Date: Fri, 21 Apr 2006 23:56:48 -0700
Reply-To: Zoltan <zolo@FOXINTERNET.NET>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Zoltan <zolo@FOXINTERNET.NET>
Subject: Gas price and Europe vs US
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I remember, when I got to the US about fifteen year ago, I was wondering how
is that possible that so many guys are driving pick-ups but they never carry
anything in the back.
I thought, you only have a pick up when you are carrying something heavy in
the back, that you could not put in your trunk. But they were always empty
and for years I never seen a thing in the back other than a six pack or
sometimes junk that was there for years.
Then later some one told me that this is only a fashion a fad. It will pass
and they will drive something else later. Now they drive SUVs. I call them
'tall cars'. It is still the same as a simple car just more expensive and a
little more promise in it.
Sure, in Europe having the gas so expensive they found a way to get the
60mpg cars rather than showing off with a tank. They would laugh at one
with it and would think how dumb he is spending so much for gas, making the
guy an outcast and most would not talk to him or something like that.
Wasting is not an European treat. They also don't buy on credit if
possible. Not even a house. They look at my credit card as it it was a
poisonous snake.
Economy makes sense there. Saving is essential. Usually what they have
they own outright. Unlike the US counterparts. I don't know anyone who
owns his home here outright. And mostly only old car owners are owners
outright. Like us. In Europe, they may have money in the bank and own
their own home and car yet they get on their bikes to go to work or get on
the bus or train. They can calculate how much they will save by doing that.
That's money. It's a different world of thinking and culture. Even the
transportation industry is not trucking as much as here. Lots of train
loads rather. Better planning. You don't see millions of semis on the road
as here.
Gas is expensive. Hmm. How about the dollar is cheap? We might only pay
the same as last year and before if we look at the value of the money.
Have you ever seen the Smart car of Mercedes yet. No, you won't. Not even
a hint of it here. Search on the net and can't find it easily. Like it
does not even exist. But its there in Europe for the last ten years. And
its all over. It is like the beatle used to be. They are painting it all
colors and having fun with it. And there are other mini Mercedes cars too.
Here you will not be told of them. They would be sold here as hot cakes.
And that is not what the local auto industry want. They are already
humiliated by the Japanese. They don't want an other old enemy to drive
them deeper into the dirt. Wait when you get Chinese cars here. They also
manufacture cars. We never heard of those. We are getting surrounded with
all these economical vehicles from all over the world. If you don't know
about it, it does not exist, you would think. And one day you find out it
was always there. How is that our news readers never told us? Well, they
are owned by those who want our minds to know what they prefer only. The
least possible. Smart people are difficult to control. Too much trouble.
And would be more difficult to take their money too.
We would not be surprised if the gas would go to $4 per gallon in a couple
of weeks. It would be a little uneasy to see it at $5 per gallon but we
would still drive just the same. Just a little more planned. It is going
to be a little tougher, we know.
Once one man told me; "it is not that the prices are too high, but we don't
have enough money is the problem".
The dollar is only worth half than what it was in five years back. Looking
at that point of view, the gas did not really go up much.
Zoltan
If I was wrong in any of the above, let me know.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Jim Felder" <felder@KNOLOGY.NET>
To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Friday, April 21, 2006 5:41 PM
Subject: Friday: Gas price war / costs of road trips
> Jens,
>
> It would be big news to most Americans that what they drive and how
> much they drive it would have anything at all to do with the price of
> gasoline.
>
> In this country, here are the reasons that Americans hear that
> gasoline is expensive:
>
> 1. The oil companies are ripping us off (they don't know what traders
> are, so they are not told to blame them)
> 2. China's economy is growing and they compete for "our" oil, driving
> the price up
> 3. The output of the Gulf of Mexico hasn't recovered from hurricane
> Katrina.
> 4. There have been problems shifting over from MTBE to methanol
> 5. There is political instability in the world that tightens the
> supply of oil and drives up the price
>
> Nowhere, not one single time during a day, a week, or a month of
> American headline-reading or TV-viewing will you see anyone, from the
> government or private sector, say to the American public "you are not
> suffering from the high price of gasoline, you are CAUSING it."
>
> Also, most Americans would be incapable of assessing their needs and
> going down and buying what they need from a car dealer, even if that
> dealer were to have such a car available (the lack of a modern-day
> people-and-stuff hauler like the vanagon is one example, the lack of
> a cheap, durable car like the original beetle is another). They can
> only think about buying something that "expresses their personality."
> So you get some old guy on viagra in a Corvette, you get a young
> redneck in a monster 4X4 so expensive he would never take it on a
> gravel road, you get engineers who fancy themselves the rugged type
> and drive a pickup truck to their government job four miles from the
> house.
>
> You get people who wouldn't be caught dead--and I mean it, they'd
> rather walk--in a station wagon because it has too much of a "family"
> odor to it. So they buy an SUV, which is of course a station wagon.
> Of course it has all wheel drive, is tiny inside compared to it's
> outside bulk, and still has a hatch in the rear, but they can
> fantasize that they're not driving a station wagon, but some
> adventurous tool that everyone is afraid of. I don't know if you ever
> see American SUV ads where you live, but intimidation of nature and
> other drivers is a common theme in them.
>
> So now I see that the manufacturers realize that if they don't play
> to Americans' styling fantasies they may lose their buyers to
> practical cars, and they can't let that happen. So they are now
> calling their new station wagons "tall cars" and "crossover cars."
> The former name is self explanatory, the latter refers to "crossing
> over" to a car that is an SUV in body style but 2WD, lighter and more
> carlike.
>
> Anyway, this is not a diatribe against the American car buyer, but
> just a way to explain that things are different here. We (not me, but
> many, or most) don't think rationally about what we drive. We think
> of them as expensive clothing to tell other people what we're really
> like. We get told to think that by the people who sell them to us,
> and we are helpless to think any other way. We will begin to drive
> "crossover cars" as soon as we're told to (just wait a month or so)
> and will continue to drive them until gas is $5.00 a gallon and then
> we'll be told to want something else.
>
> I wonder what the euphemism for the 2008 version of a Renault 2CV
> will be? How will Americans react when they find out they're part of
> the gas price equation? Stay tuned.
>
> Jim
>
>
> On Apr 21, 2006, at 3:48 AM, Andersen wrote:
>
>> Hi,
>>
>> Being from Europe, one thing we dont understand, is why the US
>> doesnt do something drastic about their gas-guzzlers.
>>
>> We cannot understand the american car, huge, heavy, big engine,
>> guzzling gas.
>>
>> Can someone explain why the market isnt shifting - and why people
>> still buy suburbans, explores, F150/250 etc?
>>
>> I agree, some have the need for such a vehicle, but most americans
>> could do with a Peugot 107?
>>
>> Guess that a move from giant gas-guzlers to mini-cars, would be the
>> biggest environmental benefit the US could do?
>>
>> Happy driVWing
>>
>> Jens Jakob
>> From Denmark, where gas just have crept above 1.95$ - pr.
>> LITER!!!!!!!,
>>
>
>
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