Driving less in America

As gasoline prices were hitting record levels in June, Americans were hitting the brakes. The Federal Highway Administration said today that U.S. motorists drove 12.2 billion fewer miles in June than in the same month a year earlier, a drop of 4.7%. It was the eighth consecutive monthly drop and the biggest June decline ever, the agency said.

Californians, who pay some of the highest gasoline prices in the nation, were a bit more reluctant to abandon their wheels. Miles traveled by Golden State drivers in June fell to an estimated 28.77 billion, down 3.7% from a year prior.

"They're staying home in droves," Doug Hecox, a spokesman for the highway administration, said of the nation's drivers. He noted that the drop in June was particularly significant because the summer months rank historically as the busiest times for road travel in the U.S. as families head out on vacations. In the summer, "people are roaming around and enjoying themselves — until this year," Hecox said.

After reaching record levels in June, average pump prices actually peaked nationwide July 17 at $4.11 for a gallon of regular gas, AAA reported. In California, they peaked at $4.61 a gallon June 19.

The falloff in driving "is a consistent with the fact that gas prices were going up so quickly and to such a high level," said Elaine Beno, a spokeswoman for the Automobile Club of Southern California. "It remains to be seen if it will continue."

Gasoline prices have been falling in recent weeks as oil prices have dropped more than 20% from their July 3 record high of about $145 a barrel. The current average price for a gallon of regular is $4.09 in California and $3.78 nationwide, AAA said.

(There are already signs that lower gas prices may be luring buyers back to larger vehicles, as reported in this earlier post.)

The highway administration doesn't interview motorists when compiling its driving statistics, which are based on information gathered by automated vehicle sensors. So the agency is reluctant to pin the drop in driving on gasoline prices alone, noting that the slowing economy, the housing crisis and overall inflation have probably played roles as well.

The longest stretch of year-over-year declines in highway miles driven was the 24 months from January 1979 to December 1980, Hecox said. Although the current falloff has a way to go before it reaches that length, "it's certainly been a lot steeper," he said.

— Martin Zimmerman

Photo: Traffic backs up on the 101 Freeway over the July 4th weekend. Associated Press.

GM wants to be rated X -- for extra fuel economy

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When life hands you a lemon, make lemonade.

That’s the approach General Motors is taking as it tries to squeeze a few more miles per gallon — and hopefully a few more sales — out of its beleaguered lineup of big pickup trucks and SUVs.

This fall, GM will introduce XFE versions (as in “xtra fuel economy”) of its full-size Chevy Silverado and GMC Sierra trucks and the Chevy Tahoe and GMC Yukon sport utility vehicles. Using a combination of improved aerodynamics and mass-reducing aluminum parts, GM has upped the vehicles’ fuel economy ratings by one mile per gallon, to 15 MPG/city and 21 MPG/highway.

Over 100,000 miles of city driving, the difference would save 476 gallons of gasoline, or about $1,900 based on $4-a-gallon gas.

GM’s truck and SUV sales — a source of immense profits in the days of $1.50 gasoline — are down by one-fourth this year, and whether such incremental improvements will juice sales of the once-popular models is debatable.

“The effort is admirable, but I just don’t see it making a tremendous difference,” said analyst Erich Merkle of the consulting firm Crowe, Chizek and Co. “Even 21 miles per gallon/highway isn’t enough for consumers. They’re looking for something approaching 30.”

GM can boast of having the best MPG ratings in a vehicle segment not known for fuel economy. Rivals such as the Toyota Tundra and Ford F-150 pickups and the Nissan Armada and Jeep Commander SUVs get mileage in the range of 12-14 MPG/city and 17-19 MPG/highway.

With consumers clamoring for better mileage, GM apparently decided small improvements were better than none.

“We fast-tracked the XFE models to get them into dealer showrooms as quickly as possible,” said Gary White, head of GM’s full-size truck line.

GM hasn’t released pricing info on the XFE models, but a spokesman for the automaker said the difference compared with non-XFE versions will be “minimal.”

— Martin Zimmerman

Photo: The 2009 Chevy Silverado XFE. Credit: General Motors

As gas prices soften, consideration of SUVs increases

Maybe it's just nostalgia for the good ol' days of the early 2000s, but the recent drop in pump prices is already drawing consumers' attention away from their "single-minded focus" on smaller, fuel-efficient vehicles, auto data tracker Edmunds.com reports.

"Consideration data," which track interest in various vehicle segments by visitors to Edmunds' website, indicate that the trend toward smaller vehicles is leveling off while interest in segments that had been declining — such as compact crossover SUVs — is rising. What's more, interest in gas-electric hybrids is down 34% since June.

"With the initial shock of high gas prices fading, consumers are returning to rationality and again viewing gas consumption as just one of many factors when considering their next vehicle," said Edmunds.com Chief Executive Jeremy Anwyl. "And as gas prices actually decline, this trend could accelerate."

The Energy Department reported Monday that regular gasoline was selling for an average of $4.11 a gallon in California after falling for the eighth straight week. That's down 10% from the all-time average high statewide of $4.58 hit June 1 but still $1.19 higher than a year ago.

Still, dealers in Southern California say they aren't noticing a shift in their showrooms away from gas sippers and back to SUVs.

Catching Up to Speed: Wednesday, Aug. 6, 2008

German car news
Buzz continues to build for the 2009 BMW 7-Series (think $80,000 neighborhood), which includes a revamped iDrive system. AutoWeek reports that "menus now flow intuitively from one to another," while "redundant shortcut buttons sit around the main controller wheel — including a much-needed back button."

Meanwhile, Volkswagen announced details and showcased photos of the sixth-generation Golf (leaked images were already published online last weekend). The 2009 wagon, complete with interior instruments and chrome accents like those on the Passat CC, as well as either a gasoline or diesel engine, will go on sale in Europe this fall and eventually head to North America.

Acura RL gets top safety pick award
It's also been a big press week for the Honda imprint. On Tuesday, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety gave this year's Top Safety Pick award to the 2009 Acura RL. The luxury sedan got "good" marks (the institute's highest rating) on front, side and rear crash tests. Today, Leftlanenews.com showed photos of the new Acura CUV, which it believes will have the same chassis as the 2009 Acura TL.

Inflate your tires, save the world?
Barack Obama defends his comments that driving on properly inflated tires will improve gas mileage and cut oil consumption, despite a John McCain campaign backlash mocking it.

— Whitney Friedlander

Photos: BMW, Volkswagen, Acura

MPGs, meet GPMs

If you're looking to save gas, upgrading from a 28 mpg Ford Focus to a 46 mpg Toyota Prius is certainly a better choice than upgrading from a 15 mpg Dodge Durango to a 20 mpg Nissan Murano, right? Wrong. Over 10,000 miles, choosing the Murano-Dodge swap will save you 26 more gallons than the Prius-Focus switch.

The detailed answer as to why the Durango-to-Murano switch is a bigger gas saver puts this forum right at the heart of a fuel-efficiency labeling polemic that, if not at full, raging debate status yet, perhaps ought to be.

As prices rise, Chinese drivers ease up on the gas

High (or at least higher) gasoline prices appear to be downshifting China's love affair with the automobile, according to a recent survey by market researcher J.D. Power Asia Pacific.

Almost 80% of respondents said they were driving less since the Chinese government in June decreed an 18% rise in gasoline prices, and 26% said they planned to put off buying a new car.

This could be bad news for U.S. automakers like General Motors, for which China has been a rare growth market lately.

Still, gas is cheaper in the Middle Kingdom — where a gallon costs the U.S. equivalent of $3.36 — than it is in California, where the going rate for a gallon of regular is $4.20.

— Martin Zimmerman

Photo: Teh Eng Koon  AFP/Getty Images