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You are wrong and Lutz is right.
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I'll agree with you that on the surface Lutz is right. And yes, the consumer will just return to buying GMs planned obsolecence the minute gas is cheap again. What I'm saying is that they are being misled.
The American consumer will buy anything that is advertised and marketed well until some kind of reality wakes them up like expensive gas, crappy quality or just by their own critical thought.
The market for vehicles is
created by a massive psychological PR assault, in this case it works against the interests of the consumers. Peak oil is here. Many people who bought gas guzzlers were pretty pissed when they had to shell out for hundreds of dollars a week and as you know from these pages you can have enough power, size and fuel economy.
Yes, Americans buy big cars but not because it's good for them but because they are manipulated into it by misleading emotional advertising.
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That said, I do wish all the manufacturers would be more proactive in educating the consumer about energy use.
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See? we agree on most things!
By the way, in the
list of all time top sellers, the vast majority of cars have been compact and relatively fuel efficient. (the F-150 is a notable exception but one has to give it marks for utility. We need some HD, large vehicles)
In terms of reliability and quality, the massive success of the Japanese car companies who have dominated the fuel economy vehicle market for decades can't be ignored? (Toyota now has a crappy average fuel economy and that sucks too)
The higher quality of imports? It's legendary. It's not just consumer reports that will tell you this. It's the consumer, friends, family
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Oh- and Consumer Reports is full of ****.
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Consumer reports is far more reliable a source of product information than any advertising based media. On what grounds do you call it crap?
JD Power and Associates will tell you the same: The big three are mostly the pits for dependability. I'm not making this up.