If you could get gas today for half the price we are now paying would you be interested ? Of course we would. We would either have to be rich or foolish to pay $3.50 a gallon when we could get gas for $1.75. There is an old saying that "Necessity is the mother of invention". Today we can cut our fuel prices in half by simply buying a fuel efficient car which exists TODAY. If we drive a car that gets 32mpg versus one that gets 16mpg (SUV or Truck) don't we effectively cut our fuel costs in half and make that $3.50 a gallon gas feel in our wallets like it is costing half the price ?
We have been conditioned by advertisers and marketers that we need big vehicles full of luxury and or high horsepower. If the fear is that by driving a smaller lower vehicle is "less safe" than we better tell NASCAR to start racing SUV's for safety. It would certainly get the attention of fans who like "rollovers". The simple fact is the closer you are to the ground the more stable your vehicle is and less likely to flip or roll over. Or is it that we love to be able to look "down" on others driving around us.
I moved to Rock Hill from Pennsylvania 6 months ago. I sold my Subaru Legacy there because I knew I would no longer need the "all wheel drive" down here because of the lack of snowfall compared to living in the mountains. People do not really think of it, but 4-wheel and all wheel drive also reduce gas mileage. We have been convinced by advertisers that we need that also. Do we ? For many if not most people, the only "off-road driving" they do is at the shopping mall.
If people would get sensible, maybe we could stop having our farmers grow corn for "bio-fuel" and start planting crops again for food. I have heard all my life how we "planned" on getting independent from foreign oil. I saw the price rise during my lifetime from about 29 cents a gallon to our current prices which will probably go over $4.00 a gallon very soon. Americans are spoiled and want what they want, when they want it. It is seldom an option for us to change the things "we can". It is in our power to lower our fuel costs as well as cut, maybe in half, the amount of oil we import. What might that do ? Well the oil company CEO's and stockholders don't want their profits cut in half !. Maybe they would start raising the fuel costs in other high consuming nations to make up for it ? Maybe China and India would have to pay more ? It might "reduce" the need or profits of corporations continuously exporting our jobs to those countries. If workers there continued to demand higher wages to pay for higher fuel costs maybe, just maybe, corporations might think twice about leaving their business (and our jobs) here. I am only dreaming, I know.
Americans also have within their own power to stop the exporting of jobs. If everyone would buy only products made in America the jobs would start to come back. I am not speaking about cars but things like clothing for a start. Can you imagine what would happen to retailers who could not sell the walls and walls of clothing on their racks because they were not made in America ? I can tell you. The prices would be reduced and reduced tempting people to buy. In a typical shopping mall, 70% of the stores sell clothing. A study once showed that people tend to wear 20% of their clothing, 80% of the time. That means we all have closets full of unused items and we still have to keep buying more and more ???
We have the power to change things. It involves us first changing our ways. There is a scientific principle that states that "things in motion, tend to stay in motion; and things at rest tend to stay at rest. If we want to see change, we have to be willing to stop doing some things and start doing things differently. If we do, things will change.
Economics
Buying a hybrid to save on gasoline costs doesn't make economic sense. It doesn't take into account that hybrid vehicles cost an average of $10000 more than their pure gasoline counterparts. Taking that in account it would take over 4.5 years with a 50 mile daily commute including weekends to realize an economic benefit. At that point many of the cars will have out lived their useful life. It would take even longer with a shorter commute.
I think that people have been "conditioned" to anything. I think they just like the larger vehicles and feel safer in them with their families. They are willing to pay the additional cost to drive them.
NASCAR vehicles a massive series of bars to keep their drivers safe and they are on a track with 43 other cars of the exact same size driven by professionals. That comparison is not a very good one!