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

The situation you describe might work unfortunatly it is impossible. We as Americans alsways strive to have the latest and greatest things including houses, electronics and especially cars. There is no was that all the people in America could come to an agreement to boycott the buying of new cars, especially all at the same time. Nice idea but not possible.

Answer 2

Sure it would, but its not going to happen.  America has a love affair with their cars. They will continue to pay the price for gas no matter how high the price goes.  The sale of lockable gas caps will increase, as will the sale of siphon apparatus.  Crime will increase as people "drive off" from the station without paying and steal gas from any source available. If a boycott on cars were to go into effect, Detroit would drop the price so much that when the boycott was over, present sales would make up for the loss.

Answer 3

Well they could, and it would be a noble thing to do- boycott car makers-, but down the road it would  mean having to drive their old cars longer,  and from my experience, most Americans don't drive old junkers unless they want to have a difficult time getting them repaired,  because mechanics who work on older cars are rare, if not horribly dishonest , like charging you $39.95 to tell you they don't want to work on your car.

   The HONEST mechanics, -and this is from my experience-, attract too many kids, (kids usually start out in second hand cars).  Too many kids hanging around a mechanic shop equal trouble, such as bringing weed and beer along, etc., and the authorities find these places an easy target for a bust, which only puts more good mechanics out of business, and makes it  that much harder to find a cheap place to get work on your old car..

     That is why many  find it easier to go into debt and own a newer car with a warranty. In some areas that is the only way to get a car worked on. That's why old junkers sometimes go for around $100, because it simply is too difficult to get anyone to work on them, unless you have your own garage with lots of tools and can DIY.  Horrible waste of resources if you ask me.  We'd have to change that, (eg. first legalise weed) if we wanted to boycott new car makers.

  Yeah, we could also just start riding bicycles.

Answer 4

You're right about one thing, the government profits from gas prices; more than the oil companies, in fact, and the gov't has zero overhead or risk!  However, in destroying the auto industry, you would also destroys lives.  What would you do with the tens/hundreds of thousands of unemployed auto workers, their familes, their homes, their futures??  The idea that lives are at stake as a result of gas consumption is far fetched and unproven.  It's a fact, however, that lives would be seriously, negatively impacted if we stopped producing cars.  Also, cars are not the only thing that use fossil fuels!  Electrical generators use different petroleum products, including coal, to provide electricity.  We are able to find all kinds of consumer products made from petroleum products (plastic, for example).  And how would these products get to the shelves without transportation?  Crazy idea.  Got any others?

Answer 5

sounds fine to me, but i cant afford  a new car anyways.. but i think it is an issue of change. people are afraid to change so your seemingly obvious answer to the fuel crisis wont go over well. the hybrids could be affordable, but the market isnt flushed with them yet so the ole supply and demand allows them to hike the price. plus, the fact of where to buy the new form of fuel isnt as readily available as the gasoline stations. so it is easier to go with the grain and go gas. have you been to america? there arent alot of people here who care about the enviroment. most people who can afford new cars are out to get the fastest, flashiest thing available. that is not a hybrid. hopefully things will change.

Answer 6

Yes I think it could.  I think that is a great idea.  If people only bought flex fuel cars and hybrids then eventually the automakers would get the message and only start making those types of cars.  I only buy flex fuel myself.  I have a 2006 Mercury Grand Marquis flex fuel and I use E85 in it religiously.  You cast a "vote" that has an affect on our economy every time you buy a new vehicle or fill up your tank.  Cast your vote for ethanol by buying flex fuels and using it.  The increased demand you create will encourage more auto manufacturers to make flex fuel cars and more gas stations to sell E85.

Answer 7

That would work, but only if everyone really did it.  There was a boycott on gasoline on May 15th, but people didn't drive any less, so they just bought gas the day before or the day after.  Weekly inventory numbers based on refining capacity actually showed we used MORE gasoline that week.  So all the oil exec's just laughed.

If we boycotted cars for a month, car maker exec's would just wait a month and laugh too, because they know sales the next month would skyrocket as many more people really need a new car.

The only way to get the message across is for people to stop buying SUV's and gas guzzlers and start buying fuel efficient cars, and hybrids.  This will show them that AMericans are interested in these types of vehicles and they will make more.  Unfortunately, this is the only way.

Answer 8

You must not be a car salesman. No one is buying new cars

Answer 9

If you could tell me which car company produces cars that run completely without gasoline, I'm in !

Answer 10

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 11

if there is a market, someone will meet the demand..

the "oil" issue has been around since the early 1970's and still no new types of engines..

and we cant blame it all on big oil or big auto either..

some liberal could have come up with a design..manufactured..and sold alternative engines in the past 30+yrs...

Answer 12

as soon as vehicle sales stopped, the price of a new vehicle would begin dropping

as soon as a vehicle was cheap enough, they'd sell like crazy

I'll take a new SUV for $5000, no matter what gas costs

Answer 13

Lead by example.  Do you own a car?  Do you ride in a car or bus?  They use gas.  Buy a bike and try to go a month without using gas.  Oh and don't use electricity because most of that comes from fossil fuels.  Oh and hot water either that is heated by fossil fuels.  Lead by example.

Oh and send an e-mail to Detroit and tell them what kind of cheap effordable energy they should use in your new fanaties car.  The first person to come up with something like you said will be the richest man around.  You don't think people are working on that day and night?  What world do you live in?  "Tell detroit to do it"  is not an answer to our energy problems.  Nuclear power plants would help are you for that? I bet not.

Answer 14

thing is, Detroit no longer leads the car production race,..toyota just took the tital

but yea, your idea does make sense. if more companies just built hybrids, the cost of hybrids would decrease and become more appealing to consumers

Answer 15

Your right about the fragility of the auto industry, but I believe that it just insn't that easy to convince the American public to not buy anything period. Every day, we are bombarded with advertising for this or that. We have to face the fact that we are consumers and until we change our ways as a whole, nothing else will change. I just hope that are children do not follow us down this destuctive path. Otherwise there will be nothing left to consume, cars and gasoline included.

Answer 16

You are very right. I am of the view that it is in the hands of the individuals to control the issue of rising prices of gas. We could have a cheaper/safer means of mass transport. Or use pool-in vehicles, that's a better option then using individual cars! The governments all over the world are no doubt hand-in-glove with the automobile manufacturers (though they may be crying themselves hoarse about global warming!) The economic concerns are a major hindering blocks-in taking tough environmental stands, which most leaders either delay or ignore (unless of course there is some public outcry!).

   So basically, it is the individual who has to take a stand.

Answer 17

That's kind of like saying if we all stopped eating McDonald's America would suddenly become skinnier and healthier - the new cars are merely in response to public demand and comfort. Once the public is more comfortable with less luxury cars and more fuel efficient ones the big manufacturers will step up to meet that demand.

Answer 18

It's a good point, but there would be serious repercussions in the economy (TONS of people would lose their jobs) and American automakers are already falling far behind foreign automakers.

Also, there aren't any options unless you go hybrid, and for a lot of people these are simply too far out of reach economically, and I know for the Prius, 2006 was the last year you can take a tax deduction for the car.  I don't know if this will be renewed, though.

Look at the electric car!  Can't get them, all pulled and destroyed.  

I do agree that there has to be a way to force the issue, but the only people who would be harmed by a boycott would be workers in the plants (who are already worried about layoffs) and in the dealerships.  These aren't people who count to CEOs and Stock Analysts.  Because what CEO is willing to settle for $1M less to keep jobs?  In fact, as we've seen recently with Kimberly Clark stock, mass layoffs because of weak market share seem to send prices soaring.  Go figure.

Answer 19

And--with most people NOT having access to good public transportation--do you suggest they get to work? To the store?

The system is geared to cars.  And changing that means changes in government policy.  People need to quit making excuses like "the gornment is in bed with the oil companies,e tc."

This is intended to be a government by the people.  Did you dthink that means just trot down to the voting booth every so often like a good little sheep?  It means GET INVOLVED.  Not sit and wait for somebody else to change the system.  If our forefathers had done that, we'd all still be singing "God Save the Queen."

Hers's a start: Tell your representatives in Washington wha tyou think.  Here's where to find their e-mails:

house.gov

senate.gov

Answer 20

Ah, they are already trying that with the corn. That is why our milk, meat and half dozen other things are going up.

8-)

Answer 21

The demand for cars is not stupid. People do not buy cars because they are stupid. They buy cars so they can get to work in less than 4 hours. They buy cars so they can take their wives to the hospital to deliver a baby in the middle of the night when there is no public transit running. They buy cars because they HAVE to. If you want to live without using gasoline, you need to become Amish. Personally, that life style looks more and more inviting to me, as an outsider. But I wonder how I would really like it after a few weeks of plowing a field with only a horse to help.

So you think that by taking away money from the car companies we can make then spend money to develop better cars. No way! When people or companies loose income, they stop unnecessary spending. When companies loose money, they stop doing research and development, and stop sending employees to training classes. And if their cars do not sell, they just make fewer and lay off the workers that are no longer busy. If the sales stay low, they just go out of business. If they could make a better car, they would, because they are in competition. If one company makes a better car, it will steal the business of the other companies that don't. If you think they are all conspiring to make us buy bad cars, then you need to get off your drugs.

Answer 22

You can buy electric, E85, and H2 powered vehicles now if you want.  Detroit builds em...people don't buy em...

Answer 23

your thoughts make sense, that is probably why toyota is whoopin the pants off American automakers, since their vehicles get nearly twice the gas mileage with far less emissions.