All Cars, All the Time

High Gas Prices? How About a V8?




Sound a little incongruous? Well, apparently not to customers in the USA. Big engines stayed as popular in first three months of the year despite rising gas prices. Analysts don’t expect a big rush to small cars, either. Rather a move to car based crossovers and sedans is expected.

You can see the “outrage” on TV as local stations interview folks at the gas pumps seemingly everyday now. But that’s just a lot of talk. People want legislators to do something to fix the situation. But what if oil prices are beyond the powers of politicians? You can throw around phrases like political instability or thinly stretched supplies, but what is really taking us to the cleaners are speculators, big hedge funds. Right now oil is proving to be a great vehicle for investment dollars and those folks won’t stop until they find a breaking point.

It’s true that Americans need space, lots of space and the power to move that space with authority. However, would $3+ gallon gasoline change those buying habits over the coming months? It’s hard to say. I can say from my own personal experience that even at $4/gallon I’m not going to give up my minivan for long family trips. Now I have started using the scooter to get to work, but that’s as much to do with the improving weather as it is gas prices. Moving forward, if I could get my next minivan with a diesel and mileage in the 30s, you bet! I look forward to developments that will allow us have our cake in eat it to. Hydraulic launch assist, increased use of lightweight materials, Homogeneous Charge Compression Ignition, and the recapture of waste heat are just of the developing technologies that I’m looking forward to.

Of course, I’m still a big proponent of small cars. I like B segment cars that are hitting dealer lots right now and I hope that they do well: Honda Fit, Toyota Yaris, Nissan Versa to name some. Of course there are already established cars in the space such as the Chevrolet Aveo. I also hope that the Mazda5 “people carrier” does well.

This will be an interesting summer driving season. It’s anybody’s guess what will happen, but I look forward to covering the news!