Record Month for Selling Gas-Saving Cars Getting Better than 30 MPG

khallgeisler — Fri, 09 May 2008 00:00:00 -0400

April 2008 was a month of records for the auto industry. For the first time, one in five cars driven off U.S. lots was a compact or subcompact car. Also for the first time, gas-saving four-cylinder engines outsold six-cylinder engines. The other segment to do well last month was small crossovers, or "tall cars," as my friend Penny calls them. They look like SUVs but are built on car platforms.

Compared with sales from the same month last year, SUV sales fell 17.4%. Models that get better than 30 mpg or so sold like gangbusters, including sales of the jelly-bean-esque Toyota Yaris, which increased by 46%. Even the Ford Focus got a boost, to the tune of 32% higher sales than last April.

While vehicle sales were down across the board last month, the small-car trend seems to be here to stay this time. People usually buy smaller cars in a gas crunch (think of the death of the muscle car and the rise of the two-door hatchback in the '70s), but gas prices aren't predicted to get lower any time soon. Like, ever, really. Trucks may be relegated to the people who need them -- construction sites and landscapers, for example.

The latest sales results shouldn't surprise most people, especially RiverWired.com readers. When the Transportation Department announced its new CAFE standards on Earth Day, we pointed out that the average gas mileage of cars on the road is higher than the current minimum requirement not because of forward-thinking auto manufacturers, but because of you, the car-buying public, who chose gas sippers over gas guzzlers.

Yaris image courtesy of Toyota.

For more information, check out:

15 Tips For Better Mileage -- Want to Get 70 MPG in Your Toyota Prius?

The Hype About Hypermiling

Two Wheels Are Greener Than Four

Honda Civic GX Tops List of Greenest Cars

Driving Green = Fewer Greenbacks

Five Tips to Find the Cheapest Gas Near You

Top 10 Most Fuel-Efficient Cars: Save Gas, Save Money