Are Small Cars in the US the Next Big Thing?.
It goes to figure that the moment gas in the US eclispes the $3 a gallon mark, every starts to look at small cars in a different light (from the Automotive News via Autoweek):
Rising fuel prices are prodding the U.S. market toward smaller, European-style cars and forcing automakers to consider much more efficient engines, industry executives agreed here last week.
While Hurricane Katrina caused a spike to the $3-plus per gallon range in the United States, it was the steady climb in gasoline prices in the months preceding the killer storm that caught the attention of automakers.??>GM Vice Chairman Robert Lutz says higher fuel prices, if sustained, inevitably would push Americans toward smaller cars.??>"If U.S. fuel prices start equaling fuel prices in Europe, we will have the same vehicle type over time that Europe does - a very large B-class at the bottom with the vast majority of people driving Cobalt-sized cars," Lutz said in an interview at the Frankfurt auto show.
...Tom Purves, CEO of BMW of North America, says he already sees evidence of pump-price-influenced shopping - at the company's Mini brand.??>"I can't tell you I have any hard evidence," Purves said. "But I can tell you that in the last month, Mini dealers have been inundated on Saturdays by SUV owners.
"I can't tell you I have any hard evidence," Purves said. "But I can tell you that in the last month, Mini dealers have been inundated on Saturdays by SUV owners saying, 'I've had enough of this.'"
[ Small Cars Gain a Big Interest ] Autoweek
Photo courtesy Amanda Harwood
[
MotoringFile]
< 6:08:41 PM 
>
