Well, the tables are finally starting to turn it seems. All those people who used to get obnoxiously large gas guzzling SUVs are downgrading– TreeHugger recently posted that Corollas and Civics are flying off the lots at dizzying rates compared to SUVs, whereas the new SUVs are going untouched though manufacturers and dealers are throwing incentives in to get rid of them.
Makes me wonder what American car manufacturers, whose obvious strength is the SUV and pickup truck, are going to do about this.
I talked to a friend about this who works at GM– In fact, I referred him to an article to get his opinion; He said that GM’s focus is on mass transit systems– For instance, the city of Seattle apparently uses GM hybrid buses to shuttle around its passengers. This strategy seems to make more sense- buses, on average waste a lot more fuel than cars and they’re mostly driving in the city. They have a lot of mass, so probably would generate a lot of power through regenerative braking. So, nice work, GM.
But my question is: WHY ON EARTH wouldn’t you message that to a wider audience of environmentally conscious consumers? We’re out here wondering what alternatives there are to the Prius and Civic hybrid, and why GM or Ford don’t have any offerings yet (Except for the Escape hybrid, which comes out later this year).
Via Green Car Congress: US Hybrid Sales Hit All-Time Monthly High in August
