The Cars, They Are A-Changing

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In the past month, I have seen more of those toy-like, miniscule Smart Cars whizzing about the roads than I ever have in my life. While it shouldn’t be too surprising given the recent epic and exponential hikes in gas prices across the nation, what was surprising was the slight pang of jealousy I felt because I knew that the driver of the funny looking car was almost surely laughing all the way to the gas pump.

It seems that the current fossil fuel situation is manifesting itself as any environmentalist’s wet dream. After years of pleading for consumers to “recycle, reduce and reuse,” to limited avail, it seems that the kick in the pants we needed was actually a kick in the pocketbook.

This steep economic impact coupled with the Green Revolution of the past few years is finally producing some real changes in how people on either end of the socioeconomic spectrum go about their daily lives. From stores like Trader Joe’s and Mother’s Market rewarding their customers for reusing grocery bags to the demand for hybrids cars increasing so much that Toyota has dramatically upped production of the Prius just to keep up. In May 2008, cumulative worldwide sales of the car surpassed one million. Even still, the waiting list for the nearly fifty mile-per-gallon car is three to four months long- and don’t even think about negotiating. While now would be a great time to get a pricey 8-cylinder BMW 6 or 7 Series at a serious discount to make up for its monstrous gas mileage, the Prius remains very much a seller’s car. In fact, a used Prius recently went up for bid on Ebay and sold for $3000 more than a brand new one.

For the foreseeable future, it looks like the nation’s newfound and forced environmentalism is here to stay. The demand for more fuel-efficient cars is also spurring innovation in the automobile manufacturing world. For those who want some luxury to go along with their MPGs, BMW has already made (but not yet widely released) the new Hydrogen 7 Series, which produces no emissions. The luxury car market has much to gain from conforming to this new standard for car buying. Never fear, fellow Persians; I’m sure a hybrid Range Rover is already in the works.

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