Depressing News

The Ford Motor company has announced that within a few years they will no longer be making sedans. The company is abandoning its Fiesta, Fusion and Taurus line of vehicles and will instead concentrate on pickup trucks and SUVs. Not  for the entire world, just for the United States (and presumably Canadian) markets. It can only be assumed that the other big American car producers (GM and Chrysler) will follow suit.

While I am not one of them, for anyone who follows the car market - this business decision is not a surprise. In fact the almost complete switch to larger vehicles is obvious to anyone who parks in a large box store parking lot. As a driver of a small car, I am constantly aware that that the majority of vehicles surrounding me are either trucks or SUVs. Consumers have for the past decade have been making the switch from sedans and cars to bigger, boxier vehicles, vehicles with big tires that are reputably safer (except of course if you are driving a smaller import and get hit by a SUV). It is clear that the American (and Canadian) markets are enamoured with the concept of driving something big. Not that most of them need to - they just want to.

This news is particularly discouraging in that in spite of the  general acceptance that global climate change is real and that the change is caused at least in part because of the amount of carbon that is released into the air; in spite of the fact that a significant percentage of the public list environmental concerns as being one of their top three concerns; in spite of the fact that there is a constant debate about how safe it is to transport oil, we are insisting on driving larger vehicles that consume more gas. As is so often the case, there is a large disconnect between what we say and what we do.

I can appreciate that pickup trucks and SUVs are far more fuel efficient than they use to be. I understand why all of that space is attractive. As I pack my car for market day, or have to rearrange the back of my car to ensure that I can get two booster seats into the back seat or wonder how I am going to get that 10 foot piece of fragile wood trim home - I think about how I would love to have a bigger vehicle. But I do not need one. What I need is a reliable vehicle that will meet most of my needs, most of the time. What I need is a vehicle that is fuel efficient all of the time.

There are some Canadians who argue that we need larger vehicles because we have to drive large distances (as compared to people in Europe or Asia), there are others who argue that we need to have big vehicles with all wheel drive because our weather conditions are terrible for so many months of the year. While the former argument has some limited validity, the reality for most people is that they do not drive those great distances all of the time; the latter argument's validity becomes questionable when it is made by those who live on Vancouver Island or by people whose chosen life styles occasionally force them to drive through harsh conditions (e.g. choosing to live in a  new house on a poorly maintained rural road and then saying you need to own a SUV).

 

According to Statistics Canada, 81% of Canadians live in urban areas. Why would one need a vehicle that is, at least supposedly, made for rough roads or carrying heavy loads? If car manufacturers have been able to fabricate more fuel efficient vehicles, that does not mean that we get to drive bigger cars.

As we sit and ponder the environmental fate of the world, as we are alarmed by the violent weather patterns that seem to be emerging, as we bemoan the irresponsible producers of oil - maybe we should drooling over the newest SUVs.