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To print article, click Print on your browser's File menu. Go back Posted 5/6/2004 |
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Extra Gas prices make car shoppers change their minds Survey finds $1.85-a-gallon gas has about a third of buyers rethinking their choices -- but majority say gas would have to reach $2.50 before they'd make a change. By MSN Money staff A new survey finds that 17% of car shoppers have changed their minds about what to buy because of rising gasoline prices. An additional 21% were considering vehicles they hadn't before, the study by Harris Interactive and Kelley Blue Book found. "Many new car buyers are opting for vehicles that are more fuel-efficient than what they originally intended on buying," said Charlie Vogelheim, executive editor at Kelley Blue Book. "We are seeing this manifest in cars with smaller engines, with buyers choosing a two-wheel drive vehicle instead of four-wheel drive and just a smaller class of car altogether."
For example, Ford reported in its April tally that sales of its small Escape sport-utility had risen 49% -- and those of its much larger Expedition plummeted by a third. The hurting starts Since the beginning of the year, gas prices have risen with breathtaking speed, averaging $1.85 for regular on Wednesday. That's an increase of 33 cents over last year and an extra $6.60 on a 20-gallon fill-up. In some states, pump prices average as much as $2.20 a gallon. And to top it off, gasoline prices have yet to reach their highest for the year, with the traditional summer driving season not set to start until Memorial Day weekend later this month, the U.S. Energy Information Administration has said. Rising gas prices -- full coverage on MSN The Harris/Kelley Blue Book survey also asked shoppers how high gasoline prices would have to rise before their choice of vehicle were changed. On average, the 1,706 adults surveyed said pump prices would have to rise an additional 65 cents above their current levels. Rising gas prices and modest incentives may also have caused consumers to delay purchases, an industry analyst said. "They basically postponed," said Art Spinella, president of CNW Marketing Research Inc. SUVs here to stay Vogelheim said that if gas prices remain high, there should be no significant drop in overall SUV sales, but buyers would be paying more attention to smaller and more fuel-efficient SUVs. "There are small, fuel efficient SUVs like the Ford Escape and a hybrid version of that vehicle will be available this summer. If gas prices remain at high levels through the summer, these smaller and more fuel efficient SUVs should attract a great deal of attention." The survey was conducted on April 22 to 26 among 1,706 U.S. adults aged 18 and over who are in the market to purchase or lease a new vehicle within the next 12 months. It has an error margin of 3.3 percentage points. |
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