[...] At Ford, sales of the Explorer, Expedition and Lincoln Navigator fell more than 50 percent compared with the same month a year earlier. The company also built its last Excursion in the month, ending production of its largest S.U.V.
At G.M., sales of the Chevrolet Suburban and Tahoe fell more than 50 percent, while the GMC Yukon was down 46 percent and the Cadillac Escalade fell nearly 23 percent, with the supersize Escalade ESV falling 40 percent. Sales of the Hummer H2, made by G.M., fell 32 percent. [...]
There's nothing like a little
Schadenfreude (and a train commute or a very small car) to start the day.
3 comments:
I was thrilled when I saw this news as well! I think I actually raised a fist in the air!
I had a sort of banal "aha moment" a couple of weeks ago, thinking about American and European cars. I had long reckoned that cars in Europe were so small because of the relatively narrow streets and scant parking in many cities. Then it dawned on me that even with our $3/gallon gas prices, we are still paying almost half what is paid in Europe for gas. So now it's finally dawned on me that gas prices probably also have a lot to do with Europe's petit car fetish. Let's just hope it starts to catch on here. Mini Coopers for everyone!
I'm waiting for an electric Mini Cooper (or at least a hybrid or turbodiesel) before I replace my VW. This news, and the fact that DeLay has piled up at least one more indictment, and Pat Fitzgerald will soon come out with charges against Rove and Libby et al., and especially the fact that Right Blogostan is all upset with George Bush IN ALL CAPS AND BAD SPEELLLNG AND CURSE WORDS about his choice of Harriet Miers (hey, maybe the old crony is OK after all), has put a little spring in my step today.
I can't believe the short memory of the idiotic American auto industry though. They did the same thing with full-size cars in the late sixties and early seventies. One little fuel supply hiccup and no one would touch a Ford LTD or Chrysler Newport with a ten foot pole and the Japanese almost put them out of business. Are they ever going to realize that oil is a finite resource?
It's not quite time to start dancing in the streets. Newsweek had an article here about how the SUV ain't dead yet. Hybrids get about 1% of the US auto market, SUVs a whopping 25%, pickups 19%. The SUVs may be downsizing a little, look9ing for the H3 instead of the full Hummer. Detroit et al. are looking to cross the 20MPG mark with their big vehicles- the "new magic number for social acceptability."
In college I had a Dodge Colt. It got 45MPG and when I was rammed in the driver side door by a car going at least 40, I walked away without a scratch. That's the car I want to have now. The Mini is really cool, tho.
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