Gas prices aren’t quite yet as high as they were back in 2008 – which was just before GM went bankrupt and Ford nearly did, too. But what happens when they do get there?
Well, probably what happened back in ’08 – again.
GM and Ford are more dependent now than they were back then on the profits earned via the sale of trucks and SUVs, especially the big ones. Because they hardly sell anything else. Back in ’08, GM and Ford still sold a fair number of cars – including models low and middle income people could afford, such as the Cobalt and Impala (GM) and the Focus and Taurus (Ford) as well as affordable, compact-sized trucks, such as the old Ranger (Ford) and S-10 (GM). Those are all gone now, leaving fleets of crossovers and trucks and SUVs to sell. 
The profit margin on a Cadillac Escalade is north of $20,000 per sale. It is easy to understand why there’s so much money in the sale of an Escalade when you understand that an Escalade – which has a base price of $91,100 – is essentially a rebadged, reskinned and luxed-up Chevy Tahoe, which has a base price of $60,700. Do you think there’s $30k of “added value” in the Escalade?
There’s also a lot of profit-per-sale in the Tahoe, which is a basically simple vehicle as far as new vehicles go. It has a lot of electronica, it’s true. But behind the glowing touchscreen there’s just a Tahoe – which is just a body-on-frame SUV with a relatively simple (pushrod, two-valve) V8 engine. To get some sense of this – of how much money there is in this – the 2021 Tahoe’s base price was $48,000 and there is very little meaningful difference between a 2021 Tahoe and a 2026 Tahoe. For that matter, between a 2026 Tahoe and and a 2016 Tahoe that listed for $37,280. Yes, inflation. There is that. But it also more than just that. These big SUVs and trucks are – literally – where the money (profit) is.
Not just for GM and Ford, either. The profitability of Stellantis depends on the profitability of Ram trucks and Jeep SUVs. If those falter, Stellantis is likely to fall.
How close are we to a fall?
Well, as of early May, it costs about $100 to fill up a full-size SUV or truck’s tank. Some of these want premium gas – which costs more than $5 nationally in most areas (as of the first week of May, 2026) which would mean about $115 for a tankful. Some of these models – including the Escalade – offer diesel engines as an option and it’s likely not many buyers are selecting that option anymore given diesel already costs about $6 per gallon on average ($140 per tank) and there’s very little mileage advantage. People buy the diesel chiefly because it’s better suited for towing than the gas V8.
It’s important to pause and remember that the cost of gas (and diesel) affects the cost of pretty much everything else, too. So there’s a compounding effect. It is harder to afford a $100 tank of gas when a basket of groceries also costs $100 and then there’s the (natural) gas bill and the electric bill, which are also going up in tandem.
Let’s wonder aloud what it will be like if gas cost rise to $6 or $7 per gallon. That will probably be the breaking point, which is the point at which the cost is no longer merely expensive but unpayable. Keep in mind that the typical buyer – and owner – of a big truck or SUV (excepting the luxury-badged models such as the Escalade and its Ford analog, the Expedition-based Navigator) is not a one percenter. He is a reasonably successful middle/upper-middle-class dude. Many such buy these big trucks and SUVs as dual-purpose vehicles; i.e., they use them for work but they also use them to cart around their families. You see these big trucks and SUVs parked in suburban driveways all over America.
How long before they are actually parked? How long before they are dumped by owners who can no longer afford to fuel them? What happens to the dealerships that can no longer sell these things except at a loss? Well, the same thing that happened last time. As the inventory begins to pile up, the pressure will build to offload the inventory, even if it means absorbing heavy losses. It will be worse this time, though, because GM and Ford (and Dodge and Chrysler) have very little else to sell people who need a vehicle that doesn’t cost $60k to buy and $120 to fuel.
After six months of that – of nothing selling or “selling” at a huge loss – and GM and Ford and Stellantis are going to be in big trouble.
But then, so will we all.
. . .
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The industry is also dependent on cheap money and longer-term financing in order to sell them.
I fast scrolled thru the comments and I didn’t see anyone mention that, ‘they’ really don’t make TRUCkS anymore. I’ve been trying to buy a pickup with an 8′ bed, it’s practically rare as hens teeth here in the rust belt.
A pickup with a 6 1/2′ bed, or less, IS NOT a, “truck”. …It’s a car – with a bed – much like a Subaru Baja ‘Pickup’. It might be useful to some, but it doesn’t seem to me to be a real, “truck”.
It’s comical to me to see so many people trying to haul 8′ plywood sheets or 8x2x4’s and such in those little beds with 2′ + sticking out the end.
It seems, ‘technology’ today is the opposite of practical,… and especially of, durable. A.k.a. crap.
Yeesh, 20011 pickups today in this area have see-thru rust above the fender wells, you’d think ‘they’ might have figured out how to stop that from happening since the 1970’s?! Not so.
…Don’t even get me started on non-durable long lasting glitchy led displays.
Why, O why? …Can’t there be at least ONE company which makes a durable, practical long-lasting vehicle in America (or, anywhere)?
Goobermint + corruption x greed-of-turnover/subscription/debt forever? I guess?
Much like how most, “food” in the grocery store is unhealthy?
Ruinous Monsters.
[…] https://www.ericpetersautos.com/2026/05/05/are-trucks-doomed/ […]
These trucks and SUVs of today are the largest and heaviest ever offered to the general public … especially the SUVs that range up to a ridiculous 7,000+ pounds.
In an era that has the fewest children — therefore, the smallest families — I wonder just why folks are bothering to purchase those SUVs in the first place. I see folks of advanced age — 75+ years old — driving these beasts … with only one occupant … which seems a bit insane.
I know my ’22 VW GTI is a bit low to the ground … but there are many options between the beasts and my GTI insofar as that metric is concerned …
Preach it, Anthony!
I have zero interest in these behemoths. I’m 6ft 3 and I ought to be able to get at stuff in the bed without a step ladder…
Hi Anthony & Eric. I remember reading a commentary about trucks (cannot remember who or where), that lamented that vehicles were getting larger, because American’s butts were getting larger, and thus, need large vehicles to accommodate the growing (aka, not population) customer. My WRX sits low to the ground, but it corners nicely at high speeds (bwa ha ha). My newer vehicle is up off the ground more, which is nice, but am not in the nose bleed section. What really cracks me up, is when we got a new, Fred Meyer store years ago (they moved, and built a bigger building), when they started painting the lines in for the parking spaces, there was no way in hell that three large trucks (FBAT’s my friend used to call them: F*kin Big Assed Trucks) would be able to park in the centre of said parking space without spilling over into the other due to the increased width. Thank God for Winter, where I can park a suitable distance away from the truck next to me, so we can BOTH get in-and-out, and not care about the damned parking lines that some Karen would be sure to squawk about if she could see them.
The thing about tall trucks & suv’s, if you don’t want a bumper in your lap in a crash, the idea is to go tall, too. Be on par.
Insert image of bumper cars, here. x
Plus, there’s deer and moose. The higher, the better. I knew a chick who had a dash-forward small car, while on a twisty road, she wound up with a white-tail in her lap.
Never saw that happen with the taller vehicles.
Anyway, consider, at Any time of the year, I.D.G.A.F. about lines in the parkinglot. Screw the Karen’s & what they think. It’s like the arrows on the floor of the grocery stores during The Plandemic.
F.T.a.F.T.F.H.
…Hab a nice day & carry on.
Indeed, Helot. Better to drive an FBAT simply because of the moose (Bullwinkle) factor. I have known many who have died after hitting a moose, and a few who became paralyzed (quads) after a Moose vs. Vehicle encounter. Better to have an FBAT for break-up, and when back roads turn to mini lakes-until the ground thaws. Also, if some stupid fool pulls out in front of you (red lights are difficult for some), you may fare better than driving a smaller vehicle. Gas prices aside, and the cost of filling one of those gasoline tanks, I see far more positives to having an FBAT than an EV or pregnant rollerscate any day.
100 percent, Shadow!
I am never getting rid of my little (’02) pick-up, because I can easily toss stuff into the bed and get stuff out of the bed without having to stand on tip toes or use a ladder. If I needed a full-size truck to tow or such, I’d search out an early 2000s Tundra or something much older from Chevy or Ford. These new trucks are in my view absurd – monstrously oversized and priced. $50,000-ish on the low end and the damned thing are so wide smacking mirrors with another behemoth in the opposite lane is a constant worry, drive-thrus are difficult and parking an obnoxious hogging of space.
Trucks won’t be doomed if the automakers get trucks back to being…trucks, instead of being 4×4 computers.
I want another Ranger like my 98, whose only bonuses were a post-market sunroof, automatic transmission, and bucket seats. No power anything except steering. Minimal OBD II computer.
That truck is still in my driveway and has 518k miles on it. With the new “kill” switch nonsense on play, it’s now a restoration project.
We need simple vehicles again, not bubble-wrapped computers with tires.
Zero Hedge posted this chart this morning:
GasBuddy analyst Patrick De Haan warned that the $5-a-gallon threshold is typically the “shock and awe” level that triggers demand destruction.
https://files.zhedge.com/cdn-cgi/image/width=1920,quality=75,format=auto/https://assets.zerohedge.com/s3fs-public/inline-images/Snag_4974f68e.png
the assumption is the current spike in gas is going to stop like it did at the $5 level last time. It is way, way to early to call the top.
IMO not a chance, Trump is not the decider on this war, it is Israel which owns Trump making the calls, if Trump does not destroy Iran, then Israel will act to attack or may even remove Trump and install another willing tool
why?
Jewish rabbis have a 4,000 year old dream of world conquest, they managed to reclaim the holy land and are purging all the non-Jews, they took the ‘Golem’ Heights and are now taking Lebanon. They are currently slaughtering the Palestinians in the West Bank and bragging about it. They got the USA to attack Afghanistan and Syria and Iraq and destroyed Libya.
Do you think they are going to give up now? Do you think they will let Trump negotiate for peace? That is naive. They will kill Trump first before that happens.
Hi Yukon. I just filled half a tank on my car this morning, and thank God it gets good gas mileage. Half a tank (did not catch the gallons) cost me $40 bucks. So $80 if I had let it drain to near-empty? And what a crock of crap, too. Apparently, having the pipeline in one’s yard means we get screwed extra special. I went to the Chevron station, and the prices were $5.09, $5.29, and $5.49 respectively.
$6.47 for 87 octane Chevron last Sat., 2 May in ZIP Code 92882 (Corona, CA)
$195.00 for 30.15 gal filled fore & aft tanks on my F150.
Company station, 2 mi from freeway.
Good grief, Adi, one almost has to get a second job just so you can actually GET to work! Borrowing a movie line, “What A Stupid World”…
Thank you for your bold investment in America! /sarc
p.s. Can you hit $250 for America’s 250th birthday??
Hope nobody has to cash in their Israel bonds to meet the fuel bills. 🙁
South of the border, in Mexico, they sell the Renault Kwid, I looked up the specs:
Engine & Performance
The Kwid is available with two small, efficient engine options:
1.0L SCe Engine: This is the most common current unit, a 61.0 cu in (999 cc) 3-cylinder engine. It produces approximately 67–68 hp and 67 lb-ft of torque.
0.8L Engine: An older, smaller 48.8 cu in (799 cc) 3-cylinder unit producing 54 hp and 53 lb-ft of torque.
Fuel efficiency varies by testing standard, but official ratings for the 1.0L engine are:
Claimed Efficiency: Approximately 51 to 52 mpg (US) based on a conversion of the 22 km/L rating.
Real-World Estimates: Reviewers have noted combined efficiencies around 42 to 43 mpg (US) in mixed driving conditions.
Highway Driving: Can reach up to 59 mpg (US) under ideal, steady-speed conditions.
The Kwid is remarkably light, which contributes to its high mileage:
Curb Weight: Ranges from approximately 1,539 lbs to 1,664 lbs (698–755 kg), depending on the specific variant and transmission.
————–
The world is passing us by. The USA is a failed military empire ruled by an Orange Golem lunatic, who is still fucking with Iran for his Israeli masters. Everything to do with Israel and the Middle East is a drag on our future prosperity. We should completely ban Israel from our politics, imprison AIPAC lobbyists for treason, arrest Netanyahu and send his the Hague for a good hanging. There is nothing to gain by being friends with Israel.
Amerika is a loser nation going down hard for being controlled by Jews and Israelis who are hell bent on endless war for world domination. The Iran war busted that delusion. We are now paying a heavy price for foolishly allowing our nation to be controlled by war mongers, pedophiles, grifters, liars, cheats, foreign lobbyists, Jewish supremacists, Chabad gangsters, Khazar Jewish imposters, inflationists, genocidists, central banksters, Rothschild Zionists …
While we sink into oblivion, Brazil, Mexico, Vietnam are building low cost high mpg cars. They will never be sold here. We are stuck with legacy car companies who build huge land yachts, grotesque 6,000 lb trucks and EVs.
IMO, gas at $4-5 may be the new floor, I remember when lumber went through the roof, it came down but never down to the previous lows. We have yet to see gasoline spike exponentially.
I’ll repeat my comment on the ADAS article. We have the technology to build a clean-enough, safe-enough, sub $10k “economy car” which could return mid-to-upper 50’s mpg on the highway. It would sell like crazy if it were legal to build and sell it.
Eric, you might want to take a look at this video:
Rust Lover’s Garage https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vpz9Pvl8rq0
Three million pickups repo’d last year, most of which cost more than he paid for his first house.
Thanks, Cobblestones!
Yes, I expect this to ramp up. There are probably a lot of owners of these things who can just barely swing the monthly payment. But add having to spend $600 (or more) each month on fuel and it’s the straw that breaks the camel’s back.
What is going to really be the straw, Eric, is this upcoming Winter. The heating fuel costs will be the breaking point. Some areas are trying to phase out wood burning stoves for “alternatives”. For the environment, of course. But when your fuel bill is near $1,500 bucks, and then -40 below sets in, no one is going to care about the environment when wood stoves work so well. As for the big trucks, that is going to get interesting, as people love their trucks. I am sorry, but you cannot haul a dog box (dog mushing), a snow machine, or your four-wheeler with what they are trying to shove us into.
I think you may be right, Shadow –
I am in process of sharpening up my chains to cut some trees down for the coming winter. Future time orientation is a thing!
Here on the west coast, gas is mostly $6+ per gallon. Diesel is $7+ And I expect fuel to cost $12/G by August. Im still driving an old fullsize V8 SUV to my $20/Hr minimum wage job. Traffic still sucks as bad as it did 6 months ago. I don’t think traffic will go down much till gas & electricity is rationed. Half of cars are EVs here. I was thinking about financing a Tesla cause electricity is 11c/kWh so about 10% of the fuel cost per mile. But in the event of an economic collapse, I can live in the Tahoe not driving much and the tesla would be repo’d. Plus they could be bricked due to network or electric grid issues.
Honestly a lot working poor single guys drive big old SUVs cause you can live in them when the apartments increase the rent over your income, and you can move to affordable areas with bad roads and weather.
El Trumpo says gas prices will fall like a rock when the Israeli invasion of Iran is finally over…maybe in 2029, I am guessing. By then, and even now, some damage has been done to energy infrastructure. But I figure if you can afford a $60,000 truck and the insurance and maintence costs, you can surely afford $10/gallon gas.
Who couldn’t see this coming!?!….nearly every person “in charge” at F, gm, and Crisisler! Average fleet fuel economy has improved dramatically since 2008 at least.
Even if gasoline goes down some, trucks were doomed anyway as tastes change. Not everyone wants to drive a truck and eventually this current cycle will end. Companies like Toyota are preparing their product lines to outcompete as inflation progresses and we have energy shocks like now.
If I was in charge, I would add a hybrid option to the Super duty pickup to give the commercial customer a new option to upgrade fleets with better fuel economy. This is a ton of customers. I would put the last Fusion back into production with the hybrid only option and try to get the base price in the $20s
I also remind myself that gasoline is still cheap when adjusted for inflation.
Wolf street has a great article from March, 4th on gasoline consumption, well worth the read and the charts.
Wolf Richter is an EV/Tesla worshipping fanboy who couldn’t shut up about their “successes” on the way up but posts ZERO articles when their junk piles up in mall parking lots and FSD starts killing its operators.
And he allows zero criticism of his now failed opinion of how the future will shake out.
Completely discredits himself – unless his readers are appreciative of the Chinese and likelihood of dumping their electric garbage on US soil.
Agree 100%! I mostly ignore his interpretations because of his extreme bias and would never donate $ to him. I don’t care for the way he treats his readers with his comments either. I believe he still provides good data though.
He is an EV ass…
They don’t want you driving, they want you controlled and contained, Agenda 2030. Jew installed, adderall addicted orange asshole is the means to the end. They already stole everything not nailed down, jewstyle, and left you with a 40 trillion $ tab. Not enough Goyim, better cough up that car, house, savings and investments. Beside Yukon Jack, can you all see it yet…because it’s pretty fuckin obvious.
Hard to say if people will give up their trucks. Trucks were on an upward sales trend from 2000 until 2007, when sales turned down as you’d expect. But the price of gas also went down so they tracked together. Sales in 2012 recovered to where they were in 2007 and sales of trucks has continued upward. The price of gasoline adjusted for inflation has remained basically flat since about 2004. Gasoline adjusted for inflation was most expensive around 2011 to 2013. There is function that when gas gets more expensive the number of trucks sold goes down but it’s not a strong correlation for the last 15 years. This is true of the economy broadly, though. It’s also seen in housing and many sectors. The general explanation is that the same things that created the 2008 panic are still true and reinforced in below market interest rates and abnormally cheap credit driving outsized consumption. No matter how you stand on the FED philosophically many economists agree that they are boxed in. Even a hint of tightening the cost of money drags the economy and if they were to raise rates for real it would crash the facade for real. Comes down a question of human action. People should have jumped off the revolving credit merry-go-round years ago, certainly smart money should have seen the 2008 melt down as a warning but very, very few people tightened their belts. In fact if you did NOT at least try to play the game and instead approached finances like your parents scrimping for the future your savings and investments will have been badly reamed by inflation. You have no choice but to play a game you didn’t know you were entered and can win even if you do run.
Here’s the CSV data if you want to plug it into a spreadsheet and chart it.
Year,Num Sold (in Millions),Per Gal,Inflation Adjusted Per gal
2000,8.572,1.510,2.82
2001,8.770,1.461,2.66
2002,8.774,1.358,2.43
2003,9.084,1.591,2.78
2004,9.384,1.880,3.20
2005,9.288,2.295,3.78
2006,8.743,2.589,4.13
2007,8.527,2.801,4.35
2008,6.426,3.266,4.88
2009,5.001,2.350,3.53
2010,5.919,2.788,4.12
2011,6.650,3.527,5.05
2012,7.189,3.644,5.11
2013,7.944,3.526,4.87
2014,8.744,3.367,4.58
2015,9.879,2.448,3.33
2016,10.594,2.142,2.87
2017,11.061,2.408,3.16
2018,11.915,2.735,3.51
2019,12.242,2.636,3.32
2020,11.070,2.174,2.70
2021,11.597,3.051,3.62
2022,10.896,4.094,4.50
2023,12.386,3.658,3.86
2024,12.874,3.449,3.54
2025,13.504,3.257,3.26
Hi Eric,
New trucks are dead to me and I don’t care if every one of the car companies take a big hit. I am done with being spied on and having my data stolen and sold to my enemies (insurance companies, .gov, etc) without my consent or knowledge.
They all squeal about the .gov making them add the things that make the trucks expensive, but they are eager participants in the meetings and processes with the .gov making the “safety” provisions mandatory. I have not seen Ford or Chevy make a public push against the .gov on this – have you?
They can all rot. I can buy a truck in very good condition that is 30 years old for half of what a new one will cost to purchase. The price delta in purchase cost, depreciation, maintenance and insurance will pay for the 10mpg gas difference for decades.
For example, Pacific Motors in Boise, Idaho has a 1996 Ford F150 with the last year of the straight 6 engine for $25k and 1995 F250 with the 460 engine for $31k. Both are trucks that you can work on and will haul anything that you need. Trucks like these are available, but are going up in value as people are looking for options to the $75k F150.
Anon
The “breaking point” is $8 a gallon for regular unleaded in AZ and MS. Thats when everything stops.
Yup they are. There will be a commercial fleet need for use clause soon. Trucks will be only for white gov grift fleets and corporate fleets
I predict the return of tiny cars, you know, like Nissans back when they were still Datsuns and not gigantic yachts. Sustained gasoline prices above $5 a gallon is going to force re-alignment of the entire car market. The cheapest gas I could find yesterday was $5.09 a gallon.
Trump has really screwed us all.
Delta to cut food service on hundreds of daily flights
The change is due in part to rising jet fuel prices.
Ask yourself, is this trip necessary? Carpool when possible. Sacrifices are demanded of us during wartime by our Israeli allies on the front line. /sarc
Meanwhile Spirit Airlines is no more. For all the jokes about them they provided a service for the masses who can’t fly on private jets, and decent middle class jobs for thousands of employees. Guess their CEO didn’t kiss Trumpenstein’s ass hard enough to get a bailout.
It wasn’t the government that walked away from the bail out, it was Spirit’s creditors and bond holders. Some stood to get less in return by it continuing to operate than they would if it was liquidated. That’s just the nature of bankruptcy, sometimes the pieces are worth more than the whole. Anyone who balances a budget can understand that at some point it could very well be preferred to stop throwing good money after bad, sell what you can to recoup something. All airlines are on the knife edge of cash flow and Spirit was constantly at the wrong end of that business model. Their best asset was low hour airframes and good spots in the Airbus order backlog for new planes.
$5.89 for premium last friday at freddys in medford. Yikes!
New trucks wont be sold as much, but the used market will be going for people who need a truck but drive less often. I picked up my k5 blazer in 2009 thinking diesel would come back down to pre 2007 prices soon and because I wanted a big easy to fix vehicle…hasn’t yet but at least I still have a k5 to show for it`
Don’t worry, comrades. I sense an increased mileage deduction and a round of shimmy checks coming up before midterms.
The short term pain will be addressed, as it always does. The longer term pain of raging inflation and debased lifestyles? Both wings of the bird of prey can blame the other for it. They will both be right.
Here is a really eye opening take on the military actions of the US.
https://richardmedhurst.substack.com/p/how-the-us-pulled-off-an-armed-robbery
It makes me wonder, Ernie, at what point hyperinflation arrives? When it hit Weimer, Germany, in 1929, food prices were doubling every 23 hours. People would spend their pay check in one day, simply because they did not know if it was going to be worth as much (if anything) the next day. The U.S. “Federal” Reserve has been printing money for how long now? And not an ounce of gold (or even silver) to back it up. At some point, we may all be millionaires, but it may only get you a loaf of moldy bread. If one is ever so lucky. At some point, the shimmy checks will not amount to much when food, fuel, and electricity prices are doubling and tripling. Never mind the absurd cost of new vehicles that contain safety crap no one wanted or asked for.
The Weimar inflation was from 1918 – 1924
https://www.myfinanceprocess.com/germanys-weimar-republic/
Thank you for the article Horst. My dates were off. Reading the article reminds me of where the US is today.
Money, like everything else, is subject to the law of supply and demand.
Martin Armstrong is half right (global confidence reflects the demand side), and the monetarists are half right (more money chasing the same goods and services can’t result in anything other than inflation).
Printing money is inflationary, but as long as there is enough demand for dollars the impact is blunted. There are a number of structural things in place (petrodollar, international settlements, etc.) that boost the level of demand for dollars. The dollar may be terrible but it’s the cleanest dirty shirt in the hamper, as they say. When that goes away, or when everyone says “we want something that isn’t dollars” (which is more or less the same thing), hyperinflation will hit. Until then, it’s just going to pinch everyone’s nipples into the world’s largest titty twister and we’ll scream for mercy but none will be had.
If it’s so great, how come I’ve cut expenses nearly to the bone and my paycheck is still gone before I even get it?
Ernie, I discovered that investigation a few days ago and all of the pieces fit together. Sharing it as far as I can given my small pool of acquaintances who even care about such things. If you haven’t yet, check out The New Atlas on youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheNewAtlas/videos
He sees exactly what Richard Medhurst sees. Everyone blaming Israel doesn’t seem to grasp that they have it backward – Israel, like the Ukraine, is a U.S. proxy for “political laundering” of touchy subjects such as genocide. Those who blame Israel have fallen for it.
One word, ‘Max’: hasbara
Did you receive your $7,000 yet?
I’m looking for the truth and Israel controlling the U.S. is not the truth. It’s a fiction which is politically useful to the corporations which run U.S. foreign policy, and were running it long before Israel even existed.
Israel is a proxy or vassal state. A forward base for unprovoked U.S. aggression. Just like Ukraine, Taiwan or South Korea. This is obviously not a defense of Israel – it is an acknowledgement of the truth that a microscopic country is not driving U.S. foreign policy but implementing it.
Those corporations are owned by Jews loyal to Israel. They control the US at the behest of Israel. You have it backwards on purpose. You are a paid troll.
Stirred up a nest, didn’t I. The U.S. is doing what it has always done since its inception. Scapegoating Israel or Trump (who is playing the role of a madman to reinforce your misconception brilliantly) is what 95% of alternative media is doing, which says it all, really.
from today’s Wall Street Journal:
“some Ford trucks are in short supply because aluminum, the metal used to make their bodies, is in short supply.
The war in Iran is driving up the metal’s price by effectively choking off shipments from the Persian Gulf countries, which supply about one-fifth of the aluminum consumed in the U.S.”
Thanks, Biden!
Wait a minute … the Lügenpresse told me that ‘wartime’ is like Indian summer for EeeVee sales —
‘Ford Motor Company posted a sharp sales decline in April as demand for new vehicles cooled across much of the auto industry, with the company reporting a 14.4% drop year over year to 178,667 vehicles sold.
‘Ford’s weakness was broad-based. EV sales dropped nearly 25%, hybrid sales plunged 32.5%, and traditional gas-powered vehicles fell 11.8%. Truck sales declined more than 14%, SUVs were down 16.6%, and the company’s bread-and-butter Ford F-Series slid nearly 14% to just over 61,000 units. Sales at Lincoln were even worse, falling more than 21%.’
https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/ford-sales-post-sharp-144-decline-april-ev-and-hybrid-sales-plunge-248-and-325
War destroys auto sales. WW II shut them down for five long years. Now as then, Lightning Jim Farley has a brilliant plan to pivot to ‘defense’ production. This will work out about as well as his early-2020 brainwave to make ventilators for covid patients.
As Saint George Floyd said, ‘Help … I can’t breathe!‘
Biden?
As contemptible as he is, it is Trump that has gotten this country into an intractible war that we cannot win
Of course we can win it.
The problem is, it would be a Pyrrhic victory, leaving the empire weak, broken, and open to serious competitors, especially China. And completely shattered internally.
At this point, the Iranians can, will, and should claim victory for having stood up to a bully and bloodied his nose.
But we’ve been headed that way for a long time, with China openly waging hybrid war on the empire and our dolts selling them the rope. And giving them the rope machines and the missile guidance technology.
I suspect that unless they make an alternative size vehicle that you can put a family and their stuff in I don’t see much other choice as it’s not like you can do the same sort of tasks with a Nissan Sentra.
Perhaps minivans might work but they’re getting to be expensive also.
Minivans are underrated. They aren’t jacked up with fat tires and 4WD for drugstore truck-drivin’ men who scrupulously avoid ‘Arizona pinstripes’ (brush scratches from off-roading). But they will carry plenty of people and stuff.
Stylish minivans with higher ground clearance easily could be designed — and probably will be, after millions of
fashion victimsowners realize, ‘I can’t afford this giant pickup with the gas-sucking 32-inch knobby tires that don’t do anything for me in the Walmart parking lot.’Ditch the outmoded, low-slung bubble look, and you could actually have a stylish minivan. Unfortunately, though, it’s going to be saddled with AEB and a dozen other deal-killers.
I will leave it to Eric to pen the Automotive Declaration of Independence, suitable for adoption by any US state or country. Abolish the NHTSA.
For the minority made up of young families with more than 2 kids, the obnoxious car seats mandated by our masters before they got the chutzpah to mandate seat belt wearing by nominal adults, a big SUV, a full size van, or (best choice) a minivan are the only options.
When I was carting around my brood, I ignored that crap and used old conversion vans, usually with tinted windows on the conversion part. Today with standing armies of enforcers and 20 more years of browbeating, most of them go along with the scam.
Yeah, the conversion vans go 12-16mpg, but it was worth it.
Ford still makes the Mondeo (Fusion) in China using the same platform as the Maverick.
The Fusion used to be Hecho en Mexico on the Maverick production line, and the factory could probably produce both simultaneously.
As for GM, Malibu rentals were everywhere last month when we went to Orlando. New-ish looking vehicles too. We walked by a dozen at the airport to get a Jetta.
It’s a great question. Nobody makes cars at all any more, let alone affordable, fuel-efficient ones. In 2008 you could buy a Chevy Cobalt or Ford Focus. I bought a Focus in ’06 for $12,500 OTD including tax and shipping. 35 mpg.
In ’08 when gas hit $4.25 I got an F-150 for $13,500 OTD including tax and shipping. But it was only an $18,000 truck at full MSRP.
Today the Big Three are utterly dependent upon profits from absurdly-priced trucks to cover losses from EVs. The do not have a balanced sales portfolio offering a range of choices anymore. If you go with GM you either buy an $80k brodozer or a made-in-China Buick Envista. If you go with Ford it’s either an $80k F-150 brodozer or a 3-cylinder Broncho Sport (which is $30k+ anyway). There is no Plan B other than another government bailout if they cannot sell trucks.
LEts not forget GM’s business model is not to sell cars, but rather to sell the financing of them.
Take Carvana for example. They sell financing and give you a shitty car along with it.
Cool business model – as long as you can afford it.
>Lets not forget GM’s business model is not to sell cars, but rather to sell the financing of them.
I once had a finance manager at a Ford dealership tell me the exact same thing, i.e., they make more on the financing than they do on the vehicle.
We’ve seen this movie before…only worse versions of it.
I remember the late 70’s and new or leftover year models were going for thousands less than invoice, the news blaring about how bad sales and the car market slump.
And again in the early 80’s, when Japanese cars outsold American cars….and again in 2008/9, when gas went to $4 or 5/gallon, then , which is equal to $8/gallon now.
Yikes!!! Unfortunately, i think it’ll get a lot worse before it gets better…but…..
YMMV!!!
Isn’t that the car companies’ fault for not offering more economical vehicles though?
People sure as hell don’t drive like gas/diesel is through the roof. I get passed everyday by every type of car/truck imaginable. You’d think at some point the driving habit would change.
As for the question, will trucks survive? Why yes, when Uncle Sugar will just print up a few billion and hand over to the manufacturers. I expect a covid style bankrolling of airlines, cruise industry, and other deep pocketed & well-connected industries to be given debased FRNs.
FOR REAL! To get max economy, I drive 65; even then, I’m in the right lane being passed by many big trucks, SUVs, and crossovers. One would think that, beyond a certain point, people would ease up on the gas to save money.
Clover
How so, if I’m driving in the right lane? Isn’t the right lane the slow lane-at least here in the US? Why am I a clover for wanting to save gas and save wear and tear on my new car? Can you explain that to me?
I track my MPG. It makes little difference going 60 or 90 MPH in anything with overdrive I cant even measure the difference in MPG between 65 and 75 MPH in any of 20 cars ive put a lot of miles on including 10 ft tall box vans. A couple of SUVs actually got peak MPG at around 80 mph. Driving slow is just a waste of time, and time is money.
If you really wanted to increase fuel efficiency, we would have 90-120 MPH speed limits. This would get me out of the big old SUV and into a fuel efficient sedan, and slow people could stay in their retirement communities or college campuses with their e-scooters and golf carts
Some days it seems our nation is Nell, bound with ropes and chains, laid across the railroad tracks. We can hear the train a’comin’ but, Dudley Dooright’s dead.