A Compact, With Less of the Devil

Small cars gaining popularity in U.S. amid high fuel costs

Posted at 9:48 AM on 02 May 2008

High gasoline prices and other economic woes have driven car-buyers in the U.S. to purchase smaller, more fuel-efficient vehicles lately. Last month, sales of compact and subcompact cars made up about 20 percent of total sales; in the mid 1990s, small cars accounted for only about one in eight cars sold in the country. Sales of vehicles with four-cylinder engines also outpaced sales of six-cylinder cars. "It's easily the most dramatic segment shift I have witnessed in the market in my 31 years here," said a Ford sales analyst. Meanwhile, sales of SUVs and trucks are seeing a sharp downward trend this year, with SUV sales plummeting 25 percent so far. Some market watchers are forecasting a continued shift away from big vehicles since gasoline prices are expected to remain high for a long while. "The era of the truck-based large SUVs is over," said the CEO of the biggest auto retailer in the U.S.

source: The New York Times

ADVERTISING POLICY

Comments: (8 comments)

You are not logged in. Thus, you cannot post a comment. If you have a Gristmill account, log in below. If you don't have a Gristmill account, well, by all means go make one! Meet you back here in five.

The Small-Car-Stampede is underwhelming

I like to be positive-minded, but I find this piece of news overblown, even off-topic if we are serious about addressing global warming. The emissions reductions we need require behavior change, not just technology change. We're leaning our mental ladders against the wrong wall as long as our thinking is strongly car-dependent and ignores other, healthier transportation options. More at http://alison97215.wordpress.com/2008/05/02/stampede-to-s ...
best,
Alison in Portland, Oregon

by Alison Wiley at 10:43 AM on 02 May 2008

Right On , Alison!

At least there are two of us saying this. Anyone else?

by Wolverine at 1:05 PM on 02 May 2008

I tend to agree with Alison,

... but these days, I'm happy to read ANY positive environmental news.

Of course we're not gonna solve our oil-dependency problems by simply driving cars that go 30% farther on a gallon of gas. But that is a trend that's nice to see, and to encourage.

Let's build upon that trend by offering our motoring-happy public some real alternatives to driving anywhere and everywhere:

Enlightened zoning laws that encourage transit-friendly, mixed-use development, and discourage expensive and unsustainable sprawl
Better public transit alternatives, whether they be dedicated high-speed bus lanes, light rail, or some half-assed attempt at building a passenger-rail system that, um, actually works
Reduced subsidies for Big Oil and Big Airports, with a transfer of the savings to alternative energy development and the activities described above.

Kudos to all those who are downsizing their cars. It's a start.

by GonzoDon at 3:45 PM on 02 May 2008

Alison nailed it

Considering the need to reduce America's emissions by 80-90% by 2020 to avoid catastrophic climactic "tipping points", the car culture must enter an era of nostalgia. There is just no way to achieve the emission reductions with cars as part of the mix no matter how we green-wash these fossil-fool powered wheelchairs.

By the way, these current "high" gasoline prices are the same, in real dollars, as the prices of 1981, and look where that led.

by human power at 11:13 PM on 02 May 2008

Sell your dinosaur now...

before the rush. The market is already glutted with used Ford F-150 and 250 series pickups and other trucks and SUV's of that size. Meanwhile a small Toyota or Nissan pickup 10 years old is selling for a considerable fraction of their new price.

Whatever car, truck or SUV you can afford to drive now I would guess you want to downsize two steps. If you are already driving a Prius or a Geo Metro think about a sturdy bike.

Gasoline is going to get seriously unaffordable and when that happens the big chunk of the economy that is focused on servicing car culture is going to collapse. That collapse in auto manufacturers, dealers, repairman, insurers, detailers and stereo salesman is going to take a bunch of other busineses with it.

At some point the whole mess will collapse as suddenly as the World Trade center. Each sector of the economy dependent on cheap gas cracking the one below that. We're going to play Jenga with the whole world economy.

Hopefully, I'm wrong.

Put the Carbon Back

by Pangolin at 12:13 AM on 03 May 2008

A more cynical person might think...

...the only reason for all of this is to pressure us to buy new cars...and sell the perfectly good old ones for a song.

Then, they can start letting us have cheap fuel again (whether it be e85, or hydrogen, or Brown's Gas (HHO)).

At which point, we can start buying bigger cars.

Again.

by jabailo at 9:41 AM on 03 May 2008

I just saw the first Smartfortwo

they are just starting to ship now, on schedual. It gets 45 mpg and literally has two front seats. No back seat.

John McCain already vetoes every eco bill

by dotcommodity at 1:05 PM on 04 May 2008

never happy

Folks, barring a crisis much more serious than what we are experiencing now, society isn't going to make wholesale immediate changes. The free market is doing a good job of shifting folks into efficiency. Legislate later-get them thinking small on their own, first. This increase in compact sales is the best environmental news in years. Not everyone can bike to work or take mass transit or move closer to their job. What is going on now is incredible. There are tons of "gearheads" out there that pracatically overnight, instead of brainstorming ways to make more horsepower, are finding ways to make more mpgs. And best of all, people are starting to slow down on the road and are driving more sane.

by bkrell at 10:25 AM on 28 May 2008

The comments of Grist users reflect the opinions of those individuals only, and do not necessarily reflect the viewpoints of Grist, its staff, its board members, their psychotherapists, or their aestheticians. Got it?