Automakers Hurting As Consumers Abandon SUVs and Trucks

Every time I pass a used car lot full of SUVs and giant trucks, I want to do a little jig. It just warms my heart to know that people are abandoning these ugly gas guzzlers by the hundreds every day. Of course, it wasn’t the sudden realization that they’re bad for the earth that did it – it was the pressure on SUV owners’ wallets after gas prices rose so quickly – and that’s okay, for now. What’s important is, during the summer of 2008, people stopped buying SUVs.

Earth2Tech wrote about ‘The Summer We Stopped Buying SUVs’ last week:

Even Toyota failed to keep up with changing demands. It sold 17,806 hybrids in June, two thirds of them Priuses. But it sold three times as many light trucks: 53,957 of them. Even so, light-truck sales were down 32 percent in June. Toyota may market itself as a maker of fuel-efficient hybrids, but it’s just as exposed to America’s shunning of SUVs as any carmaker.

Toyota’s performance in June was so disappointing that General Motors was able to cling onto its title as the largest U.S. automaker. Only because GM’s 19-percent decline wasn’t as steep as Toyota’s, it still wears the crown.

That’s hardly a silver lining, it’s more like a string of tinsel. But in this economy, automakers will take good news where they can get it.

Call me a negative bitch, but uh – I really don’t care that automakers are suffering the consequences of their money-grubbing actions. They’ve been a major force behind holding back progress on green vehicles, for a variety of reasons, most of which involve greed. This whole situation is teaching them a lesson just like it’s teaching all of those SUV owners a lesson – it’s time to get green. If they want to survive, they better keep up.

Link [Earth2Tech]
Photo credit: Flickr user joguldi

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