Fuel-efficient vehicles such as the Honda Fit are becoming more popular as the price of gas continues to climb.
As gas prices spurt higher than an uncapped oil well (I keep picturing Dick Cheney covered in crude, yelling "Yee Haw!" . . .), there have been new winners and losers in automobile showrooms.
Some of the biggest, baddest SUVs and pickups have seen their sales hammered. Cars have gotten a leg up, outselling trucks in some months for the first time in years. And frugal subcompacts have finally shown up on America's radar screens, boosted by strong models such as the Honda Fit.
All of which got me thinking: Are carmakers gearing up to promote this stuff? Toyota has loudly hyped its hybrids, painting itself as the greenest automaker in the land. GM has countered by noting that it offers more models that top 30 highway mpg than any other automaker. But for the most part, the ads I see and read are still largely focused on pickups, SUVs and luxury models — the expensive rides that have always paid the bills at Automaker HQ.
During football and baseball games, even with gas at $4 a gallon, the ad landscape looks more like a rodeo than the real world, filled with pickups and cowboys workin' on the range. This is because the Ford F-Series pickup is still the nation's best-selling vehicle, as it has been for two decades. The Chevy Silverado pickup is right on its spurs, hoping to someday break Ford's winning streak. Toyota is trying to lasso its own buyers with the Texas-built Tundra.
Those pickups, along with high-dollar SUVs, are what fill the coffers for Detroit. In contrast, cars that go easy on gas tend to be smaller and inexpensive, which means they contribute far less profit. No surprise then that for every advertising and marketing dollar that carmakers spend, they've usually devoted a smaller slice to models that aren't carrying their financial weight.
But with every automaker chasing a green image, they've become shyer about promoting models that slurp fuel like frat boys on a beer keg. For the first time in ages they're calling attention to their solid-citizen cars.
SUVs Crossing Over
Ford executives are well aware of how the market shift is changing business. The new 35-mpg Ford Focus has been one model to reap sales benefits. Old-school trucks such as the Explorer are on their way out, to be replaced by more efficient crossover SUVs. "We'll put company resources behind the products people want, wherever the marketplace is going," said Ford spokesman Alan Hall.
For Ford and everyone else, that means more models like the Ford Flex. This car-based, seven-passenger crossover goes on sale in June, with a 3.5-liter V6 engine expected to deliver roughly 24 highway mpg — at or near the top of its class for economy.
Spokesman Jim Cain said that Ford has six million of its traditional SUVs on the road (Explorers, Expeditions, etc). That's six million potential customers, many of whom still demand a roomy family vehicle, but one that's easier on gas. Naturally, Ford will go all-out to lure those owners into the Flex, Edge or another Ford or Lincoln model.
At the same time, the Dearborn automaker has rolled out a major 'Drive One' media blitz. The campaign focuses on Ford's environmental efforts and fuel-saving technologies, everything from recyclable, soy-based seat materials to its turbocharged and direct-injected Eco-Boost engines.
