By Joe Benton
ConsumerAffairs.com
June 3, 2008
Oh, how the mighty are falling.
Record-high gas prices are hitting consumers hard but they're hitting what some might call the pitiful helpless giants even harder. The latest to feel the wrath of $4 gasoline are the hulking Hummer and Ford's once-invincible F-150 pickups.
The Hummer's exact fate remains in doubt but some would say the choice amounts to shooting at dawn or hanging at noon.
General Motors CEO Rick Wagoner says the options under consideration include simply eliminating the Hummer and paying dealers to stop selling it, selling off the brand to someone whose money is burning a hole in their pocket or, perhaps, downsizing it to roughly the size of a Jeep. It could be offered as a diesel or even -- unthinkable! -- a hybrid.
And the F-150? For years it was not just America's favorite truck but its all-around favorite vehicle. It was very simply the single biggest-selling thing on four wheels.
And what has replaced it?
The might Toyota Tundra? The brawny Dodge Dakota? a muscle-bound GMC? No, it's much worse than that.
Like Gulliver pinned down by midgets, the F-150 has been given the boot by not one but two Toyota sedans -- the dull but serviceable Camry and the Corolla, the pencil-necked geek of the auto universe.
The latest figures show Ford sold 42,973 F-series trucks in May, while Toyota sold 51,291 Camrys and 52,826 Corollas. The last time a car outsold the F series was October 1991.
Slouching towards the showers, Ford didn't even bother to try to spin the story.
"That's just a sign of the times. I think May has been a watershed month," said Jim Farley, Ford group vice president for marketing and communications. "But it's not surprising, given the fuel price."
Can't argue with that.
