Curt Rosengren ~ Passion Catalyst TM "Love your work. Change your world." |
Once upon a time those gasoline-slurping SUV's fairly flew out of the auto dealerships, but with gas prices hovering at $4.00 a gallon, people are looking at the big ol' gas hogs and thinking, "Just say no."
Which, if you happen to be a major auto manufacturer that has relied on those gas hogs for a big chunk of your revenue, poses a bit of a problem.
Today GM announced that it was deep-sixing its longstanding love affair with the SUV, as described in this Wired article.
The company's announcement that it is embracing compact cars, shutting down four truck plants and possibly even dumping Hummer shows GM -- and, by extension, Detroit -- realizes fuel prices aren't coming down and SUVs are a dead-end. It's a fundamental change of direction for the world's largest automaker, which has for more than 10 years counted on pickups and SUVs to provide the bulk of its sales -- and profits -- while all but ceding the passenger car market to Japan and Europe.
Oh sure, it doesn't take the existing SUV's off the road (though gas prices are taking care of some of that), but hey, progress is progress. And unless you happen to work in one of the truck plants GM is shutting down, this is excellent news.
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