Kopen wordt dus echt goedkoop de komende overgangsperoide, daarna niet meer te betalen zeg maar.....
Gaan ze toch nog leren om in kleine autotjes te rijden.....
Raar volk die yanken....
The Death of the SUV
by Mike Krumboltz
June 4, 2008 03:11:39 PM
Dearly beloved. We gather here today to mourn the demise of the sport utility vehicle, or "SUV" as its friends liked to call it.
The gas-guzzler lived a full life, driving in the fast lane from the 1990s to the mid-2000s. Alas, it fell ill a few years ago and never recovered. And really, we can't say the death came as a surprise. For years, folks complained about the environmental impact of low-mileage vehicles. Over time, those voices grew louder, but still the SUV fought on, proudly taking up two parking spaces and scaring hybrids from its lane.
But then, gas prices soared and the SUV's vital signs plummeted. As much as people love large cars, the costs to keep fuel in the tank proved too much to take. As the New York Times reported, it now costs $100k to own and keep a similarly inefficient full size pickup running for five years. And so people pulled the plug on their trucks and SUVs, taking the beleaguered vehicles off life support and into the museum of dead car fads.
U.S. News and World Report has written a thoughtful and compelling obit on the yuppie chariot. Read it and remember the SUV's positive qualities as well as its faults. It's what it would have wanted.
General Motors, Others Decide the SUV is Dead
Posted: Jun. 04, 2008 11:06 a.m.
Pickup trucks and SUVs are hurting. In May sales numbers, the Ford F-150 was knocked from its perch as the best-selling vehicle in the U.S., and sent reeling all the way to the fifth spot. A glut of SUVs sits on used car lots, almost unsellable in today's market.
The New York Times reports that large trucks and SUVS that were "the first generation of mass-market …to approach the six-figure mark" in price are now selling for "much closer to $50,000."
Brent Robinson, sales manager of a GM dealership in Minnesota, told the Toronto Star "We haven't had anyone crack the door on a Yukon or a Denali in 30 days."
Is the death knell of the gas guzzler here?
Jack Nerad, executive market analyst for Kelley Blue Book, told ABC News, "Up until now, we've said it's not dead. But right now, it's probably on life support."
USA Today writes, "For a generation, pickups and SUVs have symbolized a rugged, oversized, no-holds-barred American lifestyle. Tuesday, automakers made it clear that consumers are hitting the brakes on their love affair with the hardiest, roomiest -- and thirstiest -- vehicles." According to USA Today, automakers expect the pickup truck to "trend back to its roots as the humble working partner of cowboys and contractors."
SUVs don't even have that working role to fall back on. So automakers are re-organizing, planning to de-emphasize SUVs and produce more of the small cars Americans are now buying.
The Chicago Tribune reports, "General Motors announced a bold attempt Tuesday to wean itself from a dependency on large SUVs…declaring that gasoline prices won't retreat and the company must sell more small cars, some battery powered." The automaker is closing four plants that make the large vehicles, and CEO Rick Wagoner has "said the future of the company's Hummer franchise is in review, with an overhaul of the military-style vehicle lineup or a complete or partial sale of the division possible."
GM has announced plans to rush a 40mpg small car to market as early as 2009, and hopes to introduce its Chevy Volt plug-in hybrid for the 2010 model year.
Ford Vice President for marketing told the Arizona Republic, "May was a watershed month. We are, as an industry, catching up with the breathtaking choices the consumers are now making."
While it considers re-tooling its own lineup, Ford is making an effort to move the F-150 off dealer lots. The New York Times notes that Ford has "announced an 'employee pricing' incentive plan on its F-Series pickup trucks that will allow customers to buy its trucks for the same price as the automaker's employees in June." Ford will bring its new Fiesta small car to America for the 2010 model year, but has not yet announced any plans to introduce more fuel-efficient vehicles for 2009.
Research the best small cars and hybrids with U.S. News' car rankings and reviews.
Buzz up!
Wonderlijk