Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Another Thought on Detroit

This is really just a follow up to the previous post, based on the same Yahoo article. I have often heard that the auto industry forced American's to buy gas guzzling vehicles. Not only do the previous statistics fly in the face of that statement, so do the manufacturers vehicle line ups. All three members of the Big 3 produce cross over vehicles aimed at the SUV crowd with an eye toward gas mileage. Chrysler and Dodge have the Pacifica and the Magnum; GM has the Acadia, Equinox, HHR, and SRX - each with 20+ highway MPG; Ford has the Edge and Flex. But "consumers have not embraced them as the new family car", sales are sluggish or dead. In fact Chrysler and Dodge will no longer be producing either of their offerings. Detroit did respond to the MPG issue, Americans simply did not purchase the vehicles, opting instead to stay with their traditional trucks and SUVs.
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1 comment:

  1. KevinGDecember 31, 2008 at 12:09 PM

    I think those who wanted to, "stay with their traditional trucks and SUVs" certainly did.

    At dinner with some male friends last week, of the 8 of us, all but I admitted the desire to drive a large truck. Don't get me wrong, I like to drive my 12 pass. van too. I like the feeling of sitting up higher off the road. I also loved to drive my Jeep Cherokee (especially off-road), back when I had it. But the Jeep only got 17 mpg and my van even less.

    I drive a small foreign car (if you consider Mazda foreign. I used a family members Z Plan discount when I bought it) almost 100 miles in my daily commute to work. Even at 6 years, with over 180K miles, it still gets 30+ mpg. I think that the increase in sales of foreign cars is where the interest in more fuel economical sales went. FWIW, when I bought my Mazda, I drove a Focus and a Cavalier. No comparison.

    I'm looking forward to checking out the 2010 Ford Fusion Hybrid.

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