Sales of General Motors’ full-size SUVs jumped 38% in August when compared to the same time period last year. According to Forbes, this sales boost can be owed solely to the reserve of U.S. oil and gas acquired this year by horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing.
Due to this locally sourced reserve of oil, gasoline prices in the United States have hovered around the $3.50 mark for the last 18 months. So rather than shy away from their gas-guzzling purchase, full-size SUV buyers are scooping them up knowing the prices of fuel won’t have them regretting their decision by the first time they fill up.
“Gas prices are not really on people’s minds these days,” Duncan Aldred, GMC vice president for Buick and GMC, told Forbes in an interview. “It’s not a factor in their decision. It has become almost a benign issue in people’s minds; they’re not worrying about it.”
The fate of GM’s profit-generating full-size SUVs was on the brink a few years ago when $4-a-gallon gasoline across the country became a reality. However product specialists, including now CEO Mary Barra and Mark Reuss, didn’t believe the segment was dead and pushed forward with the new GMC Yukon and Chevrolet Suburban and Tahoe. Now they have a winning combination: two vastly improved versions of the hot-selling SUVs paired with reasonable gasoline prices.
Comments
These pigs will drive up demand and deplete the supply and will cause prices to skyrocket again.. Not to mention Raise insurance claims for all of the other drivers they kill.
Better enjoy these Big SUV sales while you can because when the EcoBoost powered big Ford SUVs hit the market with better performance and capability and efficiency… GM will have competition…!
In about 2 years when the light weight aluminum body Big Ford Suvs arrive with next gen EcoBoost n 10-speed trans with Superior MPGs…. Will leave GM way behind for years…!!!