Today’s inscrutable car buyer

We all watch our own micro-economic indicators: the thickness of the monthly real-estate guide or how much sauce the pizza guy uses.

As a semi-amateur car guy, I keep an eye on the auto industry. And I was really happy to see this headline:

“GM may reopen some factories to meet higher demand“

Clicking on the link, my brain started flipping through the possibilities:

-This could be great news for Massena, where GM shut its engine plant last year
-That plant made the fuel-efficient Ecotec 4-cylinder engine
-Now that Americans buy cars while thinking about inevitably rising gas prices, that engine could be in demand
-Maybe GM is considering re-opening the Massena plant

The article’s first sentence was encouraging:

General Motors Co. may reopen some shuttered factories because it can’t produce certain vehicles fast enough

But my hopes were dashed halfway through the second sentence:

…plants building the Chevrolet Equinox, GMC Terrain and Cadillac SRX crossover vehicles and the Buick LaCrosse sedan are at capacity and can’t satisfy demand.

Those three “crossovers” (small SUVs) are actually the exact same vehicle. The frame, chassis and most of the technical parts are identical. The bodies are a little different, a curve here, an indentation there. The interiors also vary a little.

All four vehicles do, however, share one characteristic: 1990s fuel economy.

After my initial disappointment that Massena wouldn’t benefit from GM’s new uptick in sales, I was surprised and saddened that the company’s popular vehicles suck gas like it’s 1999.

To be fair, the Chevy and GMC entry-level models have a 2.4 liter engine that averages 20-some miles per gallon. That’s better than, say, a Suburban or any other monstrous SUV, but still…

Who’s buying these vehicles? Are you? Was I naive to think that Americans factor the rising price of gas into their decisions when buying a new car?

Maybe they’re not hearing the same stories I do on the costs of oil and gas? Maybe they’re not driving by the same gas stations showing ever-rising prices?

Somebody’s missing something. Is it me?