Quote:
Originally Posted by diarmadhi
Not to be a debbie downer here.. but the market right now is glutted with used trucks/suv's by the thousands at the cheapest prices in years (my rams value dropped from 8.5k to 4k in 3 months...). More than enough to get over this "hump" in the gas prices (personal opinion that there is no real decline.. we have plateaued but have yet to start on the downward slope of resources).
Also there is the small truck market, small trucks are becomming more and more popular. The problem is that even small trucks have been upsized to med/large... For instance the Tacoma and S-10(no under Colorado nameplate) have gained almost 25% in size.. I would be surprised if they don't lose that extra size in the next 5 years.
Edit - Its kind of funny to think that if Isuzu had lasted another 3-4 years they would be in the best possible position for the market, with small trucks and suv's
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Quote:
Originally Posted by The_Blur
 
What I was saying before was that people are moving more towards smaller vehicles. Diarmadhi pointed out that smaller trucks are becoming the major truck market and that bigger trucks are not selling. I've noticed a lot of marked down trucks and large, older vehicles for sale. They are worthless in this market because most people don't need to be able to tow a building as much as they may need a cab to carry supplies and equipment. Small trucks have capacities that used to only be available only on large trucks, so small trucks are desirable.
GM will learn to love small trucks because they represent a market compromise. They still live up to GM's truck heritage, but they get better fuel efficiency. Selling more small trucks and cutting back on large trucks will hurt GM's CAFE rating less than continuing to build large trucks. Many people who don't need trucks at all will get cars, and that will also help.
I have no idea how GM will get to its mandated 2020 rating, but I'm guessing that CAFE won't actually last that long. Maybe I'm just optimistic. |
I just noticed the Colorado is getting a 5.3 for 2009. That's pretty cool, IMHO, because I remember reading comments in 'rags about the 5-cylinder not having enough guts. I'd be down for a Colorado with a V8 because even though I love the new Silverado, I don't see needing a big half-ton for what I would need it for, day-to-day. I think this last summer has kinda' brought America back to reality and made many of us reconsider the vehicles we buy.