Say Anything Blog

Thanks to lower gas prices, right now SUV sales are out pacing sales of smaller sedans.

Trucks and sport utility vehicles will outsell cars for the first time since February, according to a December report by Edmunds.com, which tracks industry statistics.

“Despite all the public discussion of fuel efficiency, SUVs and trucks are the industry’s biggest sellers right now as a remarkable number of buyers seem to be compelled by three factors: great deals, low gas prices and winter weather,” said Michelle Krebs of AutoObserver.com, a division of Edmunds.com, in a prepared statement.

“It was this summer that customers were concerned about the gas mileage. It hasn’t been a topic of conversation lately,” said Dave Lawson, the general sales manager at Pomoco Chrysler Jeep Dodge in Newport News. The majority of Pomoco’s inventory is SUVs, and its best-selling models are minivans.

If this illustrates anything it’s that while the activists and the politicians engage in the great public debates about pollution and fuel conservation, ultimately the public really only cares about prices.  If they feel like they can afford the fuel for an SUV they’re going to buy it.  Because that’s what they want.

Really, though, I think some of these sales can be deceiving.  I doubt that many Americans are buying or selling vehicles on a yearly basis because of fuel prices.  Meaning that many analysts may paint a picture of Americans super-sizing their rides because of lower fuel prices, really these SUV sales simply indicate the purchases of people in the market for a new vehicle now.  Which is probably an almost entirely different group than people who were in the market for a vehicle one of two years ago when gas prices were sky high.

Most Americans keep their vehicles for an average of 9 years in 2001 (the last year for which data is available from the NHTS).  Given the volatility of the fuel markets, most vehicle sales are very much based on how the purchaser is feeling about fuel prices at the moment.

Right now Americans are feeling pretty good about fuel prices.  Last year and the year before, not so good.  Next year?  Who knows.

Regardless, the choice on the type of vehicle to drive - and what kind of mileage that vehicle gets - should lay with the consumer, right?

Because this is still a free country, right?