Big truck SUV sales down for good?

I think seeing those sales drop is great. Bad that they should lay off all those workers....that sucks. Keep and build some more efficient cars!!! Throughout high school and college, I had teachers and professors claiming that global warming is real but the overall opinion of most was that it was just environmentalist nonsense. I always believed that what I saw from charts and the sort was real. Through the years I have alway maintained that view and had hoped to see some kind of significant change from this country. I love the outdoors....grew up in the Natural State, hence I have always felt the need for more environmentalism. I think that it is sad that it has to take a substantial increase in fuel cost in order for this type of action to take place but as long as it comes along I will be happy! I see the need for some large vehicles for some peoples jobs and the such but come on. I work with a girl whose parents just bought her a brand new Expedition. She's about 5 ft., no kids, and doesn't use the car for anything but her daily driving. I was asking her the other day how much it cost her to fill up now and she really didn't know.... :blink: She kinda rattled off $50 or so but from how she answered she really didn't know......card goes in, I drive off. I was so shocked I couldn't go on. Just proves that if they've got the money they will still buy and drive with no idea what it is really costing them as well as the environment. Crazy crazy.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Erik @ May 3 2006, 12:39 AM) [snapback]248948[/snapback]</div>

but... IMHO that is not the main reason we should be very conservative with the natural resources we have. The main reason is that they are limited, and that lots of other people on this world did not (yet) have a chance to enjoy much of it. And the way we are consuming it, they may never get a chance at all, neither will our offspring.
There have been ice ages and warm periods on this earth and life has proven to be very resilient. But many species have already become extinct a long time ago, and being realistic, more will follow. It is not necessarily the best as it has been before.

 

I had a nice chat with the Ford sales person at the Alternative Energy Fair yesterday. Frank asked him about truck and SUV sales and he confirmed that they have dropped some but the main change has been rebates. People are buying trucks and taking those with the largest cash rebates "too use for gas money" my bet is not one in ten socks that money away to pay for the extra gas! The price is not high enough yet. You still see new SUVs on the street. Strangely enough more and more of the drivers appear to be women. That appears to be particularly true for the Escalades.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Begreen @ May 7 2006, 09:28 AM) [snapback]251084[/snapback]</div>

Norman Mineta is a Democrat. He served under Clinton's cabinet and now under Bush.

http://www.dot.gov/affairs/mineta.htm

 

Yep, Mineta is the lone democrat in the shrub's cabinet.

It seems as though he also subscribes to the 'throw money at tech' school of solving problems. A read of his biblio in wikipedia does help in explaining his POV.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(hdrygas @ May 7 2006, 01:18 PM) [snapback]251095[/snapback]</div>

Hang out at any Starbucks, any time of day, you will see them flock there.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Erik @ May 3 2006, 12:39 AM) [snapback]248948[/snapback]</div>

I feel the same way. I know for a FACT, that my wife's Camry hold's more stuff than the Ford Escape we rented a few months ago (because a drunk a-hole slammed into my wife's parked Camry).

80%-90% (not based on any research, just an observation) of the people driving SUV's/pick-up trucks don't need them. We've seen them. Shiny and clean. Never driven off road or used for their jobs.

I hope this is a trend back to the way things were going in the late 70's and 80's when Americans started driving small, fuel efficient cars. I feel we are on the cusp of a transportation change. Finally.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Erik @ May 3 2006, 01:39 AM) [snapback]248948[/snapback]</div>

I don't believe that I had ever really foreseen us actually running out of oil but I just never saw eye to eye with the people who believe in consuming every thing in sight in mass quantities. I've driven mostly small cars over the years and have always tried to conserve because it just makes sense. It has seemed that gas and oil prices have remained flat for long periods of time and that the oil companies would come out every once in a while to say that they were running out in order to pump up prices but wasting gasoline, but whether we're truly running out or not, is stupid.

 

Jack, it's not about running out. We've got another 50 years to go at least. It's all about rates. When the rate of supply can't quite meet the rate of demand, then the trouble starts.

Peak Oil is the name for when the supply peaks. But what happens if demand just plain outpaces supply? Peak Oil may not even matter. The trouble may begin when demand spikes, period.

There's plenty of oil... there just isn't enough oil for everyone.

Nate

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(naterprius @ May 8 2006, 12:37 PM) [snapback]251503[/snapback]</div>

Oh, I know, I'm just saying that even if oil peak and global warming weren't issues, I still think that wasting gasoline, or not conserving, is stupid.