{"id":1498,"date":"2010-01-12T13:45:00","date_gmt":"2010-01-12T17:45:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/2010\/01\/12\/todays-inscrutable-car-buyer\/"},"modified":"2010-01-12T13:45:00","modified_gmt":"2010-01-12T17:45:00","slug":"todays-inscrutable-car-buyer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/2010\/01\/12\/todays-inscrutable-car-buyer\/","title":{"rendered":"Today&#8217;s inscrutable car buyer"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>We all watch our own micro-economic indicators: the thickness of the monthly real-estate guide or how much sauce the pizza guy uses.<\/p>\n<p>As a semi-amateur car guy, I keep an eye on the auto industry. And I was really happy to see this headline:<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;<a href=\"http:\/\/news.yahoo.com\/s\/ap\/20100111\/ap_on_bi_ge\/us_auto_show_gm\">GM may reopen some factories to meet higher demand<\/a>&#8220;<\/p>\n<p>Clicking on the link, my brain started flipping through the possibilities:<\/p>\n<p>-This could be great news for Massena, where GM shut its engine plant last year<br \/>-That plant made the fuel-efficient Ecotec 4-cylinder engine<br \/>-Now that Americans buy cars while thinking about inevitably rising gas prices, that engine could be in demand<br \/>-Maybe GM is considering re-opening the Massena plant<\/p>\n<p>The article&#8217;s first sentence was encouraging:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><span class=\"yshortcuts\" style=\"background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%;cursor: pointer\">General Motors Co<\/span>. may reopen some shuttered factories because it can&#8217;t produce certain vehicles fast enough<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>But my hopes were dashed halfway through the second sentence:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8230;plants building the <span class=\"yshortcuts\" style=\"background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%;cursor: pointer\">Chevrolet Equinox<\/span>, <span class=\"yshortcuts\">GMC Terrain<\/span> and <span class=\"yshortcuts\" style=\"background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%;cursor: pointer\">Cadillac SRX crossover<\/span> vehicles and the <span class=\"yshortcuts\" style=\"background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%;cursor: pointer\">Buick LaCrosse sedan<\/span> are at capacity and can&#8217;t satisfy demand.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Those three &#8220;crossovers&#8221; (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. <\/p>\n<p>All four vehicles do, however, share one characteristic: 1990s fuel economy.<\/p>\n<p>After my initial disappointment that Massena wouldn&#8217;t benefit from GM&#8217;s new uptick in sales, I was surprised and saddened that the company&#8217;s popular vehicles suck gas like it&#8217;s 1999. <\/p>\n<p>To be fair, the Chevy and GMC entry-level models have a 2.4 liter engine that averages 20-some miles per gallon. That&#8217;s better than, say, a Suburban or any other monstrous SUV, but still&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>Who&#8217;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?<\/p>\n<p>Maybe they&#8217;re not hearing the same stories I do on the costs of oil and gas? Maybe they&#8217;re not driving by the same gas stations showing ever-rising prices?<\/p>\n<p>Somebody&#8217;s missing something. Is it me?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>We all watch our own micro-economic indicators: the thickness of the monthly real-estate guide or [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1498"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1498"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1498\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1498"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1498"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1498"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}