What do We do Now with all Those SUVs?

The big news this week:  Car manufacturers are having very bad headaches!

Sales are down, really down. We see declines, according to Bloomberg News, in GM sales, down last month by 19 percent; Ford down 28 percent; even Toyota sales down 21 percent.  If you think  those figures were bad, Chrysler sales were down 36 percent and Hummer sales  dipped  down  59 percent  in one  month. 

Meanwhile, little Honda sales  smiled with  its  1 percent increase in sales.

Some analysts say that people couldn't find the smaller cars they were looking for....you know, the ones that get triple the miles per gallon than  the SUV.  Car manufacturers  were caught off guard.

So I  went  to the internet  to  look for old news stories on  car  sales.  Here are  just  a few  that I found.  Too bad the car manufacturers didn't hire folks to read online stories.

• March, 2005, Reuters News reported that SUV sales were declining.
• September, 2005:  www.detnews.com says that SUV sales have started to decline.  (Hey guys, you had at least two opportunities to see that SUV sales were on their way down, giving you at least three years to change your minds on just what cars to make.)
• May, 2008, www.evworld.com reports that SUV sales were just 3.8 percent of overall US car sales the previous month.
• In June, 2008, the LA Times tells us that SUV sales had declined 35 percent the previous month. 

These stories tell of the impending demise of the guzzling SUV, which was the most popular giant in the car lot just twenty years ago.  Demos.org gave an example of the GM Surburban with sales of 750,000 in 1990, and over 2 million in sales 10 years later. 

I remember when my younger children were in elementary school.  The school for a fundraiser was selling travel cups for those of us who liked to drink coffee and drive.  The sales pitch:  "Hey, it fits great in your SUV cup holder."  I said, sorry, I don't have a SUV.  I got a funny look, but all was not lost yet. 

"OK, well it also fits great in your van."  Of course, I fired back: "We don't have a van either.  We just drive a car."

As I walked back from the school out to the parking lot her pitch really hit me.  We were about the only actual car on the lot surrounded by scores of SUVs and vans for mostly two-kid families.

So now all these folks who also hate to pay the $4-plus for a gallon of gas for their 10 miles-per-gallon guzzlers, are looking to tone down somewhat too.  Besides, it just isn't cool to drive a SUV anymore.  They're tired of the lectures they're getting from their kids who are being brainwashed in school about how America is wasting its fuel resources by driving inefficient vehicles.

Mothers and fathers must now wonder what to do with their old (or not so old) SUVs.  They could sell them back to the dealers.  But I hear that some folks can hardly get enough back to pay back the car loan. 

Hey, my son loves to use his vehicle to dry fruit.  He just slices up apples, strawberries, even oranges and grapefruits, and dehydrates them for great snacks!  Meanwhile he bikes.

We know that vehicles are great for absorbing solar energy.  Maybe some system could be hooked up to the SUV to get that energy going to light the CFL bulbs in the house or heat the water for the shower or bath.

Maybe we could take those nice leather seats and put them in the den.  Besides that would leave more room for hydrating the food in the SUV.

Maybe we could convert the SUVS into a small pull-type trailer for camping.  Put in a small stove and toilet, and you're set!  Besides, they have GREAT cup-holders!

Or we could make it into a real nice dog house for the Great Dane!

Folks, the opportunities are endless!  Let's see what ideas our readers have on keeping our SUVs out of the landfills. 

Maybe we could just turn them into a great big tombstone, dedicated to humans' herd mentality. 

I hope we've learned our lessons.  Now if we could only dismantle those McMansions, we would be on our way to Heaven on Earth!

And our grand children would sure be proud of all of us!

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