Interesting and informative

[mbossman2]

flash:

http://www.msnbc.com/modules/summer_...e.asp?speed=hi

Posted by rapier on www.forumclick.com

[hitchface]

I liked it! Wonder what they might say about this decade.

[glc]

Let's see - $3 a gallon gas, $50,000 gas guzzling SUV's, the economy can't be that bad if people keep buying and feeding them..........

[Force Flow]

Maybe not...when I was looking for a used car recently, there were a large number of SUVs up for sale.

[mbossman2]

SUVs sales and resale are extremely sensitive to gas prices. every time the gas prices spike, so does the number of SUVs going on the block.

I have a friend who worked for a car dealership and last year when the gas prices went nuts, he had a guy come in to trade his less than 6 month old Expedition for something more fuel efficient. That guy had to eat something like $15K as the bottom fell out of the SUV market.

The market is a wonderful thing - gas prices go up, smaller, more fuel efficient cars will become the vehicle of choice and 10mpg monsters will fall to the wayside.

[Force Flow]

I can't wait till this craze over SUVs is over. Maybe then prices will start to drop with less gas guzzlers on the road.

[hitchface]

No joke. I don't even see the cool-factor in the Escalade. Or Porsche's SUV either. Those are Sport Utility Vehicles that will never get used for that purpose. Like a glorified minivan.

[David M]

The popularity of SUV's varies with the affluence of the community. From what I have seen driving between poor and very affluent communities is that the wealthier are the more likely you are to have an SUV. In one community I drive through, Tiburon, it is common to see Porsche, Lexus, BMW and Mercedes SUV's. One private school I drive by in Tiburon has dozens of the these $50k+ SUV's lined up with parents waiting to pick up their their kids. In the poorer neighborhoods of Richmond and Oakland, they are relatively rare except for the occasional "bling" SUV with the over sized low profile spinner wheels and the rap blasting out the windows.

It makes perfect sense that the higher you're disposable income then the less concerned you are with the price of gas.

I don't think an increase in more fuel efficient vehicles will help drop the price of gasoline because the price for crude is based on world demand for energy and not solely domestic demand. Plus there are so many other things that use petroleum other than cars such as trucks, trains, aircraft, electrical generation plants, chemicals and other users of petroleum. It makes one wonder what percent is cars and what percent is everything else that uses petroleum?...and how just dropping demand amongst cars would have an overall effect?

BTW, I saw a couple hydrogen powered BMW 7 series cars on the back of an auto carrier the other day. It made me wonder, just how far can they go before there are no longer any hydrogen fueling stations within the cars driving range. It also made me appreciative of the Germans who are not frightened off by their last major hydrogen incident, the Hindenberg.

[Force Flow]

Originally Posted by David M It makes perfect sense that the higher you're disposable income then the less concerned you are with the price of gas.

I have yet to see anyone with a truely disposible income that wasn't as rich as Bill Gates. They always seem to try to live beyond their means with insane amounts of debt.

As for getting gas to decrease in price, sure, 20 people won't make much of a dent. 20,000 might move it half a cent. 200,000 might move it slightly more. If 2 million gas guzzlers are exchanged for fuel-efficient vehicles, then we might have something there. But until that happens, we probably won't see anything reflected in the numbers on the pumps.

It also made me appreciative of the Germans who are not frightened off by their last major hydrogen incident, the Hindenberg.

They most certainly are aware of the explosive nature of the gas by now Heck, remember, gasoline explodes too.