Offer Me Fuel Economy, Not a Stereo

Recent dips in car companies sales have sparked a new promotion to entice consumers to purchase new cars. The new promotion will allow consumers to opt into a premium sound system. The new systems contain more speakers, up to 19, in a single vehicle. However, the speakers are limited to the 8 to 10 inch size, hardly the largest available in the market today.

Lagging sales figures are the cause of the newest car dealer "trend". As the end came for the "employee pricing" sales for smaller vehicles dropped. Similarly, larger vehicles, SUVs and vans, became less popular as gas prices rose. What does this tell me? That consumers go into dealerships with a preset notion of what is a fair market price for a new vehicle, and having not found that price, they leave to go to the used car dealer. Likewise, gas guslers are less and less popular because of the price at the pump.

The most obvious question I pose to the manufacturers...Why don't you look at the data you just cited and come up with an SUV that gets decent gas mileage, and (most importantly) still looks safe enough to drive (apologies to anyone who loves their bicycle-tire wielding hybrid)? As a potential consumer I am telling you right now that I am willing to accept a slightly higher gas bill for the feeling of safety on the roads of Atlanta. However, I am also willing (if the price is right) to discard those fears for a cheap (in terms of price) car, so long as it provides decent gas mileage. Ideally, though, I would like to be the proud owner an SUV (feeling of safety) with great gas mileage ($$$).

The only car manufacturer with the foresight of this dilemma is GM which has introduced SUVs and trucks capable of using ethanol as a fuel. These vehicles can operate on both traditional gasoline, and ethanol mixtures. Most importantly though is that they are carbon copies of other GM vehicles. They look, feel, drive, and tastes (?) like their previous models from years past.

The only problem with the offer from GM is that ethanol is not readily available to the consumer. That means, at least for the short run, those vehicles will have to remain powered by traditional gasoline. The main reason ethanol and ethanol-capable vehicles are not mainstream is that the government is still busy trying to take money from every interest group that offers gas alternatives before deciding on which alternative is best. Hopefully this move from the largest car manufacturer will speed up the decision. And why not ethanol? It is made from corn, an agriculture product readily available in our country (just think of us becoming the "new" OPEC...$$$). This move can reduce our dependency on oil and jolt our economy into an even greater boom than we are seeing now.

Way to be ahead of the class GM!!

The original article, "More Vehicles Sport High-End Stereos", can be retrieved at the following link: http://www.ajc.com/friday/content/epaper/editions/friday/wheels_4470a40bf3dbf0260069.html