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.
You know, I try not to be the typical liberal stereotype, but: I really fucking hate America sometimes.
Americans are like goldfish. High gas prices are a surprise every time.
Well, it appears the feeling is mutual.
i love fucktards. they will help out the American auto industry and then in a couple of months bitch and moan cause there vehicle is worth 30% less already and they have to pay for the recent mideast gas hike. I cant fucking wait for that.
Hold on it has been a minute since i started typing and i forgot what just happened. mayeb i should buy that suv……………………………..
I must be american this attention span thing is killing me.
Most people are suckers, what can you do?
It’s not too surprising. They were practically giving them away on the used car lots this summer, while anything even remotely fuel-efficient was getting large premiums. Even at $5 a gallon, a gas guzzler is a good deal if it’s ten grand less than an efficient car.
But gas’ll never go up again, will it?
LOVE IT OR LEAVE IT!
Another underdog victory for that rag-tag band of lovable misfits we call consumers. You guys are the best!
I’m not worried, if gas prices ever get too high again, we can just declare war on another oil-rich country.
SUVs got through the snow.
Rail didn’t
Cars didn’t
Buses didn’t
Planes didn’t
Only SUVs meet the challenging road conditions that you like to drive in.
Only SUVs give you the luxury and roominess you love!
See you Puget Sound SUV dealer today to drive away with a great deal!
This is why a carbon tax is critical.
And why a federal one (given our state constitution) is a great idea.
this love it or leave it bullshit is an excuse for stupidity and consumerism. change is good, people. this is why gas needs to be at least $4 a gallon ALL THE TIME.
Maybe everyone should just buy a Corolla, put some decent tires on it once in a while, and keep a damn snow shovel in the trunk when it snows. The combination works pretty well; I didn’t miss a day of work, and live on a giant, steep hill. Although I guess if you need to fit a couple of car seats, you might want to upgrade to a yuppie-mobile Subaru. 😉
You know what is worse than this? The government giving GMAC 5 billion at 8% to offer 0% for 5 year loans to people with FICO score at 621.
That’s right, the Federal government lent money to a business that has no intention of making a money.
I don’t hold a love it or leave it mentality, but when fellow Americans start talking about how Americans are stupid… well, check your country of origin. What does that make you? The only smart person in a nation of 300+ million? You’re the bright shining light bulb? Impossible.
This year, I came to realize that I’m not the genius I thought I was. (No, really. I was in that much denial.) I hope everybody else gets that chance in 2009. (About yourselves, not to realize I’m not a genius. It was pointed out a lot this year anyways.)
@14: Says the guy who links to a myspace profile on Slog.
Just sayin’.
Yeah, but he could have a lame Facebook profile instead, @15.
@9: Does that mean I’m better than an SUV, since I walked right past the stalled ones? Oh man, that must mean I call the shots!
Turkey dinners for everyone!
and yet, I saw many, many SUV’s having problems getting around last week because the drivers didn’t know what the fuck they were doing…
Buy an SUV for the one week of snow you might encounter in Seattle?
Surely they are pulling statistics out of their ass.
@18 – plus, they’re top heavy.
Seriously, if you want to get around during snow get a Ford F-150 and make sure you have a few sandbags or dead Republicans to throw in the back for traction.
Trucks with 4WD make SUVs look like weinerdogs.
Fuck off, Will. Trucks suck in the snow too, and are worse than SUVs for gas reasons.
I watch almost no TV. But over Thanksgiving I watched a football game at my brother’s house with the family. I’d guess that roughly half the ads were for SUVs and Pickups. And not those dainty little Honda CRVs. These ads were for the testosterone leaden, 12 mpg, huge Suburbans and F250s and stuff.
It’s no wonder big SUVs are selling well. The big 3 are promoting the fuck out of them, and selling them dirt cheap, desperately trying to unload their back stock. American males entire sense of masculinity is now tied to owning these gas guzzlers. The clear implication of these ads is that only a nancy boy drives a Prius; real men drive trucks!
My brother, of course, owns a truck. He’s never hauled anything more arduous than one of his kid’s bikes in it. But by owning a truck, he can prove to the world that he’s more of a man than his homo brother.
Can we please shove gas back up to $4 a gallon?
Is the driver of that fucking SUV “walking” his dog. christ.
When I lived in Washington, I got around just fine even in some record snowfalls, in a Subaru wagon. Now that I’m well south, and driving a Saturn sedan that gets 32 mpg thank you very much, two of my co-workers are driving SUVs — apparently for the dangers posed by rain puddles in the parking lot of their local supermarket. One is a strapping fellow, well over 6’4″; the other is a tiny woman, under 5’5″ and probably weighing 100# (I haven’t figured out how she can even see over the steering wheel). Neither one of them gets even 12 mpg — closer to 8. Obviously, we need to bomb more oil-rich countries, and soon.
Tried to take a bus last week — my route was one of the few supposedly running (HA!). Ended up going back home and returning to the bus stop a few minutes later. Gave a ride downtown to 4 people who’d been waiting with me — in my SUV.
Yes, we (me, spouse, kid) have a crappy little clown car for most of our in-town driving. But when it comes to skiing in the winter, or carrying all our camping gear in the summer, nothing beats the SUV.
And I know how to drive it.
Don’t hate the consumers. Hate the producers, who have had plenty of opportunity to make a product that people want to buy but that runs cleaner and with less environmental impact. I like my SUV (crossover, actually) and will continue to drive it or something like it until the effin’ auto manufactures produce something that voids, once and for all, this silly false choice between utility and the environment.
When we had that freakish snow “storm” in South Louisiana a couple of weeks ago, the people who struggled the most on the slushy streets were the people driving SUVs. Not a single one of my SUV driving coworkers made it into work, while all of us driving cars did.
And before you criticize about not taking public transit, you can’t get anywhere in my part of my city by bus. It would take me about 4 miles of walking and two and a half hours to get to work, while my drive is less than 10 minutes. I wish our transit system was better. When I lived in a real city, I didn’t own a car and I managed just fine.
Sigh.
Wow, I’m really glad my feeling of masculinity is based on my giant dick instead of on my Jetta.
@26: Exactly! This!
@14. That is completely ridiculous logic. Because I think that what a large number of Americans are doing is stupid, then I must also be stupid? Okay, then. I could say something snarky about how I agree that you’re not a genius, but, you know, it just seems too obvious to point out.
They make hybrid SUVs now you faggot bitch.
@31 Thanks, Captain Obvious. What took them so long?
It’s obvious why some people want SUV’s: They’re fat and they have control issues, so they want to be able to see over the car in front of them.
Oh, and the men are either balding, or their dicks are small. I know that’s a stereotype, but it’s a true stereotype.
Predictably depressing. Comment #10 has it nailed. We need a steep carbon tax immediately. We the idiots will never make intelligent choices unless they happen to coincide with our wallets.
It has been obvious since 1973 that we need to get off oil. And, yet, we the idiots bought bigger faster stupider cars for an entire generation.
If you need to drive off road, you do not need a lot of horsepower. The Subaru Jimny I rented in Belize did just fine on worse roads than exist in this country. It had a 1.3 liter engine and probably got better mileage than my ’92 camry, though I didn’t check.
You do not need to do 0-60 in 4 seconds flat up the side of a mountain. And, you certainly don’t need a vehicle capable of doing so to get to the stupidmarket for a loaf of bread.
As for the soccer moms, kids fare very poorly in rollover crashes making SUVs not only more dangerous than mid sized cars due to the higher risk of rollover, but specifically much more dangerous for your kids.
@33
I hate not being able to get a proper view of what’s infront of the car ahead of me. Why can’t I get a proper view? Cause half of these fuckwits are driving SUVs. Biggest pet peeve is when there is a SUV in the turn lane opposite of me and I can’t see any of the oncoming traffic because they’re pulled out too damn far into the intersection. They pull out like they can’t see oncoming traffic but YOU’RE IN A GD SUV YOU WASTE OF SPACE!!!!!!!
To all you delusional. self righteous liberals in Seattle: Go fuck yourselves. I’m going to hop into any one of my wonderful SUV’s and go have a cocktail while the sun sets over the beautiful Pacific. By the way, I agree with the person on here who said gas should be at $4/gal all the time, in fact it should be $5. Keeps all you nickeldick joyriding liberals off the streets. Just showing a little love from Huntington Beach, CA.