Car Sales Dropping

[Arminius]

I just read this article about car sales dropping.

http://www.carectomy.com/index.php/P...-Crash-in-2008

I also listened to an interview from someone from Edmunds. He thinks that people are holding out to buy the next wave of meta-efficient cars, and that hybrids aren't cost-worthy for the vast majority of consumers, yet. He thinks that a large portion of the population will be ready to move to more efficient cars on the next purchasing cycle. He also believes that a good portion of them are going to wait as long as they can so that newer technologies can come out and prove themselves.

Nice to see that Smart Car buyers have to stand in line 9 months to a year to get their cars, because that seems to support the theory.

I get my kicks out of talking to people about alternative vehicles like the Aptera. At first the average 40-50 year old laughs when I talk about it or show them pictures of the car. Then I talk about the advantages, like less than $200 in electricity per year, and low maintenance costs. Suddenly they start asking where they can get one! Wish I had better news for them, because when they do come out they will only be sold to people in California for a while. Perhaps I should also stop talking about alternative cars, because there will be too much competition for them when I finally get to purchase one.

Anyhow, change is in the wind. It's about time.

[SVOboy]

I read that post too, carectomy is a pretty sweet site, or so I think.

Change is indeed in the air, 19% is a huge drop for those companies...

[trebuchet03]

Curse you Arminius... Now another website I need to frequent

Bring on the ecoboxes I say!

[SVOboy]

All of the websites in the ecogeek network are pretty worthwhile,

[Arminius]

Originally Posted by trebuchet03

Curse you Arminius... Now another website I need to frequent

Bring on the ecoboxes I say!

I love standing around with my friend who owns a Smart Car. People come up to him all day long and ask about it and where they can get one. People follow him down the road just hoping that he will stop somewhere and they can talk to him. Three weeks ago two people were watching his car (one was chasing after him) and collided with each other.

[Peakster]

I'm telling ya, this is what happens when driving starts being beyond costly. People start buying used cars instead of springing for than new-car-smell.

It could be the early 1980s all over again (which forced auto makers to downsize both its vehicles and prices). All they have to do is create an inexpensive, small, simple, aerodynamic 2-seater that weighs 1500-lbs. They'd fly off the lots.

[Gone4]

I really just want to see more people walking, cycling, and taking public transportation. I'm just not sure the drop in car sales will go there... At least this gives someone besides the big manufacturers a chance at a piece of the market.