Gimmick was my first response, followed by "Hmmm...could replace Clifford with something more modern and get gas for the UAV at a discount for the next three years." But I hate making car payments and all mine are paid for, so that's out.
I'm of both minds with this. I agree with 73Chally that the mommy and daddy SUV drivers are the biggest whiners (and how many of them have a mortgage they can no longer afford and can't get out of?), so I have little sympathy there. But I'm also in agreement with KZ that it would be good to see Chrysler actually put some of that American brain power to work to build something that gets decent gas mileage that people will actually buy. I think they were on the right track with the Neon, but when they decided to follow the angular styling of the Charger in the Stratus/Avenger (ick!
) and the Caliber
, they lost many of us who might have been interested in purchasing a modern, small, fuel-efficient American car. I don't understand why it's so dang difficult for the domestic manufacturers to get that one right!
I did hear on the radio this afternoon that Chrysler is partnering with Nissan to introduce some more fuel-efficient cars in about three years. Product planning and lead times being what they are, almost none of the domestics are ready for the price of fuel today, let alone what it will be in the future. All are too heavily invested in trucks and SUVs. One would hope that one of the Big 3 CEOs would have a little backroom skunkworks to be prepared, but I suppose most stockholders would have a conniption at what most would see as a waste of assets.
I also heard today that a Goldman Sachs oil analyst predicted that $200/barrel oil within the next two years was possible.
