Gas prices dropping - will the demand wane?

[cycledrum]

I would think when you hit January and folks are reeling from Holiday expenses and looking to pay taxes, Prius' will be easier to get and hopefully a bit less coin.

[combsad7]

Regular unlead is $3.71 a gal. if you want E85 then it's $3.23 a gal. in zip code 42240.

[robbyr2]

I too fear there will be some people who will re-think their downsizing vehicle-wise. However, there will continue to be a demand for the Prius: 1) because of the low emissions, and 2) because most people buying Prii (it ain't cheap) could afford $4 gas, but was just not interested in buying as many gallons at that rate! I'm one of those in both camps.
What's sad is that so many Americans have decided that global warming isn't going to be such a big deal- no we need to drill for more oil to warm things up some more. Not that it will them much good- the big oil companies don't want to drill the wells anyway!

[RhythmDoctor]

Many analysts are saying that the psychology has fundamentally changed, and people are going to change their buying habits to more economical cars even if prices come down. Detroit (and Toyota) seems to be banking on this, with the closures and retooling that they have announced to ramp up small car production and ramp down SUVs. This is likely to help drive the change, as the auto makers start to advertise their smaller cars more aggressively, buyers may follow.


I do hope that gas prices come down. There are an awful lot of SUVs out there, and I think it is better for everyone if people are allowed to retire them as they wear out over the next few years (and replace them with more economical cars) than if prices are so high that people abandon the SUVs in a panic. Hysteria in the marketplace is rarely a good thing for anyone.

However, I will also be very disappointed if people just return to their wasteful ways. If that happens, we will have more oil shocks down the road.

[PriusSport]

Gas prices aren't going down as much as the oil futures price--which has corrected about 15-20% the past few weeks. Gas prices are down about 5%. But they will shoot up very quickly if oil prices suddenly rise due to somebody coughing in the Middle East.
The oil futures price has become too speculative and volatile, and something needs to be done about it. Oil affects too many markets. It's about time both Obama and McCain came clean on the subject--along with that do-nothing Congress.

[sorka]

Originally Posted by RhythmDoctor

Many analysts are saying that the psychology has fundamentally changed, and people are going to change their buying habits to more economical cars even if prices come down.

Totally true. Even if gas came down to $1.50 tomorrow, I wouldn't cancel my order for the Prius because I know no matter what, if such a thing happened, it would just be temporary. Since we're keeping our SUV for the occasional haul, tow, etc, if gas got that cheap again, I might be more inclined to use the SUV more often, but once it's old enough and used enough to be retired, it's outta there and not being replaced with another SUV...unless we have extended range EV only SUV's that can go 500+ miles on a charge but I don't expect that to happen for 20 years, and not ever should we go into an extended dark ages/post industrial/mad max civilization.

[john1701a]

Originally Posted by robbyr2

What's sad is that so many Americans have decided that global warming isn't going to be such a big deal- no we need to drill for more oil to warm things up some more.

More like pathetic. Whether or not we have an influence on climate change has absolutely nothing to do with SMOG. More oil drilling without more SULEV/PZEV rated cars (like Prius!) will contribute to dirtier air.

Oil consumption needs to be reduced, period.

.

[VaPrius]

Originally Posted by john1701a

in the past, sales actually increase when Prius become available without having to wait for delivery.

That's what I was thinking. Also, there have been a couple of articles on that people are buying other high MPG vehicles since they can't get a Prius.

[Bob47]

Folks, more oil drilling is an economic issue rather than an environmental one. More US production simply means that more of the US dollars spent on consumption remain in the US rather than going overseas to support and expand foreign economies. More US production doesn't mean lower prices in the US than current levels, just that the prices will be lower than without the additional supply. Smog production is directly related to vehicle miles traveled (VMT) and the percentage of low emission vehicles on the road, higher prices result in lower VMT and a greater emphasis on purchasing fuel efficient cars, which are also generally lower emission. The point is to buy time to change over supply infrastructure to support CNG, electric, etc. This takes time and isn't going to be done overnight.

Hybrids, such as the Prius, are the perfect crossover vehicle since they are capable of unlimited travel without major interruption (i.e., you don't have to recharge overnight for the next 40 miles) and the ICE can be converted to CNG if we get an adequate distribution system in place. I don't see any reason that the demand for the Prius, or similar hybrids will decline anytime soon. What is likely to happen; however, is VMT will increase as more and more people get rid of their 15 mpg vehicles and replace them with 45 mpg vehicles. That makes a $4.00 per gallon gas price effectively $1.33 in terms of perspective and total dollar expended.

[ZippyPri]

Cars have turned us into crack addicts, that crack is the fuel we think we need to survive in this world. The price per barrel is not even an exact science and is merely only an estimate based on how much we will need in the future, lets say 5- 10 years, or really the time till next election. Don't look to far into gas prices, whether they dip or soar, historically they are rising and doing so at an unbelievable pace. Probably because we are draining a natural resource that belongs inside our little ecosystem called earth, and instead of remaining there we are pumping it out into our atmosphere, but it doesnt escape it lies there dormant contributing to increased anounts of carbon there and keeping more and more gases in our ecosystem, defeating the natureal co2 cycle...sorry for the science lesson, its important that we know the facts.