May 02, 2008
High Gas Costs Surge Compact Car Sales
As Gas Costs Soar, Buyers Are Flocking to Small Cars
By BILL VLASIC
Published: May 2, 2008
Ahhh, heck yeah. For the first time this ever, I literally considered getting rid of my car after spending $60 bucks filling the thing up (91 octane).
Here's the story from the New York Times:
DETROIT Soaring gas prices have turned the steady migration by Americans to smaller cars into a stampede.In what industry analysts are calling a first, about one in five vehicles sold in the United States was a compact or subcompact car during April, based on monthly sales data released Thursday. Almost a decade ago, when sport utility vehicles were at their peak of popularity, only one in every eight vehicles sold was a small car.
The switch to smaller, more fuel-efficient vehicles has been building in recent years, but has accelerated recently with the advent of $3.50-a-gallon gas. At the same time, sales of pickup trucks and large sport utility vehicles have dropped sharply.
In another first, fuel-sipping four-cylinder engines surpassed six-cylinder models in popularity in April.
Its easily the most dramatic segment shift I have witnessed in the market in my 31 years here, said George Pipas, chief sales analyst for the Ford Motor Company.
The trend toward smaller and lighter vehicles with better mileage is a blow to Detroit automakers, which offer fewer such models than Asian carmakers like Toyota and Honda. Moreover, the decline of S.U.V.s and pickups has curtailed the biggest source of profits for General Motors, Ford and Chrysler.
How are you guys adjusting to the soaring gas prices? What changes are y'all making, if any?
Posted by anthony at May 2, 2008 08:18 AM | TrackBackNo changes, but I'm glad I resisted buying another car a couple years ago. Now I'm more than willing to stick with my 30mpg sedan!
Posted by: Jake Belder at May 2, 2008 09:19 AMLast month when I was on tour in Florida, I had many $90-$100 fill-ups. Crazy.
As far as adjusting to gas prices, I think there will be a large enough used market for Priuses (Prii?) in a couple years for getting one to make economic sense. Fortunately, I am a big fan of small cars. My first car was a Geo Metro. My "dream car" (don't laugh) is the Smart fortwo cabriolet.
Posted by: Matthew Smith at May 2, 2008 09:23 AMAll I have is a big gas guzzling Ford Pickup. Its great to have (hunting, fishing, helping people move) and I'm not giving it up. But I'm looking a buying a second smaller car for longer trips. Maybe a Honda Civic, but I'm 6'2" 250 so it won't be very comfortable.
Posted by: Andrew at May 2, 2008 09:35 AMditched the car and riding the bus. actually the car ditched me, so that made the decision easier. $40 a month, no gas to buy, no insurance to pay.
our 2000 mile road trip this summer is gonna hurt tho.
Posted by: bobw at May 2, 2008 09:46 AMI have ran to the grocery store several times in the last few months to pick up small items. High gas prices have helped me get in shape. Maybe I should ask BP or Shell if I can be their "Jerod"!!!! :)
Posted by: Frese at May 2, 2008 11:16 AMI drive the smaller family vehicle when I can, and once I get some stuff around the house done, the bike's getting a workout--as it has for the past 30 years of my life.
Posted by: Bike Bubba at May 2, 2008 11:41 AMI'm glad we bought a Honda Fit last fall. It's a great little car, and we can actually get 34/40 MPG City/Hwy, br driving well. Plus, it was *way* less expensive than a hybrid.
I was going to start riding my bike to work, but broke my leg instead, so that plan went out the window for the time being. It's cut our gas expenses to only have 1 person driving, though, instead of 2...
Posted by: Natros at May 2, 2008 01:09 PMThere are a handful of seminary guys & gals who are seriously considering buying a scooter. I know of one couple who just bought one. With just $1500 you can get a new scooter with 80 miles to the gal. Take out a loan, put a little down payment, and your gas + monthly payment would be less then what we're currently paying in gas alone. I'm beginning to wonder why I need a full size car when my wife already has one. Especially since I'm only carrying books around (that doesn't require much room at all).
Posted by: Matt L at May 2, 2008 03:43 PM@Andrew -- my parents bought one of the new Civics just recently. I'm 6'4", 210, and I fit great. There's room to spare. My dad is 6'6", 230, and he fits great as well. They drove it 1300 miles to visit us here in Florida over New Year's, and he said it was very comfortable. So buy the Civic! :)
Posted by: Jake Belder at May 2, 2008 06:19 PMThis will seem like a shameless plug for my blog, but it's really because I'm too lazy to re-write what I recently wrote there about an experiment I conducted to see if changing my driving habits would help increase my gas mileage. (It did) www.justincmcguire.blogspot.com
Posted by: Justin at May 4, 2008 12:40 AMFor reference, www.edmunds.com lists neat little things like "head room" in the qualities of cars. 40" head room (the new Civic apparently has 39.4" if I remember right) accomodates all but the very tallest sitting men.
38" used to be typical, which is my sitting height, and asian labels used to have a lot of 'em at 36-37" (example: Honda S2000).
Posted by: Bike Bubba at May 5, 2008 12:01 PM