Some Americans will never learn. Never!
After being largely shunned during the recession, high-riding SUVs and workhorse pickups are regaining favor as U.S. consumers grow more confident and fuel prices remain below the $4 a gallon level that triggered a shift away from larger vehicles.
The rebound was clear Thursday as U.S. auto sales in November hit a 13.6 million annual pace, the strongest in more than two years, with sales of trucks and SUVs surpassing cars at many auto makers.
This is exactly why don’t need a recovery; we need reform.
did you know that trucks are often used for work?
@1) SUVs!
Good think Americans have the attention span of houseflies, ’cause when President Romney declares war on Iran and gas goes up to $10 a gallon all these armor-lovers are going to be right pissed off.
SUVs are zoot suits, that’s all.
Some humans will always wear zoot suits. It’s in our nature and of course we will “never learn”.
(Look it up, OK?)
@2: the configuration of the vehicle means shit. all that matters is MPG. the Ford Escape hybrid gets 32 mpg combined. better than a volvo c30 at 21/30.
@3. Gas is going to go up to 5 again next summer. A few things to think about: how stable is Iraq and Libya? How about the rest of the middle east? When the global economy starts to grow again the demand in India and China are going to bloom like no other. I think a lot of people are going to regret buying SVUs this winter.
Because according to CNN right now, Americans think they are EXCEPTIONAL!! I’m not sure at what, but they sure think they are exceptional!!
But let’s be honest, you need an SUV to haul the average fat-assed American around.
Americans drive vehicles with dreadful gas mileage because gasoline is way underpriced.
My zoot suit gets 6 miles to the gallon!
Charles, be very weary of any business analysis from the WSJ. They have an obvious agenda.
As Bloomberg reports, concerning the same data:
while, for US automakers
And 49% is bigger than 29%. (By over 40% too!)
American light car sales were outstripped by SUV sales. (And many of those were the new, highly oxymoronic hybrid Escalades & Explorers) Whereas for the imports, it was a whole different story.
I’m happy with my new Smart: 31 city, 44 highway.
@2
SUVs are used in many lines of work. Like the rapper industry, for example. Or the celebutante industry. The SUV accessories industry, naturally. Many important public service jobs require an SUV, such as SUV crash safety tester, to name one. SUV salesmen would look pretty silly if they didn’t drive SUVs themselves, wouldn’t they? There are many, many jobs requiring an SUV.
we need reform, in oh so many ways – and we need a recovery that involves beginning to steer away from consumerism – something that, if it’s to work, will take long and concentrated effort, therefore, it’s extremely unlikely to happen. We are a nation of short-sighted, lazy, greedy dolts now, proudly so, and this is reinforced and celebrated everywhere in our culture. Changing the course of train will probably require a spectacular “wreck” of some kind.
@13 – you left out the hardest job of all, being a mother.
Modern SUVs get 22 to 28 mpg on average, Almost twice what old ones did.
This is good news.
But my wife crapped out a half dozen children (I mean that’s responsible right?) and they all go to different private schools and then I have to take them all to different after school activities and I live about 30 miles from my place of employment. I mean I have to HAVE an SUV!!!!!
What do you think I should do? Live close to work, practice family planning and consider the number of kids I want? What the fuck are you? A COMMIE!!!!!!!??????!!!!!!
Note I did not address hybrids per se, just the entire blue book SUV class.
If I take 100 city folk who drive 10-20 miles a day and upgrade from 28 mpg cars to 46 mpg cars, and I take 100 suburbanites who drive 40-100 miles a day and upgrade from 16 mpg SUVs to 28 mpg SUVs, which group has the largest impact.
The suburbanites.
my 2010 car is definitely classified as an suv even though it’s more in the crossover vein and according to the dash computer i average 22mpg real-world-usage.
that is better than a lot of smaller cars.
@11 is right. You should read War at the Wall Street Journal if you are going to trust the WSJ as a source. With this, the WSJ is trying to send a signal to people that it’s okay again to buy SUVs – everyone is doing it. It’s Rupert currying favor with the Koch brothers, which is the source for half the stories the WSJ runs.
@17,
Cute, but child car seats being as large as they are, and with the requirement that pre-adolescent children ride in the backseat, just having three kids means you need to drive an SUV or station wagon. And station wagons aren’t necessarily that fuel efficient.
I, personally, think it’s crazyballs to have more than two kids, let alone kids who are less than five years apart in age, but many Americans want that lifestyle. And your being an asshole about it isn’t going to change their minds.
@4- Horses are legal everywhere but the freeway or someplace else a law has been made against them.
Heck, my Escape that isn’t a hybrid gets better gas mileage than many small sedans. 25 in town and 28 on the highway, which is better than my friend’s Mazda.
Prius Drivers as a group, are sort of irritating drivers by the way. It’s okay to drive more than 20 mph.
@18, the atmosphere doesn’t care whether you live in the city or how many miles you drive. It cares about how much CO2 we release. Period.
@23 http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_rpwkiqfJwYk/SP…
This graph suggests otherwise.
For the most part it’s hard to make an argument for SUV’s, most people don’t need them. A lot of us who drive trucks DO actually NEED them to do real work… My boyfriend and I have two, a Chevy 1500 that he uses to haul tools to jobs and to haul debris from jobs. Whenever possible he drives his compact car to save on gas $.
I have an F250 that I inherited when my parents retired and we bought the farm. It sits in the driveway 90% of the time because I don’t enjoy paying $100+ to fill the beast up, however I need to it haul hay, grain, shavings, firewood, and a horse trailer at least a couple of times a month if not more. It has also come in handy more times than I can count for uprighting our tractor which likes to tip over, getting the small cars out of the driveway in the snow.
Frankly an SUV would probably get better gas mileage than my truck, but would probably be less utilitarian. Anyway my point is, some of us actually use our big cars for utilitarian purposes so you really can’t lump everyone together.
@26 You are spot on.
If you just stand back and look at what people need to accomplish and the tools they choose, it’s just crazy. You know, a bicycle is a pretty smart way to get 1 person 6 miles. A truck is a very useful tool for hauling 2,000 lbs of hay. People are driving around the city in what are basically trucks.
I’d like to see the transportation / climate change debate change focus onto something more relevant to the avg person: It costs $8,000 a year on average to own and maintain a vehicle in this country. When you compare that to the average income, it’s a pretty scary thing.
Americans don’t even have access to great fuel-efficient cars. Visit Germany, France, Argentina, Japan…there are awesome cars that get outstanding mileage. Cars you would actually want to drive, not just crappy econoboxes. You won’t see them in the U.S., our domestic car companies and friends in congress make sure of it. Check out the Volkswagen Polo GTI: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uKx7rJAGw…
or Renault Clio: http://www.renault.com/en/vehicules/rena…
@21- I’ve fit two kid seats and a boaster in the back of a Hyundai Elantra.
Most people who drive SUVs for their families actually would be better off with a minivan (not great gas mileage, but better), but the auto industry has invested a bunch of energy into making them uncool.
@23 – Prius drivers: Many of them are staring at that damn monitor in the dashboard, obsessing over gas mileage and the minutiae of their car’s workings. Those things encourage very bad driving habits.
Why do men driving Prius look pussy whipped?
Penis inadequacy will always be with us. Until we develop a new phallic symbol, the SUV will have a place in the American garage.
@21, 29: My Volvo wagon can fits seven! Same MPG as a car and frankly better cargo space than many SUVs out there.
@28
I just rented a VW polo in Iceland, fun little car, too bad I wasn’t allowed to drive over 90 KPH in that shit hole nanny state. A lot of sloggers would love it there.
I currently drive a light truck but am going to trade it in on a Toyota FJ, for the extra space and 4wd, you see, I like to get out of the city. I won’t even notice if I ran over a pile of Mudede in the road.
30, I wondered about that. It seems coasting from one point to the other is the extent of effort they are willing to invest.
Eventually, I’m hoping the hybrids will have more affordable parts. The charging battery deal costs as much to replace as a new transmission.
In other words… Americans are still idiots.