Low gas prices lead to surge in SUV demand
Dec 27, 2008 Auto Tech, Green Technologies
Ford F-150
“Fool me once, shame on you; Fool me twice, shame on me”, may go an old adage, but car buyers in US don’t seem to have learnt! Automotive website Edmunds.com is reporting that truck and SUV sales will surpass car sales in December in US. That’s something that hasn’t happened since February 2008. Additionally, hybrid sales are expected to dramatically plunge for December.
Gasoline prices in US prices have fallen below $2 a gallon, from the highs of over $4 few months back and many people are rushing out to buy the big cars and SUVs, forgetting that gas prices may again spiral up, due to a variety of reasons. But few of them seem to have made the decision seeing the inclement weather (SUVs/4-wheel drives will be safer in snow), while others may have been seduced by the huge discounts currently on SUVs (upto $5000 in some cases!).
On the flip side, the sales of fuel efficient smaller cars have declined. While earlier in the year, there was a waiting list for the hybrid Toyota Prius, In November alone, falling gas prices caused a 48 percent drop in sales, and things won’t be too cheerful in December.
With the Big 3 promising introduction of smaller and more efficient cars, there will be a fall in supply of SUVs next year, which will lead to less generous discounts. But there is also the fear that car manufacturers may go back to building bigger gas guzzling cars, just like what happened after the previous oil shocks (like in the 1970s). That could be a disaster, environmentally as well as due to geo-political reasons.
This is a lesson for all emerging automobile tech. People seem to inherently like bigger vehicles and some actually have needs for them (like in bad weather or for hauling trailers). So just like the long charging times may be a turn of for many potential EV customers, do not expect people to embrace new techs like fuel cells or EVs unless they have the power to run big vehicles and be just as practical as existing internal combustion engines. But on the short term, how about equipping smaller hybrids with raised suspension and 4-wheel drive ( I don’t mean hybrid SUVs like Ford Escape, but offering 4-wheel drive and raised underpinnings, in say Ford Fusion?) ? It should not be too complex, it will still be lighter than SUVs or even crossovers and will takeaway one excuse for not buying fuel efficient cars.
In fact, no green technology advocate should expect great success for a tech unless there is a strong economic incentive for change. We can’t expect people to go back to living in caves for environments sake.
Tags: Auto sales, Edmunds, US
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