Americans who fled to small vehicles during $4-a-gallon gas are rushing back into the arms of sport-utility vehicles and light trucks, reversing a trend in which economy cars soared in popularity while consumers ditched brawny gas hounds. Recent data and interviews with local dealers show more U.S. consumers have bought SUVs and pickups of late than any other new vehicle, thanks to the free-fall of crude-oil prices and must-sell discounts that would make even Santa Claus seem like a cheapskate.
"Americans don't want to drive little cars," said Sophia Koropeckyj, a senior economist and auto-markets analyst with Moody's Economy.com in West Chester. "They really prefer larger vehicles, and gas prices have receded more than half since the summer. That's the only conclusion there is."
"Americans don't want to drive little cars," said Sophia Koropeckyj, a senior economist and auto-markets analyst with Moody's Economy.com in West Chester. "They really prefer larger vehicles, and gas prices have receded more than half since the summer. That's the only conclusion there is."
Americans. Is there any term that signifies "gluttonous consumer" more than that? I say, no. I may have said it before, but ... we like our stuff. And we like big stuff.
The trouble with the four-dollar a gallon gasoline was that it didn't last long enough for people to make life-altering decisions. It lasted just long enough for wasteful people to complain, and that didn't solve anything.
So, now that gasoline is a-buck-fifty again, we're back to our wasteful ways. Regardless of the price of gasoline, waste is waste. The odd thing that people get into their heads is that it matters more when it's $4 a gallon than when it's $1.50. It ain't necessarily so.
We're a society that lives in "the now" and just like this ridiculous Christmas shopping season, we figure that the now is the place to be. "Less than two bucks a gallon?" Fill 'er up! Never mind that the price of gasoline won't last nearly as long as the loan you took to buy that house-sized vehicle. It's all about now. And now is good.
Later, is bad. No doubt, we'll be hearing from the short-sighted clowns who bought those Lincoln Navigator's at a steep discount in the summer when gasoline is back near $3 a gallon.
Live it up, assholes.
2 comments:
Oi!
I came over via Susan, because of the neo-Nazi names. I left comments there, so I won't bore you.
I was lucky enough to tumble upon some money, so I bought a Prius. Most people can't afford them. I actually gave it to my best friend, who has supported my mental arse for the past decade.
I'm now driving her old Toyota pick-up and she's sailing in the Prius. When costs were high, it was around sixteen dollars to fill the tank. A tank generally got you around four hundred miles.
Me? My used Ford Explorer, the first of it's kind, ran about seventy plus to fill. As everything was leaking, I burned gas like I won the lottery.
The Toyota pick-up fills at around forty. It doesn't smoke, leak or shimmy. Yet.
I was a bike messenger for a few years, the second full-time female in Philly. ECT and meds messed with my balance, so only recently I'm able to stand on one leg for a moment.
I plan on rebuilding my disco bike and riding again by spring. (Disco bike: A great mountain bike frame that I covered in 1" X 1/2" mirrors. I never sealed them, so now they are falling off. A winter project, to be sure.
Well, I have sooo over-stayed my welcome. Sorry.
Hey, have you ever read The Deptford Trilogy by Robinson Davies?
Clearly time to bail and take meds.
I'm still paying over $3/gallon for diesel up here. They just can't let that price drop no matter what a barrel of oil costs now.
The Jetta is at 210,000 miles now.
I wish Honda would bring a diesel over here.
700-800 miles to a tank is still a beautiful thing.
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