Finally, Hummers may become obsolete. Oh wait they already are? THEN GET THEM OFF THE ROAD. With our environment in shambles, it takes gas-prices to stop SUV from reproducing like wild-fire. I never thought, I’d say this, but thank goodness for ridiculously over-priced gasoline! Yes I hate it, but I’m beginning to see the good in it. I can see a land where there are no more Hummers knocking me out of my lane, Navigators taking up two parking spaces as once, or Expeditions getting 5 miles to the gallon. Well, not exactly no more, simply less and that is exactly where we need to start.
With gas prices and an all time high and our weak economy, major car dealerships have had to rethink their plans.
GM Chairman Rick Wagoner said the world’s largest automaker believed that American consumers were shifting permanently from sport utility vehicles and toward smaller vehicles. He said the company’s board had greenlighted production of a new small car in an Ohio factory and of its Volt electric vehicle — set to debut in 2010 — in Detroit.
“We at GM don’t think this is a spike or a temporary shift,” Wagoner said in a morning conference call. On Monday, the average for a gallon of regular gasoline reached $3.98 nationally and $4.24 in California.
Unfortunately with any good news comes the bad. By having to close down these four plants, several thousand jobs could be affected and in times where jobs a scarce, this is a frightening prospect for some.
Those plants are responsible for pickup truck and SUVs such as the Chevrolet Silverado, the GMC Envoy and the medium-duty Chevy Kodiak and are expected to end production no later than the end of 2009.”
But people aren’t going to stop buying cars, especially not in LA. Perhaps when we get better forms of mass transit, but even the fastest plans are still 10 years off. With bigger cars stopping production, smaller cars will take their place and new jobs will spring up. Toyota’s success with the Yaris and the Prius are proof of this. Perhaps GM will even go back to the drawing board to their old hybrid/electric car.
Ford Motor Co. said its sales declined 16% on the month, dragged down by a 41% drop for its Explorer SUV and a 31% decrease in sales of the F-Series pickup, the top-selling vehicle in the country.
Other companies aside from GMC have releases their results.
Ford Motor Co. said its sales declined 16% on the month, dragged down by a 41% drop for its Explorer SUV and a 31% decrease in sales of the F-Series pickup, the top-selling vehicle in the country.
For GM, pickups and SUVs have been deeply problematic for some time. But by far its worst division has been Hummer. Through April, Hummer was the worst-performing vehicle brand in the country, with sales down 29.6% from a year earlier, putting it below runners-up Mercury, Chrysler and Bentley.
“At this point, we are considering all options for the Hummer brand,” Wagoner said. “Everything from a complete revamp of the product lineup to partial or complete sale of the brand.”
Chrysler, which is viewed as among the most troubled of automakers, has denied persistent rumors that it would sell its Jeep brand, itself down 13% through April.
Volkswagen said its sales for the month were essentially flat, with a less than 1% increase.
The bottom line is, smaller more fuel efficient cars are the answer for our wallets and for our world.
Photo by andrew.petro and quotes by the LA Times.
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1 response so far ↓
1 Bobbie // Jun 4, 2008 at 10:43 am
I have to agree with you Mali! It would be wonderful if everyone were driving a hybrid instead of gas-guzzling, massive V-8 engined vehicles. It would be great to drive down the road and not worry about being barreled out of the way by a soccer mom in a suburban!
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