Long before I read that Toyota had outsold Ford last month to become, for the first time, the nation’s No. 2 auto retailer, I knew Ford was in deep doo-doo.
From my mailbox I had retrieved a desperation letter from Galpin Motors, basically a Ford company that also services my Saturn. Galpin has been hedging its bets, diversifying over the past few years to include Volvo, Jaguar, Mazda and Saturn dealerships. Good planning.
But they still don’t seem to get that high gas prices are here to stay. That carbon dioxide emissions drive global warming. That the two are inexorably linked. What’s so hard about that?
The letter claims, “There is a silver lining to the dark cloud of soaring gas prices.”
No, not that people finally may be coming to their senses; that they actually could change their goofy notions about needing really big vehicles.
Ford is still trying to sell us on their grossly inefficient behemoths. The 2006 models are clogging their lots because buyers are test driving Toyotas and Hondas and liking what they see.
“Simply put,” Galpin’s letter says, “would you buy a new 2006 Ford Explorer or new 2006 Mercury Mountaineer if we gave you $6,000 in gas? Even better, would you consider a new 2006 Ford Expedition if we gave you $11,000 in gas or maybe even a new 2006 Lincoln Navigator if we gave you $14,000”?
Well, actually, No.
Thank heavens they quit making the Ford Excursion that could float the Exxon Valdez on what it took to drive to the kids’ soccer game. Galpin would have to offer the down payment for a small house to keep one of those running for a month.
But that’s not all they’re offering. Not only will they foot us enough fuel to propel the Love Boat, but they also “invite us to take advantage of their factory 0% APR financing and factory rebates.”
Desperate measures for desperate times.
Galpin has to move its inventory of 4,000 vehicles to make room for the 2007 models, which one can only hope will be more fuel-efficient than those in the clearance sale.
It may be beyond the grasp of Ford’s marketing geniuses, who are steadfastly attributing posted losses to incentives (see above), rising raw material costs and, oh by the way, those nasty high gas prices. Come on, guys. Just build a better car.
Meanwhile, Toyota’s profits soared 39% on the same high gas prices. Why? Because they come from the real world where high gas prices have always been a fact of life. Understanding this, they developed reliable, fuel-efficient vehicles that people actually want to drive. Toyota doesn’t need to coerce buyers with incentives and gas giveaways.
But the problem is not Ford’s alone. GM, though still leading in sales, is teetering on the brink, and Chrysler Group was, for the first time ever, outsold by Honda. Even Hyundai, Kia, Mazda and VW showed gains over sales from July 2005. The only Asian carmaker to post a sales decline was Nissan, and it was mainly hurt by falling sales of its Titan full-size pickup and Pathfinder and Armada SUVs.
Do we dare to think that Americans will come to realize that high gas prices, if sustained, could be the tipping point in changing our culture of competitive consumerism? We might come to embrace renewable energy even as our leaders drag their feet, delaying the inevitable, cowering before the oil lobby.
We did it before. During World War II, we accepted gas rationing with a minimum of whining. My father put the Caddy in the garage and drove an American Bantam, a remarkably thrifty runabout, sort of a ’40s version of the Smart. And when the ration book neared empty, he skipped the weekend trips to Palm Springs. We kids rode the streetcar to lessons and the movies.
Somehow, we’ve been sold on this fallacy that we shouldn’t ever have to give up anything. That bigger is always better (for your image, if nothing else). That’s just got to change if we’re ever going to solve the dual crises of fossil fuel depletion and environmental degradation.
Carmakers should accept the challenge, and then advertise efficiency as though they really believed in it.
We need to remind ourselves that bigger SUVs spew more greenhouse gasses, that climate-controlled McMansions with acres of power-mowed lawn, power-blown leaves and power-heated pools are overwhelming the power grid and polluting the planet.
Of course, it would be helpful if we weren’t wasting a gazillion gallons of gas trying to remake an unwilling world in our image. We might also urge our leaders to show a little respect for those enlightened nations that have already embraced conservation and taken the lead in alternative energy design and production.
Well, it would be a start.