Tuesday, January 06, 2009
National amnesia
If this is not evidence that many Americans are in early-stage Alzheimer's, I don't know what would be.
10 Comments:
By 
, at
Tue Jan 06, 10:20:00 AM:
Possibly, or perhaps there a many people who want to pick up their vehicle of choice before they stop making them forever. My favorite was a 1986 Caprice Classic Station Wagon, which moved my family in comfort and safety for over 10 years with almost zero repairs. It got over 112 passenger miles per gallon!
By , at
Tue Jan 06, 11:21:00 AM:
Their short-term memories may not be great, but their long-term memories seem to be just fine.
By 
Noumenon, at
Tue Jan 06, 11:44:00 AM:
Econbrowser's got a post up saying it's true, the one thing that changes most when energy prices go up is sales of motor vehicles. I'm not sure why, but you can see it in the chart. The interesting thing is it creates an aftershock about 12 months later because of auto employees' lost income. It ends up cutting national spending by double the amount that gas went up.
By TourPro, at
Tue Jan 06, 12:19:00 PM:
Funny thing, on Top Gear last night, they did a piece on the F-150. Seems that is the biggest selling car on the planet - all in North America.
After testing the SVT version, the conclusion was that it was a piece of crap.
Then they tested a Lamborghini. When it comes to cars, we Americans are truly pathetic.
Disclaimer: I own a Ford Focus, and I actually like it.
By , at
Tue Jan 06, 01:15:00 PM:
Seems to me that if you can get a pickup or SUV at a deep discount, that could cover a whole lot of gas guzzling in the future.
By , at
Tue Jan 06, 02:39:00 PM:
I don't think this is early stage Alzheimers, it's advanced stage delusional mental rigor mortis.
By lethalox, at
Tue Jan 06, 02:40:00 PM:
First off the title of the story is misleading. It is really the sale of light trucks will exceed the sales of cars. Light truck are not just SUV's, but pickups and vans. Those sales have been in the toilet most of 2008. Many of those purchase are by business and these vehicles are abused. That is why you can expense (depreciate) 3/4 of the value in year. Consumers are cutting back car purchases, but business can not indefinitely postpone equipment purchases. I would guess that we are really seeing a big decline in car purchases vs big increase is Light Truck sales.
By Chris, at
Tue Jan 06, 02:57:00 PM:
If the worst comes to the worst with the economy, its hard to move your family and your handful of remaining possessions in the back of a Toyota Prius.
By Dawnfire82, at
Tue Jan 06, 03:57:00 PM:
"its hard to move your family and your handful of remaining possessions in the back of a Toyota Prius. "
A point I've made repeatedly to smug, self-righteous liberal assholes in the past. It's cute that that golf cart they call a 'Smart Car' can serve their transportation needs, but some people have families and/or work from their vehicles.
By JPMcT, at
Tue Jan 06, 06:46:00 PM:
Very true. The electric car may not serve us well during an emergency evacuation associated with a power outage.
Perhaps the upsurge in SUV sales is actually a shrewd investment by those who are taking a hard look at our government and realize that the likelihood of an emergency evacuation increases daily!!
Or...more likely...it's "get 'em while you can" as these fools begin to micromanage our lives.
