Some Won’t Give up Hummers No Matter How High Gas Price Go

Some folks love their Hummers so much, they just don’t give a damn about high gas prices. Nothing will stop them from driving these monsters. Of course, a lot of the people that say that have plenty of money to burn, so what’s it to them? Sure, Hummers haven’t exactly been welcomed onto the streets by other drivers, and Hummer owners may find themselves the targets of flying eggs. But apparently, all of these factors don’t mean that Hummer lovers are going to give up their precious status symbols.

From USA Today

Maybe mega-SUVs are going the way of dinosaurs. Hummer sales have dropped 40% this year. But these beasts and the men and women who love them certainly don’t behave like endangered species.

“I told my wife when we bought this, ‘Honey, we’re investing in steel and rubber,’ says William Welch, a Philadelphia surgeon who, cigar clenched between his teeth, offers a guided tour of his lovingly tended jet-black H1.

“If it was $10 a gallon,” he says, “we’d still be out there.”

Some elephants… are just jerks. (+2 Simpsons Fan Points if you get that reference). Luckily, there aren’t too many of them left, since Hummer sales have slowed down so much that GM’s looking to sell. That means we’re less likely to see 45-year-old housewives barreling down suburban streets in these things on their way to a nail salon, for which we’re thankful.

Link [USA Today]
Photo credit: Flickr user George E. Norkus

Get Out Your Bicycles! Gas is Heading to $7 a Gallon

Jeff Rubin, a leading economist at CIBC World Markets, has a message for us all: start thinking about alternate transportation. In 4 years, gas prices will likely hit $7-$10 per gallon, making it too expensive for many people.

Treehugger has it:

“Stripping out natural gas liquids, oil production has not grown for over two years, which certainly goes a long way to explaining why oil prices have doubled over that period,” Rubin said. “It is increasingly clear that the outlook for oil supply signals a period of unprecedented scarcity.”

Rubin predicts hybrids will go “from marketing and PR fluff to the core of car production.” People will move closer to where they work. “I think there will be fewer people on the road in North America in five years than there is right now.”

Seems to me as if now is the time for cities all over America to start planning better public transit systems, since not all of us have the luxury of living close enough to walk or ride a bike to our places of work, grocery stores and other essential destinations - and the poor probably won’t be able to make that move. Let’s hope that the powers that be take this seriously.

The good news is, prices like this will definitely get more people to trade in their ridiculous look-at-me gas guzzlers in for something a little more reasonable. I’d venture to guess that we’ll be seeing less Hummers on the road, and I for one am happy about that, because my egg-throwing arm is getting tired.

Link [Treehugger]

Photo credit: Flickr user Brianfit