It’s amazing how some things can stay the same for so long that you’re sure they’ll never change until, rather suddenly, they do. One good example of that is the current radical shift we’re seeing in the car-buying habits of the average American.
It seems we’ve all given lip service to worrying about fuel economy when we’re shopping for cars since at least the Carter administration. But in reality it has never been a primary motivator for most of us.
Certainly there have always been spendthrifts among us (and I admit that I’m one of them) who have looked very hard at the MPG rating for every car they’ve ever thought about buying. But it seems that until very recently most Americans wanted their cars to ride high, have lots of room inside, and respond quickly when they punched the accelerator. And if getting all that meant visiting their friendly neighborhood filling station several times a week they were willing to make that sacrifice.
But it’s different now. Gas prices have gone up so high so quickly that a solid majority of Americans seem to have been suddenly shocked out of their gas-guzzling stupor. People are suddenly very serious about trading in their oversized SUVs for smaller cars that will carry them a lot further between fill-ups. Circumstances have forced us all to become gas-hawks.
Maybe the biggest victims of our sudden change of heart are American car manufacturers. After many years of making good money selling us those big, gas-guzzling monstrosities we love so much they have been caught flat-footed by the dramatic change in buyer preferences. Many jobs are going to be lost as a consequence of what is happening and the very survival of the big three American car companies is now in doubt.
That is not to say that they aren’t trying to change. GM in particular has generated some buzz in the industry with an “almost” fully electric car called the Volt that they are planning to bring to the market in 2010. Not long ago the Volt was just a concept car that GM trotted out during auto shows to show how serious they were about developing the “car of the future.” But now they realize that they may not have a future if they don’t get something on the market that can compete with Toyota and Honda in the fuel efficiency department, so the Volt has been fast-tracked.
GM says the Volt will be able to travel up to 40 miles on battery power alone, and beyond that it will sip a little gas to recharge its batteries and get you down the road another 600 miles or so before needing a recharge. That means it will beat the pants off the hybrids that are on the road right now, and you will be able to recharge the battery by plugging it into a regular wall socket in your garage.
The catch? Well, the key to the Volt’s superior performance is its fancy lithium-ion battery, and those things don’t come cheap. The expected price of the little hatchback has been estimated to be anywhere from $30K to $40K, or perhaps even more. No one really knows what the target price will be at this point, but it is highly likely it’ll be a lot more expensive than other cars that are similarly sized and appointed.
Perhaps by that time gas will be so expensive that we’ll be willing to make the investment in a car that stretches a tank of gas so far. At the very least, give GM some credit for trying to stay relevant.
Let’s hope that it’s not too little, too late. I’d hate to see another big American industry go the way of the dodo.
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