Dubai residents not in any rush to give up gas-guzzlers
While the government of Dubai is testing in Chevy Tahoe Hybrids as taxis, ordinary drivers aren't being quite so conscientious. So far record high prices for crude oil aren't being felt at the pump by drivers. While Americans are now paying over $4/gallon for gasoline, people in Dubai are paying only $1.36. Dubai itself has limited oil supplies and is getting only six percent of its revenue directly from crude. Nonetheless, the high price of oil benefits Dubai as people from more oil rich areas of the Middle East invest and spend their money in the emirate. That means residents of Dubai have cash to spend and manufacturers of big powerful vehicles are the beneficiaries. GM may be having trouble moving HUMMERS and Escalades in the US but they are still extremely popular in Dubai as are big Mercedes, Bugattis and Nissan GT-Rs. Sales of full-size SUVs grew 40 percent in the Middle East in the first quarter of 2008. Unfortunately for GM, the absolute numbers are still far too small to keep the U.S. factories that build those big trucks running.
[Source: International Herald Tribune]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Michael 7:30PM (6/23/2008)
ITT: Racists.
Reply
armmat 2:54AM (6/24/2008)
So who do you blame? The idiots in Dubai or the assholes in America for knowingly selling these pieces of shit to them?
Reply
Serge 9:38AM (6/24/2008)
Good for them... As for us, we've got to move in another direction.
Reply
UH2L 9:39AM (6/24/2008)
If people didn't want to buy such wasteful vehicles, companies wouldn't produce them. Similarly, people didn't want to buy fuel efficient vehicles before so the car companies didn't sell many different efficient models.
I blame the customers because corporations are here to make a profit. Sure, ethics should have some impact on what they offer, but if they kept themselves from selling profitable products, they would have put themselves out of business by letting the competition take over that market.
We just don't hold consumers responsible for their purchase decisions and we should.
As for this specific case in Dubai, I don't like the way they are building like crazy seemingly to impress the world more than anything else. And then they have environmentally irresponsible projects like the indoor ski run, the palm tree shaped beach, etc... The SUV craze follows the same lines, but we can't blame them for buying the way we used to buy only a few years ago.
Reply
Bill 10:36AM (6/24/2008)
Mexico is a hot market for big trucks and SUVs.
Not surprising, since down there per gallon gasoline is about $2.50, diesel $2.20.
Reply
Serge 11:36AM (6/24/2008)
UH2L: I think nobody denies a right of business to make profit. However, one has to be smart about achieving that goal. Limiting a product line to vehicles with the highest profit margins proved to be a short-sighted strategy. A more successful approach involves looking around the corner and getting ready and being prepared for what's coming.
To say that consumers are 100% accountable for demanding trucks and SUVs is only looking at half-the-story. The other half is availability of choices and the role of advertising in shaping a decision-making process. Did US consumers have access to decent economical vehicles at the height of SUV boom? The answer is no, if you compare our choices to the choices the rest of the world had (and still has) thanks to the same domestic auto-manufacturers. It is quite possible, we learn, for an automaker to be profitable selling these "other" cars. Add the effect of a constant barrage of advertising and you have consumers making choices that they have. However, when that proverbial corner is turned, don't blame them for making the logical choice.
Reply
Stan Peterson 7:42PM (7/02/2008)
I see that armmat, Our resident anti-American troll, once again, emerges from his underground cave in the bowels of Gotham city, to unleash his invective.
Unappreciative America refuses to recognize his genius, and following in the footsteps of Lex Luthor, and Penguin/Joker/TwoFace, he will make America pay... with bon mot strings of scatology learned at the knee of Markos Malitis.
German firms or Japanese firms building giant SUVs are spared, Amerika and Detroit are the sole recipient of his self-hating invective.
armmat feels that the human nature of Dubai's citizenry to utilize the largest, most comfortable, vehicles available, when cost or fuel efficiency is not a requirement, will somehow change under his withering misdirected fire.
Reply
mylicon 1:37PM (6/24/2008)
Its funny how when the US is in a pinch because of high fuel prices, we start this crusade for the environment and condemn those that drive "gas guzzlers."
If fuel pries in the US were slashed by $3/gal I'm more than sure driving styles would bounce right back to what they were 15 years ago. We'd drive what suits our lifestyle not our wallets or environment.
Reply
UH2L 3:21PM (6/24/2008)
I agree that the companies should have a complete portfolio of products, efficient and not-so efficient. In fact, I campaigned for more fuel efficient vehicles at GM when I worked there instead of their emphasis on crossovers and SUV's. So I agree that some poor decisions were made. But, for the last 10 years, GM and other domestic companies have offered mid-sized sedand that got around 30 mpg. And they did offer compacts that got mid-30's. But we didn't buy them! The best example is a 4 cylinder versus a V6 sedan. Most people wanted unnecessary power and so they tended to buy V6's. Who do you blame for that?
You can blame marketing to some extent, but again consumers should be held accountable for what they buy. They didn't buy the logical choice as in wagons over SUV's because they fell for the advertising and made emotionally-based decisions without regard to the future.
Because small cars have always been associated with cheap in the U.S., the Big 3 couldnt' make money off of small cars. They can't change perceptions overnight. Sure, their products could have been better, but then the lower profits per unit would not have been made up by increased sales. The new Saturn Astra is a prime example. It's straight from Europe, has great perceived quality, handles great, costs a bit more, and it's efficient, but people still aren't buying that many of them. Awareness could be better through more advertising. But it goes to show, that just because you build it doesn't mean they will come.
Reply
UH2L 3:21PM (6/24/2008)
I agree that the companies should have a complete portfolio of products, efficient and not-so efficient. In fact, I campaigned for more fuel efficient vehicles at GM when I worked there instead of their emphasis on crossovers and SUV's. So I agree that some poor decisions were made. But, for the last 10 years, GM and other domestic companies have offered mid-sized sedand that got around 30 mpg. And they did offer compacts that got mid-30's. But we didn't buy them! The best example is a 4 cylinder versus a V6 sedan. Most people wanted unnecessary power and so they tended to buy V6's. Who do you blame for that?
You can blame marketing to some extent, but again consumers should be held accountable for what they buy. They didn't buy the logical choice as in wagons over SUV's because they fell for the advertising and made emotionally-based decisions without regard to the future.
Because small cars have always been associated with cheap in the U.S., the Big 3 couldnt' make money off of small cars. They can't change perceptions overnight. Sure, their products could have been better, but then the lower profits per unit would not have been made up by increased sales. The new Saturn Astra is a prime example. It's straight from Europe, has great perceived quality, handles great, costs a bit more, and it's efficient, but people still aren't buying that many of them. Awareness could be better through more advertising. But it goes to show, that just because you build it doesn't mean they will come.
Reply