Trucks outsell cars by widest margin in 5 years - Yahoo! Finance Sigh... here we go again w/the short term memories of Americans. However, do keep in mind that "trucks" includes a lot more than pickups. Per the article and how "light trucks" are defined they do include "pickups, SUVs, minivans and smaller SUVs". Many/most of the "crossovers" (what a vague definition") are also counted as "light trucks".
In key objective measures the economy is really no better than it was a year ago and it's hanging on by [a thread] unprecedented deficit spending at the federal level. Consumer sentiment is very poor. It's possible people are getting these after holding off for a while, it's possible their memory is bad. In any case, with the dollar getting hammered on the exchange markets and thus commodities markets (e.g. a barrel of oil went up 2% yesterday), it's just in time for these people to fill their great big gas tanks. I can't say whether oil is going up considerably or not (over the last ~2 years it's ranged from $140 to about $31 or so per barrel, volatile as heck), but gas has gone up in my area by a couple of dimes in the fairly recent past. It would take just another $14 to hit that $100/barrel level. And if that happens (I am not saying it will, but the chances seem very reasonable) these truck owners may be a case of fool me twice shame on me. Also, the great incentives on Priuses will be a memory. We use our Prius for primary driving. I have a 20 mpg/city van for my personal commute and driving when my wife is out. If gas stampedes up again I may seriously think about dropping it for a truck/SUV, something I could have done two years back when they were going for free or at the least buy a happy meal get an SUV. Nobody will want them, and since I don't drive all that terribly much it may be the perfect time to pick a used one up
The HHR is a light truck. Without know exactly which types are being sold, it's hard to make a call on whether the public is falling back into old habits.
If what you drive gets less mpg than the legal drinking age in the US, it is time to grow up and buy a real car... It seems that most of the people buying these vehicles are people that can barely afford to make the car payment and barely afford to fill the tank at todays prices. Arent some companies still offering "buy our car and you get a year of gas for free" as well? It is unsustainable, and when the crunch hits it will just make it worse for everyone. Toyota sells hogs too, but I think we all know where the brunt of this market really comes from. Not surprisingly they have some of the highest unemployment, lowest housing costs, and highest forclosure rates of anywhere else.
Incorrect, It's built on the Cobalt Chassis, Therefore it makes it a car. Well, I drive a S-10 4x4 everyday. gets about 16 to 18 MPG. It's paid for and I won't go further into debt buying a car for which I have no use for. I have a very great ability and access to tools to fix it if need be. If the Motor goes, I'll rebuild it. Even if gas were to hit that $5.00 per gallon mark, It's still saving me money not having a vehicle payment. I will never have payments on a vehicle again.
if it were really just trucks, i would say a lot of the unemployed are starting their own contracting business's.
Trucks and SUVs are great vehicles. I loved my F150s clear up to the time when fuel got to be about $2.60/gallon and I was spending > $80/week to fill up. Vehicles have been more of a finance scheme than the sale of an actual material product for a couple of decades now, so any calculations that don't take this fact into consideration would be dubious at best. Incentives for smaller and more fuel efficient vehicles just aren't there until fuel prices go up.....which they will.
cwerdna is quite correct that the definition of "truck" includes many vehicles and SUV's that I think a lot of people wouldn't necessarily instantly define as a "truck". If you include this fact, it should come as no suprise that "trucks" are outselling cars. Add to it the fact that trucks benefit from often being many peoples "only" vehicle but also many peoples 2nd vehicle...or additional vehicle to a car or sedan. Part of the rise of the "family" SUV came when federal safety standards were increased for automobiles. Automakers figured out the loop hole that these standards were applicable to cars and NOT trucks...which allowed them to cut corners with some safety equipment they were required to put in cars. Couple this with the ability to sell large SUV's typically for more than smaller cars....and consumers love for large automobiles that they like to imagine they can drive through deserts and over mountains and there you have it... I swear many of my "family" friends drive SUV's instead of cars or even mini-vans simply because they like the psychological connection that they are NOT driving a Mini-van or family car....It's Cooler to load the soccer team into the SUV than it is to load them into the car or Mini-Van...even if the difference, in functionality is negligible at best.
And thankfully, the commonwealth of Pennsylvania classifies it as a car with the lower registeration fees. Of course, they also classify my friend's Tahoe as a station wagon. So the annual fees were less than my Ranger. There are many cars that are trucks according to the EPA. At least some of the Subaru Outback trims are. It's a CAFE loophole for balancing out a manufacturers fleet truck average. I'm sure Toyota would have reclassified the Matrix if the Tundra had taken off.
