Survey: Drivers Still Like SUV’s Despite Gas Hikes

I like flying in private jets and dating supermodels....

 

Well manufacturers are not going to be improving fuel in their trucks. So they will still remain viable as gas prices rise for people, and mini-vans still have that uncool stigma.

 

You know how much petrol/gas is over here and SUV's are still quite popular. They recently increased the annual road tax for such vehicles to about £500 A YEAR in addition to the highly taxed petrol which has finally had the affect of reducing sales of such vehicles.

Trouble is, this sort of high tax is meant for city dwelling SUV's but had the secondary negative affect of hitting farmers and residents in the country.

People like SUV's. I know if petrol was free and unlimited that I'd be selling my Prius and getting one, but it isn't and it isn't for I won't.

 

Hey, people are stupid. The Nazi's were -voted- into power...

 

I love, love, love my Acura mdx. Did I mention I love my mdx? Sadly, though, 17.9mpg premium & driving 15+k a year is pushing me to drive something practical - prius- and get rid of the Acura. Deciding between two models this week and should be a prius owner by Saturday afternoon..... Very mixed feelings, though, despite all evidence pointing in the prius direction.

 

"despite soaring gas prices" ... "in June 2008" June 2008 the price of gas was $4.10, it is currently $3.60. Intereesting definition of 'soaring'.

 

Did I butcher that sentence there. I'm not even sure what exactly I was there.

But anyway, people didn't stop likely their SUVs and trucks. They didn't like paying more for gas, but the improvements that are raising fuel economy in the new small cars are also being used in the larger ones.

 

Even when gasoline goes to $20 gallon ($5 Liter), people will continue to substitute oil for knowledge. Fossil fuels permeate our culture and we cannot yet imagine living without fossil fuels. The time to invest in walking & bicycle routes, light & high speed rail and compact communities is overdue. People will complain all the way while being devoted to SUVs they "have to have."

 

I suppose if you have a big SUV and don't drive it very much then perhaps that is not such a big problem. Seems the problem would be having a gas guzzling, sub 20 MPG vehicle, then pumping 20 gallons / week in it spewing 400 lbs / week or 20,800 lbs of CO2 / year.

 

Right. But they are comparing June 08 with Now. For the vast majority of that time gas prices have been lower than June 08. If the contention is that there is a correlation between gas prices and SUV ownership (as they expect us to think from the 'despite' phrasing) then that correlation would have SUV ownership higher now than it was in June '08. Which it is.

If they want to show something interesting they need to actually track SUVs / Dollar gas price.

 

Well, you can lead a horse to water but you can't make him drink.

As gas goes up the cost of the status of a large vehicle goes up. And it is indeed status. Virtually all SUV owners would find better utility in a minivan and cheaper operating costs; they're in an SUV because it's an SUV and not a minivan, which would attack their fragile sense of worth.

The only SUV that does it for me at this time is the Hylander Hybrid, but there is absolutely no vehicle in the country that gets as good mileage with a third row.

Agree and shouldn't be hard. We know that gas has been steadily increasing at a good clip for many months, though, and recent sales in 2011 indicate still strong interest in these vehicles.

 

... preliminary signals from the market suggest consumers are shifting direction again as gasoline prices rise. At Truecar, shoppers' online searches and page hits so far in March show a 31% increase in interest in subcompacts and small cars, and a 5% drop in consideration of large and medium-sized SUVs.

At rival shopping site Edmunds.com, 14% of shoppers looked at compact cars in early March, up from 12% in February.

Gas at $4: A Subcompact Sweet Spot? - MarketWatch

 

Did you glean that from TrueTrends - Consumer Buying Trends, New Car Sales & Auto Industry Forecasting by TrueCar ?

 

people have seen fluctuating gas prices once too many. most will stay with their SUVs thinking its cheaper to ride out the price spike.

only time will tell if they made a good decision or not

 

Gas prices gain over the last decade have easily exceeded inflation.

 

I just quoted from the Marketwatch article, it's possible that's where they gleaned the info.

 

They didn't. you happy about the war in Libya? no? me neither.

 

Here's the chart.
Inflation adjusted Oil Price Chart

We are getting close to the inflation adjusted price of oil in 1979. We did spike to higher levels in 2008 because of financial speculation. There is a risk premium in the price of oil today because of potential revolution in the gulf states. If things heat up oil prices will go higher. If things cool down prices should drop, but not back down to $40 levels. If someone has a SUV chart, I would be happy to graph them together.