Automobile Trends

[Smellincoffee]

Recently I emerged from the library to see the parking lot shared by City Hall, the Convention Center, and library employees completely filled with SUVs. Only one vehicle parked there was a car'. "Oh," I said, "It must be the Let's Blame the Government for High Gas Prices Meeting."

Why do SUVs continue to be so popular, a thousand days into $3/gallon gasoline prices? I have read that when the automobile companies tried to produce more efficient cars, the American market rejected them: they wanted monstrous vehicles that could transverse the surface of the moon, if need be, or give the Titanic a haul if there were a tow-rope long enough. And yet I can't help but notice that SUVs are advertised, and heavily. If people really wanted SUVs, would they need to be advertised? No one advertises bread, water, fresh vegetables, towels, or the like, because these are an actual need, a desire autonomously filled by the public. What is advertised is desire for fake products that has to be ginned up -- Coca-Cola and plastic toys. You could argue that advertisers are not promoting SUVs in general, but their SUVs in particular -- competing with the author sellers of stupidly big utility vehicles -- but the effect is the same.

How high does gas have to be to prompt Americans to buy better cars? And when will this fad of SUVs fad away? I witnessed the minivan craze when I was younger, and when SUVs appeared I thought it would be a similar case, but they're still going strong. On the highway they account for probably half of the vehicles I see.

 

[downtown]

I don't see what's hard to figure out. If you have lots of children, or if you have to routinely carry stuff, or if the weather sucks, you need a bigger car. That means either an SUV or a minivan.

And of course people advertise bread, towels, etc? You don't get a newspaper?

 

[Cutlass]

The short answer is that people drive SUVs because they are stupid and advertising works. A minor point is that minivans and most cars are dull as toast these days.

 

[warpus]

Americans love SUVs because they are athletic & fit and require vehicles to utilize all the sports that they engage in. The Sports utility vehicle is perfect for sports utilization, so Americans buy them up. In other, more obese countries, these vehicles aren't popular because the people who live there are generally lazy and overweight.

 

[schlaufuchs]

SUVs are really pretty goddamn rare in Northern California nowadays. They were dwindling in the mid-2000s as gas prices started creeping up, but the housing crash in '08 combined with the advent of commercially acceptable electric cars (such as the Prius) were the final nail in the coffin for SUVs up here. You might see 1 SUV in 1-200 cars.

 

[hobbsyoyo]

Popular Science had a few articles on car trend this last issue. One of their most striking pieces was about the millennial generation (people now in their teens to early 30's) and averse they are to cars compared to previous generations. We buy less cars and drive far less than those before us. Our tastes (such as a preference for fuel efficiency or electric vehicles of various types) is only just now being felt and will take a while to have a full impact on the manufacturers. Of course, that impact is being delayed even more because we aren't buying as many cars as older folks and part of that is because the manufacturers don't make cars we want. So it's a chicken-and-egg thing but it will change.

I would guess that manufacturers still promote SUV's so heavily because they offer massive profit margins that other vehicles don't. They currently can get away with fuel and safety standards afforded to trucks, which means they can skimp on costly systems yet they can charge a premium for the vehicles because people will pay it. There are still many people in the US who will buy them despite a relative overall decline in their popularity. I'm not even sure there is a relative decline, to be honest, though I am sure I am wrong.

 

[Zelig]

I don't see what's hard to figure out. If you have lots of children, or if you have to routinely carry stuff, or if the weather sucks, you need a bigger car. That means either an SUV or a minivan.

I don't think it really does, my parents did fine throughout my entire childhood with a hatchback - the popularity of hatchbacks and station wagons in Europe isn't because they have fewer children, carry less stuff or have better weather.

I would guess that manufacturers still promote SUV's so heavily because they offer massive profit margins that other vehicles don't.

This is true.

 

[Borachio]

Popular Science had a few articles on car trend this last issue. One of their most striking pieces was about the millennial generation (people now in their teens to early 30's) and averse they are to cars compared to previous generations. We buy less cars and drive far less than those before us. Our tastes (such as a preference for fuel efficiency or electric vehicles of various types) is only just now being felt and will take a while to have a full impact on the manufacturers. Of course, that impact is being delayed even more because we aren't buying as many cars as older folks and part of that is because the manufacturers don't make cars we want. So it's a chicken-and-egg thing but it will change.

I would guess that manufacturers still promote SUV's so heavily because they offer massive profit margins that other vehicles don't. They currently can get away with fuel and safety standards afforded to trucks, which means they can skimp on costly systems yet they can charge a premium for the vehicles because people will pay it. There are still many people in the US who will buy them despite a relative overall decline in their popularity. I'm not even sure there is a relative decline, to be honest, though I am sure I am wrong.

People in my day in their 20's and 30's saved their money to buy a house. Houses are nowadays out of the reach of many people in that age group, so they tend to be more willing to spend money on a car. And a nice one at that.

This is only a theory. I haven't researched it. So maybe it's entirely wrong.

 

[hobbsyoyo]

Well it certainly applies to me. I'm saving for a car now in my mid-20's and it will be at least another decade or more before I can think about buying a house, if I ever do.

 

[galdre]

We should have a progressive vehicle tax based on the curb weight, that would get some of these ridiculous SUV's off the road.

 

[Cutlass]

The proper way to tax them is by fuel mileage. Set a certain standard, say 30mpg, and for every MPG less than that they test out at, add a tax equal to 5% of the MSRP sticker price. That way the more ridiculous the vehicle, the more rapidly it is taxed out of most people's reach.

 

[Zelig]

The proper way to tax them is by fuel mileage. Set a certain standard, say 30mpg, and for every MPG less than that they test out at, add a tax equal to 5% of the MSRP sticker price. That way the more ridiculous the vehicle, the more rapidly it is taxed out of most people's reach.

I'd just tax fuel.

I'd like to see fuel taxed high enough to price about half the commuters from my daily commute off the road.

 

[Cutlass]

I'd just tax fuel.

I'd like to see fuel taxed high enough to price about half the commuters from my daily commute off the road.

The problem with that in the US is the lack of alternatives in transportation. So while I think we should tax fuel more than we do now, we could not, for example, tax fuel as high as most of Europe does. It would be utterly crippling to low to moderate income people, rural people, and many businesses.

 

[Formaldehyde]

Big SUVs are perceived as being far safer than minivans for incompetent drivers who get easily distracted.

 

[warpus]

Yeah, something like that would have to be done in conjunction with significant public transit improvements.

Then again, most American cities are sort of designed around the car anyway.. I'm not sure how you would reverse something like that.. It wouldn't be very easy

 

[Zelig]

The problem with that in the US is the lack of alternatives in transportation. So while I think we should tax fuel more than we do now, we could not, for example, tax fuel as high as most of Europe does. It would be utterly crippling to low to moderate income people, rural people, and many businesses.

Forcing people to not drive would very quickly result in better alternatives.

Commuting on a daily basis in single-passenger cars is ridiculous. If you raised the price of fuel by four times, everyone could pretty easily keep the same cost by simply carpooling on their commute.

Yeah, something like that would have to be done in conjunction with significant public transit improvements.

If you price people out of driving, you immediately raise the demand for bus routes, and can increase both the frequency and locations of bus stops.

 

[warpus]

If you price people out of driving, you immediately raise the demand for bus routes, and can increase both the frequency and locations of bus stops.

Public transit commissions get money for a year, based on what they spent the year before. Just because demand is up doesn't mean that they'd get extra funding for next year's budget right away - it could take a while.

I suppose if you funnelled the profits from the new gas tax right into transit, it could work, but then you still need time to build up infrastructure. How do you service all those suburbs? How do you get people to start using public transit in the first place? A lot of Americans view public transit as something poor people use. Heck, the only subway line in Los Angeles going to the ocean takes you to Long Beach, through some pretty poor parts of town. Where do you find the money to extend this infrastructure to places people actually want to get to?

It has to happen eventually, but it won't happen overnight.

 

[Zelig]

Public transit commissions get money for a year, based on what they spent the year before.

So don't do it that way.

A lot of Americans view public transit as something poor people use.

So they're going to feel poor when they can't afford fuel to commute.

 

[warpus]

Perhaps cleverly put, perhaps not.. Either way, you can't just sit down and decide to "do things differently". This is going to be a long and inefficient process.

 

[shadowplay]

I hate SUVs and the people who drive them. Careless fools with little regard for those sharing the road with them, pedestrian or motorist.