13

Higher fuel prices helping environment, hurting SUV sales

May 3, 2005 1:33:03 PM from JoeUser ForumsJoeUser Forums
Actually, that headline may be incorrect, as some of the bigger SUVs actually have been proven to produce lower emissions and fewer pollutants than some of the other vehicles that are available, but, I would say it's fairly safe to assume that the article below is a great indicator that fuel prices may be doing what our government has shown they don't have the will to enforce upon consumers -- pushing people into smaller, more fuel efficient vehicles.

From Reuters news, found via Yahoo!, headline is linked:


Ford extends U.S. sales losing streak, rivals soar

By Tom Brown


DETROIT (Reuters) - Ford Motor Co. on Tuesday reported its 11th consecutive month of weaker U.S. vehicle sales as high gasoline prices, and ebbing demand for its big SUVs, caused it to lose traction again to foreign competitors.
The decline, and an expected drop in April sales at General Motors Corp., spelled more trouble for Detroit. The two largest U.S. automakers face mounting financial hardships as they lose more U.S. market share -- their industrial lifeblood -- to fast-growing Japanese rivals.
By contrast, Toyota Motor Corp., the richest automaker on the planet, said its April U.S. sales rose 21 percent for its best month ever. And Nissan Motor Co. Ltd. said its sales jumped 27 percent.
Ford, the second-largest U.S. automaker, said its sales fell 5.1 percent. All sales figures are adjusted for an extra selling day in April this year, and Ford's results exclude its foreign brands.
Sales of Ford's large sport utility vehicles fell sharply again in April, as record U.S. gasoline prices continued to take a toll on the company's most fuel-thirsty models.
Company officials have said repeatedly that higher prices at the gasoline pump were hurting sales of its traditional truck-based SUVs. Cheap loan offers and big rebates have done little to reverse that trend.
Despite the disappointing results at Ford, vehicle sales across the industry were expected to strengthen to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of between 16.7 million and 17.1 million units, up from a rate of 16.6 million in April last year.
Recent surveys show that U.S. consumers have turned a bit more glum about the future as they struggled with high gasoline prices and sluggish wage growth. But spending on cars and trucks, which account for about one-fifth of U.S. retail sales, has rebounded from a soft patch at the start of the year.


... more at linked article


So, again, it seems that in the grand scheme of things, our capitalistic nature may wind up helping Mother Nature after all. Gas prices go up, gas guzzler sales go down. Or at least eventually as the prices go up and stay up, the gas guzzler sales go down.

I applaud this as relatively good news, even though it does hurt the U.S. economy, and especially manufacturing jobs for these big auto-makers.

U.S. auto-makers have needed this sort of kick in the seat of the pants though in order to wise up and rush production of more fuel efficient vehicles, and in order to "sex up" the more efficient vehicles in their marketing. Ford, and GM have both gotten lazy, and have lived high on the hog from selling these large boxes with their high profit margins. Ford Expeditions and GM's Suburbans and Escalades had multiplied on the roads taking up more and more space so that good ol' boys and well-to-do soccer moms could enjoy their spacious ride instead of making wiser decisions and driving something just a little smaller that would be much more fuel efficient.

I know Ford is trying with the hybrid-Escape, which is a fine vehicle, and honestly, is still large enough (and safe enough) for most people. They need to try even harder, and their friends at GM need to do the same (and Daimler-Chrysler should too). Move us away from fossil-fuels, and away from a dependency upon dirty products imported from countries that use the money we have paid them to teach and support hatred against us.

Hopefully things will turn around for Ford, GM, etc., but hopefully it'll be done in a way that makes sense. I have to believe that all of those folks in Detroit would love to be enjoying the sales that the Toyota Prius has been ringing up. Perhaps figuring out why that vehicle is selling so well will teach those old dogs some new tricks.
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terpfan1980
Moderateman
Join Date 11/2004
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Reply #1 May 3, 2005 3:41:51 PM
from JoeUser ForumsJoeUser Forums
and this is why I just bought a new 2005 honda-hydrid of my wife, in ncalifornia before you buy gas they r4un a credit check on ya to see if you can afford to buy it hahahahahahaha the "cheap gas up north is 249.9 for regular. and ya gotta hunt for that.
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terpfan1980
drmiler
Join Date 09/2004
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Reply #2 May 3, 2005 6:44:51 PM
from JoeUser ForumsJoeUser Forums
and this is why I just bought a new 2005 honda-hydrid of my wife, in ncalifornia before you buy gas they r4un a credit check on ya to see if you can afford to buy it hahahahahahaha the "cheap gas up north is 249.9 for regular. and ya gotta hunt for that.


Ours is averaging $2.09 a gal for reg.
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terpfan1980
MasonM
Join Date 01/2004
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Reply #3 May 3, 2005 7:18:10 PM
from JoeUser ForumsJoeUser Forums
Ok, but have the sales of horses gone up any?

I wonder when I read things like this but my personal observations on the traffic don't quite jibe. I seem to still see an awful lot of big shiny new SUVs rolling around here.

Perhaps it's a local thing, but I live in Florida where gas prices are always somewhat higher than the average.

I can happily say that according to a guy I know who owns the local bicycle shop that sales of bikes are definately going up. He sells rather expensive imports and recumbent bikes (would love to have one of those). The recumbents can sell for a couple thousand dollars and his sales are up this year so far.

Once my hip heals more I'll be riding my crappy old Huffy Mountain bike around.

I wish the high fuel prices would really impact people to the point that they reduce or cut out unnecessary driving, but I am personally not seeing that, at least around here. It would reduce traffic congestion, reduce air polution, and be generally better all around.
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