Bigger cars come back with area shoppers

[Mark E. Smith]

Source: Inland Empire & Inland Valley Breaking News

By Joe Smilor on December 6, 2008

Americans are once again embracing their gas-guzzling
sport-utility vehicles.

Falling gas prices and manufacturer's incentives are making
SUVs and trucks more affordable than ever.

"My business has tripled in the last month," said Michael
Wilcock, a fleet manager at Richard Hibbard Chevrolet in
Claremont.

Five diesel trucks rolled off the lot over the Black Friday
weekend, when retailers traditionally go into the black, or
show a profit.

"We were swamped," said Stacy Queen, internet sales
manager. These days, Queen gets five to 10 calls a week
asking for price quotes on Tahoes or Suburbans.

"We reached 60 percent of our sales goal by the middle of
November," he said.

Read more: http://www.insidesocal.com/news247/2008/12/bigger-cars-come-back-with-are.html

[enlightenment]

1. Ah, nothing like America's collective

ADD . . .

geeze.

[BrklynLiberal]

2. Couldn't have said it better... How pathetic.

[justaregularperson]

11. Then they will cry and complain when they cannot afford to drive when prices go back up.. idiots

[DUlover2909]

12. Nah, they'll just hide the SUV and report it stolen for the insurance money.

http://www.ridelust.com/national-insurance-crime-bureau-reports-truckssuvs-new-most-stolen-vehicles/

[Speck Tater]

3. "Stupid humans. Stupid, stupid humans." --Ed Wood in Plan 9.

[Historic NY]

4. Must be your area, I went by the dealers lots tonight and they are packed..

door handle to door handle with 08's & 09's. Trucks are always going to sell, especially at the end of the year when business's buy them to write off on taxes for the coming year.

I don't even see the big daily and weekend ads for cars in our papers. Price quotes aren't selling SUV's, heck I keep checking myself most are now offered at almost 12k off the original sticker.

[RainDog]

5. sounds like AIG and their club med vay-cay

pardon me if I don't give a shit when people complain when gas is expensive.

[barb162]

6. I didn't know they were gone.

They sure are popular in my neighborhood.

[JohnyCanuck]

7. Some of us are like the Titanic crew that realize the ship is sinking,

while some of us are like the passengers dancing the night away in the ship's ballroom, still believing the PR that the Titanic is guaranteed unsinkable, and therefore the run-in with the pesky iceberg will do no more than cause a slight delay in their arrival at New York.

Here's where the distinction between conventional and unconventional oil is important. More unconventional oil becomes unprofitable to produce as the price of oil falls; $80 is a commonly cited cutoff point for some of the big tar sands projects, for example. Sure enough, we've heard reports of tar sands projects and even refinery projects being shelved or delayed since oil plummeted below $100 a few months ago.

Now, remember that unconventional oil isn't just a tap that we can turn on and off. It's 'unconventional' precisely because it's logistically more difficult to produce than regular oil. Putting a bunch of oil derricks on the Oklahoma flatlands is peanuts compared to developing a multi-billion dollar, state-of-the-art deepwater project that can extract oil from below many thousands of feet of ocean and seabed, and requires a small army of highly-trained engineers and geologists to operate. Some of the big deep-sea projects can take from six to nine years from discovery to regular production.

So when these unconventional oil projects get shelved because prices are falling, they're not going to suddenly start producing oil immediately when prices go back up. Meanwhile, we keep drawing on the world's supply of conventional oil -- which pretty much everyone agrees is very near peak since discoveries of conventional oil peaked back in the 1960s. When demand does rise again and prices go up, there'll be that much less conventional oil available and the unconventional oil won't necessarily be there to step in right away.

Indeed, some commentators have said that peak oil will turn out to have been July 2008 at ~87 mbpd, for the simple reason that by the time the global economy demands more than 87 mbpd it'll be prohibitively expensive to deliver that much, and both demand and 'supply' (flow) will be forced back down. Thus,

The peak oil concept is more relevant than ever, because it warns us that the current low prices (that is, the oil supply glut) are only temporary.

http://postcarbon.org/peak_oil_still_relevant_more_ever

Now that the world’s credit markets are suffering the equivalent of a cardiac arrest, one can confidently say that the peak in global oil production is behind us. With demand for oil declining (because of global recession), OPEC will want to constrain production. With investment capital disappearing in a deflationary bonfire, oil companies will have difficulty financing new projects (even if they have full governmental go-ahead to drill, baby, drill). Thus even though the peak might have been delayed for another year or five if the credit crunch hadn’t intervened, that time cushion is now effectively gone.

This is not to say that Peak Oil should no longer to be considered to be of importance. In the larger, longer view of things, the energy decline will be the determining factor in the fate of our civilization—not a money or credit crisis.

When the world finally begins to recover from its financial turmoil (and this could take a few years), and oil demand picks back up again, the economy will bump up against oil supply constraints and petroleum prices will skyrocket, undermining the economic recovery.

Even though oil demand will have been constrained in the intervening years, depletion of existing fields will have continued, so that new production projects (when the industry finally gets around to financing them) will have that much more of a decline rate to offset.

http://postcarbon.org/say_goodbye_peak_oil

[wtmusic]

8. No bailout necessary!

Now let's put that $25B to GOOD use...

[nebenaube]

9. GO LEMMINGS, GO! n/t

[elleng]

10. How about 'SOME bigger cars come back with SOME area shoppers?'

.

[greyl]

13. "area shoppers" - This item is actually about one dealership. nt

[tavalon]

14. Wow, my fellow Americans really are that stupid?!

Yikes!

[CRF450]

15. I bet those 5 diesel trucks were bought by businesses that need them

I'm guessing they're fleet vehicles, which alot of businesses need to do the job.

[caseymoz]

16. I'm skeptical.

I realize people are half-way expecting this and looking for the story, but it's too soon after the gas trauma, and hell, this economy lost a staggering 1.2 million jobs since September. Who the hell could buy these things?

[Kolesar]

19. With ya'

Some reporter just went to local car dealers to write a few stories. That is hardly a comprehensive look. Welcome to our forum.

[pattmarty]

22. You seem to forget how "short" Americans memories are.

[caseymoz]

26. Fine play on words there.

I know Americans memories are short, but this economy is in a dive, and if you add in discouraged workers and those under-employed in terms of hours, the unemployment rate is more like 12.5 percent. Nobody is going to be purchasing $25,000 vehicles now. Moreover, there are 2.5 million vehicles produced and unsold in 2007. Car companies have rented every flat space within 50 miles of Detroit to keep them. That's just for 2007, after 2008 we probably have more like 4 million unsold vehicles, and that $25 thousand dollars I mentioned would be selling them at cost.

[bemildred]

24. Sounds like "some people say" bullshit to me too. nt

[greymattermom]

17. obesity epidemic

Until something is done about the obesity epidemic, American's will have to buy bigger cars. Just makes sense to me.

[Number_Six]

18. Bite me and my....

...Honda Rebel. 250cc's that grabs 75 MPG.

Heed well my words: The day will come when those aircraft carriers with wheels will adorn the junkyards. Me? I'll be the Road runner!

BEEP-BEEP!

[Faith No More]

20. What fools these mortals be..............

[pattmarty]

21. Are Americans really that stupid???? Anyone with an ounce..........

..........of COMMON SENSE knows the fuel prices are going back up again and probably sooner than later. EVEN if we have a depression, we are running out of oil and the right wing mantra of "supply and demand" is kicking in here folks. Better start taking your reality pills so you will be able to handle what lies ahead.

[ohio2007]

23. Actually. congress voted to keep stupid from going extinct

Anybody with sense knows the gas tax is comming once congress passes the required make jobs bills

[ohio2007]

25. Electric Car Sales in Freefall; Industry Risks Collapse

I don't hear Nancy screaming for this automotive bailout.




http://www.dailytech.com/Electric%20Car%20Sales%20in%20Freefall%20Industry%20Risks%20Collapse/article13601.htm