HACKENSACK,
N.J. - After driving a seven-passenger Ford Explorer
for three years, Amy Lieberman decided three weeks ago
that it was time to downshift. The Fair Lawn, N.J.,
resident opted for the Ford Escape, a smaller take on
the traditional sport utility vehicle. It gets 10 more
miles to the gallon than a 2005 Explorer.
Lieberman,
23, said she was a big fan of the Explorer; she leased
it for only $200 a month, and its huge size helped her
move in and out of college with relative ease.
Then
came the pain at the pump.
"I
was tired of paying a lot of money for gas so I moved
into the Ford Escape," Lieberman said. "It's
significantly lowered my gas bill - it fills up on $35
versus $50 or $60. Now that I commute (to Manhattan),
I don't want to be buying a bus pass for $120 a month,
and spending $300 a month on fuel."
As the
price of gasoline tops $4, the summer of 2008 may mark
the end of America's long love affair with SUVs and
pickup trucks. Many people are choosing smaller, more
fuel-efficient wheels.
At
Toyota dealerships across the tri-state area, the
Prius, the nation's most fuel-efficient hybrid car, is
back-ordered by as much as three months, said Augie
Valente, finance manager of Toyota of Hackensack.
National
sales of basic, fuel-efficient compact cars such as
the Honda Fit and Toyota Yaris have shot up 36 percent
in the past 12 months, according to data from the
automobile marketing firm J.D. Power and Associates.
Conventional compact cars also are in great demand;
sales of the Ford Focus, for instance, are up 29
percent.
So many
people want the Prius, which has a manufacturer's
suggested retail price of $21,500, that dealers such
as Toyota of Little Falls are charging above the
sticker price, and there is little room to negotiate.
Toyota
of Hackensack expects to sell 300 vehicles this month,
a record for the dealership, and has had to use space
on The Record's parking lot on River Street to handle
the higher sales volume, Valente said.
Meanwhile,
at Hummer of Mahwah, sales of the H2 have dropped
almost 60 percent since January, and sales of the
newer, smaller and slightly more fuel-efficient H3
model are expected to decline 20 percent by year-end,
said dealership President Gene Meyers.
It's
not a good time to be selling Hummers, the vehicle
synonymous with conspicuous consumption. The H2,
Hummer's tank-like flagship model, gets all of 10
miles to the gallon in city and highway driving. With
the national average price of regular gasoline hitting
$3.975 a gallon Sunday, and rising fast, Hummer sales
in the last 12 months have slid 29 percent, more than
any vehicle brand, according to J.D. Power.
Nationwide, SUV and pickup sales are falling fast, as
much as 30 percent for some models, like the Jeep
Commander.
And
last week, Ford Motor Co. announced that due to a
"dramatic" consumer shift away from trucks
and SUVs, the company is downsizing the production of
those vehicles and putting more effort into marketing
the newer, more fuel-efficient Focus, Fusion, Edge and
Escape models.
But is
the shift to smaller cars only temporary? Tom Libby,
senior director of the Power Information Network, a
division of J.D. Power, said national gasoline prices
will have to exceed $4 for a full year before
consumers flee to hybrids and compact cars.
The
automotive industry is not experiencing an upheaval
similar to the one in 1980-81, when American consumers
rushed to smaller imports, Libby said. Even during the
fuel shortages of 1973-74 and 1980-81, Americans
quickly went back to purchasing large cars and pickups
when fuel prices retreated from their peaks, he said.
Consumers have been conditioned that even when gas
prices soar, the price eventually retreats.
"There
is a shift toward smaller vehicles that's been going
on for quite a while," Libby said. "It has
accelerated in the past couple of months. However, we
don't see a dramatic shift in the market similar to
what occurred in 1980 and 1981, and we won't until
prices stay high for an extended period of time. I'm
very hesitant to draw large-scale conclusions."
Kevin
Ormes, co-owner of Jeep 17 in Paramus, said the
relationship between rising gas prices and a possible
flight from larger vehicles is not a black-and-white
issue. He said sales at his dealership this year are
higher than during the same period in 2007. He even
expects to sell 40 Jeep Liberty compact SUVs by
December, more than double the number he sold last
year.
"We
have more fuel-efficient vehicles than we had three
years ago, so people are not reluctant to come in and
replace their previous model with a new Jeep,"
Ormes said.
Jim
Appleton, president of the New Jersey Coalition of
Automotive Retailers, said New Jerseyans are not
leaving their SUVs in droves to drive compact cars.
New Jersey consumers remain in love with their larger
vehicles, mostly because of what Appleton calls
"the lifestyle of the state." The median
household income in Bergen County in 2006
inflation-adjusted dollars is $75,851, compared with
$48,451 for the United States, according to the
census.
What
Appleton sees happening across New Jersey is the
conscientious move to more fuel-efficient vehicles.
But for many consumers, that shift may mean moving
from the Hummer H2 to the Hummer H3.
Amy
Lieberman is making that lifestyle change, and so are
her friends.
"All
my friends drive small cars,'' she said. "My
generation is all for going green and fuel-efficient
vehicles. I think we're more eco-friendly. We're not
consumed with soccer-mom vehicles."