Hummer vs. Prius The surprising winner in the war for America's auto soul. By Daniel Gross, Slate ...But in recent months the Hummer has bogged down. Combined year-over-year sales of the H1 and H2 have fallen for the past five months. In January 2004, just 1,927 Hummers were sold—off nearly 50 percent from December 2003, and down by one third from January 2003. The future doesn't look very bright, either. Business Week reported there are 68 days worth of Hummers in inventory, and that GM has throttled back its 2004 sales forecast from 40,000 to 30,000. The sales drop reflects simple common sense. The Hummer is a mediocre car, with the quality ratings to show for it. The drop may also reflect a change in the zeitgeist. When you compare the fortunes of the Hummer to those of its opposite—Toyota's hybrid Prius, which can get upwards of 50 miles per gallon—it looks like the market may be shifting. First sold in the United States in 2000, the diminutive Prius remained a curiosity as the Hummer rose to celebrity. But sales rose to about 20,000 in 2002 and to 24,000 in 2003. Since the new 2004 model was introduced in the fall, the Prius has been stomping the Hummer. In November 2003, the Prius outsold the H2 by a 2-to-1 margin, according to Autodata. In January 2004, Prius sales were up 82 percent from January 2003...
More than just the static price of gas today, I really hope that people get the clue that oil and the price of gas is WAY volatile, and that buying a car that you'll have to put gas in for some number of years based on the immediate price of gas today is foolish...
That is true LM... but it has happened before. With U.S. consumers having a short memory, it may just happen again.
The one thing on our side is that now the price of gas is a function of production constraints AS WELL as politics. Demand is going up and the oil producing nations are not able to increase their output as easily as they have in the past. I would think that that's going to change the publics outlook (over time) because now it's not just a political thing that will blow over. Supplies are probably going to get tighter and that's gonna put steady upward pressure on the price of gasoline. To me that's the difference between now and the 70's and 80's. Also, there is the sense amongst many that we need to improve our energy security. That's an issue that wasn't close to hearts 20-30 years ago. Only time will tell I suppose.
You know what I saw today? A bright yellow H3 from Alberta. Wanna know what the licence plate said? It said TAXCASH bastard...
"As for Hollywood, Arnold’s not the only Hummer owner. Both James Cameron and Adrien Brody own one. H2s are also popular with rap artists and professional basketball players" - THE HUMMER & THE HYBRID Ah, so basically people that have no mental intellect.
Thinking about it. You're a rap artist raking in more dough than you can possibly spend so what do you do? spend it on the most expensive and wasteful thing you can think of. Short of building your $10M mansion with pool, courts etc etc, cars are the next easiest route of unloading that wad.
