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08-01-2008, 09:26 AM
By MIREYA NAVARRO
The New York Times
John Forsythe remembers the moment he knew the thrill was gone. It was six months ago, when a fill-up of his Toyota 4Runner topped $75, exceeding the pump's limit. He had to swipe his credit card twice.
"This is the car that I always wanted to have," said Forsythe, 31, a San Francisco software engineer. "It was the car to have when you had reached a certain point in your life, when you were successful."
But Forsythe could not justify $1,000 a month for gas, insurance and a car payment. The vehicle that had been a source of pleasure now feels like a ball and chain. So, this month, he sold his dream car. "The love affair is over," he said. "I'm ready to let it go."
Americans' longtime romance with the automobile is being severely tested, and in some cases dashed entirely, now that every trip gives rise to worries about the cost of a fill-up.
If an SUV not long ago exuded affluence, toughness and the ability to mow down lesser vehicles in the way, the message it may send now is more humble: I can't afford a second car. I can't get out of my lease. I can't get rid of this because no one wants to buy it.
News of wrenching dislocations in the car industry arrive daily: Sales are at a 10-year low. Ford is converting factories from making high-profit trucks to subcompacts like the unlovely Fiesta. General Motors is trying to convince investors that it is not at the precipice of bankruptcy.
Car as status symbol
Beyond the bad economic news may lurk a shift in Americans' psyches: a change in the automobile's role in people's emotional lives and self-image. For decades, automakers pitched cars as sex symbols, as extensions of drivers' freedom or affluence or eye for beauty. Even if that pitch is inverted — if hybrids or minicars become the most desirable wheels, bespeaking a driver's thriftiness or environmental sensitivity — is it really possible to be passionate about a compromise?
Can you love your Prius the way you gave your heart to a 4Runner or a luxury sedan?
"I'm willing to not love it," said Justin McCarthy, 43, a public relations executive from Long Beach, Calif., who is considering replacing his Volvo with a hybrid. "Before it was, 'Is it a cool car?' " he said. "Now it's, 'Is it going to be efficient and reliable transportation?' Maybe it's also a function of age, but it doesn't have to fulfill anything in me, it just needs to be what it is: a mode of transportation."
Such attitudes are a far cry from the way Americans have approached car buying in the past, researchers say. Buyers have valued reliability, durability and fuel efficiency, of course — but just as important have been looks and luxury.
"What are the neighbors going to think when they see the car? Is it going to impress them?" said Geoff Wardle, director of advanced mobility research at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, Calif., which is known for its auto design program. "When it comes to buying a car, people take leave of their senses."
For many drivers, their cars are an extension of themselves.
"You wear your car like you wear a Ralph Lauren suit," said Clotaire Rapaille, an anthropologist and psychiatrist known as the car shrink, whose company, Archetype Discoveries Worldwide, studies consumer preferences.
But today some of these fashion statements — say, a Hummer — would land you on the worst-dressed list.
Abandoning ego
Going green is climbing on the list of criteria for many consumers. Mary Conner, 52, vice president for merchandising for Gearys Beverly Hills, a jewelry and luxury gift store, has driven BMW convertibles for 20 years. "I love the car," she said. "It's absolutely gorgeous."
But last month Conner put her BMW 330Ci up for sale. She decided to drive the car she had originally bought for her two sons: a Mini Cooper, which gets twice the mileage.
The car's smaller carbon footprint, not the price of gas, was Conner's prime motivator. Even in wealthy Beverly Hills, she said, large cars seem outnumbered these days by Minis, Smart cars, Priuses and even Vespa scooters. At Mercedes-Benz of Beverly Hills, the wait for the Smart is about a year.
"There's a certain status that comes with a Jag or a BMW, but you really have to leave that at the door, the ego part," Conner said. "My heart is going forward in a different way. I don't need a luxury car anymore."
But when asked how she felt about her Mini, Conner responded with all the enthusiasm of someone who settled. "I like it," she said flatly.
In Gloversville, N.Y., another longtime BMW owner, Sam Hoye, switched to a Prius for his everyday car in September for political reasons.
"I'm just trying to use less foreign oil," said Hoye, 44, a finance company owner. "All that money is going out of the country, not to mention the price of gas. If everybody drove one it'd make a huge difference."
One nice surprise, he said: Clients seem more receptive to him when he shows up in a hybrid than in a luxury car.
Not all automobile experts think a big change has taken place. They maintain that Americans will always prefer big and showy automobiles if they can afford them. "What doesn't change is the American psychology," Rapaille said. "When do you have enough money? Never. When is your car big enough? Never. As soon as I have the money, I'm going to get a bigger car."
Other experts disagree, though, saying that global warming and high oil prices are not going to fade as issues driving purchasing choices.
Said Wardle, of the Art Center College of Design, "The trick now for the car companies is to come up with cars that won't make people feel horrible about downsizing."
Slumping sales
VEHICLE SALES are expected to be way down in July, compared with July 2007, for every major carmaker except Honda, known for its fuel-efficient cars.
Chrysler -21.4%
Ford -14.5%
GM -22.2%
Honda 4.6%
Nissan -7.5%
Toyota -10.8%
Industry total -10.7%
Data adjusted to compensate for a difference in the number of selling days in July 2008 and July 2007.
Source: Edmunds.com
from: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/motoring/2008084604_rethinkingcars01.html
The New York Times
John Forsythe remembers the moment he knew the thrill was gone. It was six months ago, when a fill-up of his Toyota 4Runner topped $75, exceeding the pump's limit. He had to swipe his credit card twice.
"This is the car that I always wanted to have," said Forsythe, 31, a San Francisco software engineer. "It was the car to have when you had reached a certain point in your life, when you were successful."
But Forsythe could not justify $1,000 a month for gas, insurance and a car payment. The vehicle that had been a source of pleasure now feels like a ball and chain. So, this month, he sold his dream car. "The love affair is over," he said. "I'm ready to let it go."
Americans' longtime romance with the automobile is being severely tested, and in some cases dashed entirely, now that every trip gives rise to worries about the cost of a fill-up.
If an SUV not long ago exuded affluence, toughness and the ability to mow down lesser vehicles in the way, the message it may send now is more humble: I can't afford a second car. I can't get out of my lease. I can't get rid of this because no one wants to buy it.
News of wrenching dislocations in the car industry arrive daily: Sales are at a 10-year low. Ford is converting factories from making high-profit trucks to subcompacts like the unlovely Fiesta. General Motors is trying to convince investors that it is not at the precipice of bankruptcy.
Car as status symbol
Beyond the bad economic news may lurk a shift in Americans' psyches: a change in the automobile's role in people's emotional lives and self-image. For decades, automakers pitched cars as sex symbols, as extensions of drivers' freedom or affluence or eye for beauty. Even if that pitch is inverted — if hybrids or minicars become the most desirable wheels, bespeaking a driver's thriftiness or environmental sensitivity — is it really possible to be passionate about a compromise?
Can you love your Prius the way you gave your heart to a 4Runner or a luxury sedan?
"I'm willing to not love it," said Justin McCarthy, 43, a public relations executive from Long Beach, Calif., who is considering replacing his Volvo with a hybrid. "Before it was, 'Is it a cool car?' " he said. "Now it's, 'Is it going to be efficient and reliable transportation?' Maybe it's also a function of age, but it doesn't have to fulfill anything in me, it just needs to be what it is: a mode of transportation."
Such attitudes are a far cry from the way Americans have approached car buying in the past, researchers say. Buyers have valued reliability, durability and fuel efficiency, of course — but just as important have been looks and luxury.
"What are the neighbors going to think when they see the car? Is it going to impress them?" said Geoff Wardle, director of advanced mobility research at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, Calif., which is known for its auto design program. "When it comes to buying a car, people take leave of their senses."
For many drivers, their cars are an extension of themselves.
"You wear your car like you wear a Ralph Lauren suit," said Clotaire Rapaille, an anthropologist and psychiatrist known as the car shrink, whose company, Archetype Discoveries Worldwide, studies consumer preferences.
But today some of these fashion statements — say, a Hummer — would land you on the worst-dressed list.
Abandoning ego
Going green is climbing on the list of criteria for many consumers. Mary Conner, 52, vice president for merchandising for Gearys Beverly Hills, a jewelry and luxury gift store, has driven BMW convertibles for 20 years. "I love the car," she said. "It's absolutely gorgeous."
But last month Conner put her BMW 330Ci up for sale. She decided to drive the car she had originally bought for her two sons: a Mini Cooper, which gets twice the mileage.
The car's smaller carbon footprint, not the price of gas, was Conner's prime motivator. Even in wealthy Beverly Hills, she said, large cars seem outnumbered these days by Minis, Smart cars, Priuses and even Vespa scooters. At Mercedes-Benz of Beverly Hills, the wait for the Smart is about a year.
"There's a certain status that comes with a Jag or a BMW, but you really have to leave that at the door, the ego part," Conner said. "My heart is going forward in a different way. I don't need a luxury car anymore."
But when asked how she felt about her Mini, Conner responded with all the enthusiasm of someone who settled. "I like it," she said flatly.
In Gloversville, N.Y., another longtime BMW owner, Sam Hoye, switched to a Prius for his everyday car in September for political reasons.
"I'm just trying to use less foreign oil," said Hoye, 44, a finance company owner. "All that money is going out of the country, not to mention the price of gas. If everybody drove one it'd make a huge difference."
One nice surprise, he said: Clients seem more receptive to him when he shows up in a hybrid than in a luxury car.
Not all automobile experts think a big change has taken place. They maintain that Americans will always prefer big and showy automobiles if they can afford them. "What doesn't change is the American psychology," Rapaille said. "When do you have enough money? Never. When is your car big enough? Never. As soon as I have the money, I'm going to get a bigger car."
Other experts disagree, though, saying that global warming and high oil prices are not going to fade as issues driving purchasing choices.
Said Wardle, of the Art Center College of Design, "The trick now for the car companies is to come up with cars that won't make people feel horrible about downsizing."
Slumping sales
VEHICLE SALES are expected to be way down in July, compared with July 2007, for every major carmaker except Honda, known for its fuel-efficient cars.
Chrysler -21.4%
Ford -14.5%
GM -22.2%
Honda 4.6%
Nissan -7.5%
Toyota -10.8%
Industry total -10.7%
Data adjusted to compensate for a difference in the number of selling days in July 2008 and July 2007.
Source: Edmunds.com
from: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/motoring/2008084604_rethinkingcars01.html