[traumer]

"consumers wouldn't buy more fuel-efficient vehicles even if prices passed $3 a gallon "

Let's just wait and see... :o)

[Pukin Dog]

I bought my H2 just so I could see over my neighbor's Escalade on the way to the Butcher, where I buy killed and sliced dead animals and scorch their dead carcasses over mesquite and hickory chips.

[Seruzawa]

I calculated how much gas would have to cost for me to get rid of my paid-for 15mpg '98 K2500 and replace it with a, say, Toyota Corolla. The break even point, including payment and insurance is $5.00 per gallon. At the rate I use the truck it will last me another 15 years. I'd be a fool to "save money" by buying a new car.

[templar]

I think most people are used to gas price spikes with a fairly rapid return to normal prices. They're willing to pay the price of low mileage, in the short term, with the expectation that fuel prices will drop to more normal levels in the near future. It it stays high, or increases, over the next year or two, I think a change in attitude will occur and the SUV will become an undesirable thing to own with loss of new sales and dropping resale values.

[yankeedame]

"consumers wouldn't buy more fuel-efficient vehicles even if prices passed $3 a gallon "

First,last and always the consumer will buy the item -- be it car, house, toothbrush, or pruning sheers -- that meets his needs. And will adjust his budget/life style to accommodate this cost. (A little fact of economic life that liberals fail to grasp.)

In short, $3 a gallon or not, folks who need an SUV -- whether real or perceived -- will buy an SUV. After all, it is their money.

[Husker24]

If you got the cash to spend $30-$40,000 on a vehicle, then spending some extra money on gas probably isnt a problem.

[blackdog]

My GMC Turbo-diesel gets better mileage than my neighbor's Toyota. It has utility and versatility as well.

Since the sunset of the station wagon, something had to take it's place. It was the minivan at first, then that fell out of poularity and was replaced by the Ford Explorer class vehicle.

Something had to take the place of station wagons.......In 1975, station wagons accounted for 40% of all vehicle sales. Pickup trucks were around 15%. In 2000, the ratio of SUV/pickup sales is around 45%. So there has not been much change since the 70's in buyers needs.