Since the demand for gasoline starts with the production of cars, wouldn't it be effective if Americans?

Question

simply stopped buying new cars powered by gasoline to pressure Detroit to produce an affordable alternative?
The federal government is in bed with the oil companies. It collects hundreds of billions of $ in gas taxes. The government will do nothing that will harm that revenue base.
If Americans simply stopped buying new cars for a month or two, perhaps Detroit would get the message and come up with an affordable vehicle powered by alternative energy.
As fragile as the auto industry is, it could not handle a month long period without sales. Two months without sales would kill the industry. Two months without buying a new car would hardly effect consumers.
Could the problem of high gas prices be solved by boycotting new cars?
Your thoughts?

Answer 1

Well the market place rules. If people stop buying gas guzzling SUV's then Detroit will stop making them.

But organized boycotts don't work, especially if it is specifically going against market forces. People will look at their fuel bill and gladly trade the 10mpg hummer in for a 60mpg Prius. But ask them to do without the most convenient and affordable mode of transportation is a bit much.

That aside, there is a long lead time in manufacturing and inventories. Two months might put some dealerships under but would hardly phase the makers. At the end of the two months there would be a buying spree and in the end, the same number of cars will be sold.

In a way we are lucky. High gas prices are something that almost everyone has direct control over. We can simply drive less, car pool, use public transportation or drive more efficient cars. That lowers your fuel bill immediately. Enough people do that and demand for gas drops and so does the price. Many will not go back to old habits and will enjoy their new savings.

Answer 2

As an idea thats great but people cannot stop buying cars for a period of time so that Detroit gets the idea. I think its easy to blame the industry but business is customer driven. Even before the first and worst gas crunch in the 70's Detroit (who had had meetings about the eventual reduction of fuel in the world) produced a full line of gas efficient cars. The Ford Falcon, the Chevy Vega, the Chevette 50 mpg,the 50mpg diesel VW rabbit, the first Ranger (imported) and Hondas started coming in with a tiny little Civic that got 40 mpgs. People did not buy them. Gas was not expensive then but in the 70s we went through periods when gas was hard to find. Production is demand driven and so you are right that if people will stop buying the gas monsters it would be very effective. But think about this. We have been in a gas crunch with ever rising prices for about seven years. The use of the V8 engine has reduced a lot and the in line 6 is the standard. Gas mileage is about double for most standard models then it was 10-15 years. And yet there is still demand for the monsters vehicles. Look at the models that have been selling in the past decade. The Hummer, the four door full size trucks, Expeditions and Navigators and then Toyota and Nissan began competing (this year too) for who is making the largest truck in America. The Big Three tried in the 70s to offer fuel efficient cars and no one bought them. Sadly, it does take rising gas prices to reduce demand for outrageous vehicles though the true impact on these prices is on the working poor and poor. You are putting the horse before the cart. There is demand for gas efficient cars in the US (witness the sales of Hondas, Subarus, HHRs, Focus etc.) but there is still a strong demand for the gas guzzler. People can stop it by not buying them but the idea of a boycott is meaningless if the people who demand big cars don't participate. The rest of us are already trying everything we can, people with money can do whatever they want no matter what the cost. Sadly, the argument that "why save gas, if we save it, it will just cost more per gallon so that oil company profits will remain strong" has some merit.

Answer 3

No, the demand for gasoline starts with people and products needing to get from point A to point B. Essentially the only way your boycott would work is if you get enough people to suddenly decide we don't need transportation anymore.

Of course that would mean no food would get shipped and nobody would be getting to work. Starvation and economic collapse can't really be that bad can it?

And FYI, if any of these automobile companies were able to make affordable non-gasoline powered vehicles.. they would do it in a second. It would be a huge new market for them and they'd all be scrambling to grab a market share and establish brand names.

Answer 4

I think if the consumers stop buying cars from the makers, the demand for the used cars and public transportation will increase (they will still have to get to their jobs somehow to earn income and pay bills!). The prices for used cars will go up and the public transportation fares will go up as well to compensate for the loss in revenues. The automobile industry will not get killed, it will simply move its sales abroad (the government will remove all the tariffs on exports and tax them on revenues).

I do not know the solution for how to develop and implement the alternative energy sources. But we definitely have to do something about it.

Answer 5

I dont think it would help. Its just like boycotting the gas stations for a day..sooner or later you are going to have to buy it. The only way to really effect them is to stop buying gas for months.

But I dont understand your connection to car production companies and gas companies/ the government. You would be hurting the car companies not the gas companies, which are not located in Detroit. You would still be buying gas for your old car.

Answer 6

We bought a hybrid car last year and the savings on gas has paid dividends. I drove last year from Texas to Michigan filling up one time in West Memphis Arkansas and filling up a second time in Champaign, Illinois and when I reached my destination in Michigan I had a half of a tank of gas!

I have heard all of the excuses about Hybrids and it is true that anytime they need to be repaired you have to take them to the dealer. It is not true that they don't have any power. Mine is a Honda Civic and I noticed no difference in power in the regular internal combustion Civic and the Hybrid Civic. The bottom line is that we have to start conserving somewhere. We barely have been driving our Ford Explorer because $36.00 is a whole lot easier to part with at the pump than $72.00.

I personally think that the government is going to let things get a whole lot worse before they start getting better.

Answer 7

The next run of non gasoline powered cars is coming from China. Detroit will never get the message that's why it's going the way of the Dodo.

Answer 8

So kill the auto industry, put thousands out of a job, just to get back at the oil industry, plus it still wouldn't effect the oil companies. Plus the federal government would bail out the auto industries before that would happen, and watch how fast unions become Republican supporters. Effective? NO!

Answer 9

Nice idea. You have to take in account that the oil and auto industry have been buying up every single patent that they can that has anything to do with alternate energy! And have been for DECADES!

I suspect, unless they allow the use of some of the patents they own, you are you know what out of luck!

Answer 10

Marketing and lowering the prices of hybrid cars sounds like a better idea . Also offering tax write offs on the purchase.
I bought a brand new car last year, I looked in to the hybrids but the difference in price for a Honda Civic and they hybrid version was about $5000. My car is still a great alternative to SUVs. It's ULEV(ultra low emission volume).