Last Auto News - Cheap Gas: A minute, An Hour, A Month, A Year?

Last Auto News - Cheap Gas: A minute, An Hour, A Month, A Year? Gas prices have recently fallen as rapidly as GM, Ford, and Chrysler’s dwindling cash reserves; well below $2.00 per gallon in many areas of the country. From highs more than double that number just months ago, these petrol price vacillations are enough to make a person dizzy. Or at least bipolar. How is it possible that one ..Last Auto news -

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Gas prices have recently fallen as rapidly as GM, Ford, and Chryslerâ€â„¢s dwindling cash reserves; well below $2.00 per gallon in many areas of the country. From highs more than double that number just months ago, these petrol price vacillations are enough to make a person dizzy. Or at least bipolar.

How is it possible that one resource is subject to such massive price differences? Over at Jalopnik, they say it’s a quite the melee of forces “including OPECâ€â„¢s daily level of greed, the number and location of which countries weâ€â„¢re currently invading and the current reason for low prices: demand or the lack of it.”

So now that gas is dirt cheap again, are Americans going to buy up SUVs in droves once more? The prediction from this corner: no. A focus on fuel efficiency is here to stay. Finally, Detroit has been forced into a corner regarding fuel consumption. From SUV plant shutdowns to wholesale abandonment of plans for future behemoths, Detroit automakers are taking the automotive equivalent of summer school where fuel efficiency is concerned. 11th hour stuff. It seems the die is cast, and Detroit is making enormous changes from which it can’t return.

Detroit is focusing on - and investing in - smaller, efficient vehicles. It is developing hybrid powertrains, electric propulsion systems, and a host of new technologies focused on ekeing out more mpg. I’d be shocked if the Big Three suddenly abandoned this seismic shift in their approach to automaking just because gas is suddenly cheap again. I’d be even more shocked if the buying public suddenly started lining up to buy 9mpg Hummer H2s (that’s an anecdotal number by the way - the EPA never actually rated the H2, and with Hummer on the chopping block it looks like they probably never will). I doubt consumers really trusts this sudden drop in fuel prices; rather, they’re probably enjoying it while it lasts, but fully prepared to pay $4 and more per gallon before long.

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If the Big Three had made the thirsty SUV a corner of their product portfolio, then they likely wouldn’t be in quite the fix they’re in now. Alas, it appears they made it the cornerstone for their financial stability, and most consumers simply don’t want them anymore.

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Foreign automakers certainly have played to the American penchant for the guzzling SUV: Audi Q7 V-8 (12 mpg city), BMW X6 V-8 (13 mpg city), Infiniti QX56 (12 mpg city), Lexus LX 570 (12 mpg city), Mercedes G 55 AMG (11 mpg city), Porsche Cayenne GTS manual (11 mpg city), and Volkswagen Touareg V-8 (12 mpg city) to rattle off a few. Clearly, Detroit manufacturers are not alone in playing to American market tastes. But as sales of the foreign guzzlers taper off, it won’t kill them as their overall product range is extremely diverse. Sure, they’re doing some re-adjusting of their own, but the black hole of SUV sales is not the death knell that it is for Detroit. And five of the seven manufacturers above were quick to market with efficient diesels to push their heavy rigs around, pulling mpg up into a far more palatable range.

I think, this time, Detroit has learned. And even if this latest round of cheap gas makes it another 6, 12, or even 16 months as horrific market realities keep demand for gas in the U.S. low, I think cash-strapped Americans will gain newfound appreciation for efficient vehicles. Perhaps the silver lining here is that many Americans are learning, perhaps for the first time, that efficiency does not have to equal boredom, banality, sluggishness, or a depressing driving experience. Thank God the dark days of the 80s are past us and high-powered electronic engine management, fuel injection, gasoline direct injection, piezoelectric diesel injection, variable-vane turbocharging, lockup torque converters, synthetic lubricants, dual-clutch automated manuals, lithium-ion batteries, low coefficients of drag, and silica-infused tires are keeping us rolling at levels of efficiency we never dreamed possible back when the Fed bailed Chrysler out in 1979. It’s possible to get 35 mpg, or 40, even 45 without suffering through the emasculating, depressing insult of a Dodge Omni, a Chevrolet Chevette, a VW Rabbit Diesel, or a Ford Tempo. When American drivers get their first taste of the new generation of frisky, enjoyable fuel misers, many will likely never look back.

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P.S. - If you want insanely cheap fuel, and you don’t mind the leisurely acceleration of an 80s diesel, you have about $500 to invest, and you’re pretty good mechanically, you can get your fuel for free. Like I did, last week, some 90 gallons in all. Restaurants that fry food (they’re about as prolific as American SUVs) have to throw away their old fryer oil. WVO (waste vegetable oil), they call it. Many have to pay a waste management service to come and haul it away. So if you could guarantee, say, your local Hunan Gourmet that their WVO bin will be empty every Saturday morning, it’s quite possible they’d gladly let you have at it and take all you want. Then again, some fanatic like myself might have already brokered such a deal. Or a waste management company, wise to the nascent market for used waste vegetable oil, might be paying said restaurant a couple cents per gallon for the stuff. But even if one had to pay 10, 20, or even 50 cents per gallon, using waste vegetable oil in an old diesel is an incredibly cheap way to drive. I’m setting out to prove just how cheap, driving from Atlanta to Los Angeles without paying a cent for fuel in an old Mercedes diesel wagon that I recently converted to run on 100 percent waste vegetable oil. Stay tuned: departure is set for next Friday, December 5th.–Colin Mathews
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