Study Finds Consumers Are Willing To Pay More For Better Fuel Economy In A Car

So some of the money that you would have saved on fuel would go to the manufacturer? Seems like the Auto manufacturers want in on this high gas price thing. What next? A premium on Corollas and Yaris’ because they get good MPG? Just get a cheaper car with worse MPG (and a lot more performance). The money that you saved by purchasing the cheaper car can be used to augment fuel costs.

It amazing that people would pay more for a car that gets great MPG. When in reality they should actually be paying less for those types of vehicles.

They are willing to pay more for fuel economy? But didn't Autospies just post "Even With $4 A Gallon Gas Hybrid And EV Sales Not Living Up To Predictions" ??!

Make up your mind - are people shelling out more for fuel economy or are these sales not living up to predictions? Or when you say "people" you mean 5 people have shelled out more for fuel economy, but 5 sales are not meeting expectations.

I love these confusing headlines that try to cover everything for everybody.

There are other options for economical vehicles that are not EV or Hybrid Related.

Diesels are almost 50% more economical than Petrol with maybe 80-90% of the Performance hence its popularity in Europe and increasing numbers in the USA.

I happen to know that a £1,000 premium on Diesel Engined Vehicles over Petrol Powered Counterparts will evaporate over the first 30k miles driven.

I'd say the people who indicate these things in whatever surveys they are filling out are in a very small minority or full of crap. The only reason the "greem" movement has any traction at all in this business is because of the politics behind it. It always sounds great to campaign on environmental issues. The reality of it all however is that if something costs significantly more than a regular gas version of something, then the math doesn't add up to a real benefit to the bottom line no matter how politically correct it might be. In the high end, these people could care less how much the price of gas climbs. If they're buying a $100K+ car, gas mileage is not much of a concern. I hear clients chuckling at the mere mention of it "like that's even a concern", all the time. Now, if they want to make some sort of political statement themselves, that's different, but it's probably not going to be the only car they drive or even the primary car they drive for that matter. They can buy Prius' all day long for the Nannys of the world to drive, just to say they have one if they even care that much. Enough regular (poor) people agree on some level that we need to do something but when it starts costing $100/mo more to buy a car that gives a 10mpg improvement in fuel mileage, the buck seems to stop right there.

The only way any of this stuff is going to be justified or stick around is if we continue to let congress pass enough federal mandates making it required to build all or most cars to meet a certain CAFE mpg level. So long as we continue to let them do that, we will all have to pay for expensive "green tech" in the years to come as we won't have any other choices.