Informal survey

[jhetley]

I was contemplating the general castigation current on the auto industry, bemoaning "Detroit's" pig-headed management decision to concentrate on pickup truck and SUV production and letting Japan steal the small car market.  And then, as I walked to fetch the newspaper and back, I counted passing vehicles.

Over half the traffic on State Street consisted of light trucks and SUVs.  Usual carrying one person, the driver, and with no visible cargo.  Folks, "Detroit" was producing those dinosaurs because that was what the American Driver wanted to buy . . .

I'm old enough to remember small cars like the Nash Metropolitan, the Henry J, the Ford Falcon.  "Detroit" has tried to produce small, fuel-efficient cars through the decades.  They've flopped in the market.  Instead, we bought highway battleships like my family's 1957 Oldsmobile, with a big V-8 engine and automatic transmission. 

Or a Ford Expedition.  What percentage of SUVs ever leave the pavement, except in an accident?

Comments

[wcg.livejournal.com]

I have no idea what that number would be Jim, but note this tidbit: Toyota currently has as much market share as all of GM in the American automotive market. Now sure, some of that is Toyota Highlanders, but much more of it is Corollas and Camrys.

[jhetley.livejournal.com]

Toyota made a fair number of those pickup trucks in my survey. Also "4Runners" and "Land Cruisers" and a couple of other Big Ass Machines that they developed especially for the US market but escape my memory at the moment.

Hey, I drive more car than I need -- the new Subaru packs a lot of empty cubic footage, for mostly one person. I've needed the full capacity twice since we bought it last spring . . .

And I won't need the AWD and ABS for another two weeks, at least.

[wcg.livejournal.com]

My Saturn seats five. In all the years I've owned it I've only had five people shoehorned into it once. Most of the time it's just me and the gear I haul around. Even so, I manage to get 36 mpg out of the beast. So I certainly don't begrudge you the Subaru. I had hopes of getting a Venture 1, but Venture Vehicles seems to be running afoul of the myriad problems associated with bringing a new vehicle to market in the US.

[jhetley.livejournal.com]

I was mainly putting out the "We have met the enemy and they is us" post.

Up until this summer, the Prius and other hybrids were niche cars selling to people who cared more about the environment than about cost, like one of Wife's coworkers at the Nature Center. Even with orders in hand, Toyota hasn't been able to ramp up production to meet demand. And now people are post-market modifying them for plug-in use, because the factory model isn't efficient enough . . .

I get over 30 mpg on highway driving. And drive 3000-4000 miles per year. Boosting that mileage to 60 or even 100 mpg would save how many gallons of gas? For how much additional first cost?

[unixronin.livejournal.com]

A Venture or something comparable would be very cool. Almost the ideal commuter.