Gas Prices Rise, Detroit Falls

Surprise, surprise - General Motors and Ford have relied so much on sport utility vehicles for good sales these past few years, and they've spent so little effort developing small, reasonable passenger cars for the North American market - Ford seems to have given up the small car market here entirely, while the best GM can offer in this segment are a couple of uninspiring Chevrolets and Saturns - that they're losing money like crazy, sales are dropping, and their stock has been reduced to junk status. And it's all because of the rise in gas prices, which was going to happen eventually. Suddenly those GMC Yukons and Ford Expeditions don't seem to be desirable now. And in the two hottest market segments - crossover utility wagons and gas-electric hybrids - the Japanese are cutting up the competition (to be fair, that includes the Europeans) like so much sushi.

GM and Ford have come out with some new cars, but none of them have been distinctive enough to fire up the ten-day sales reports. With Pontiac's G6, for example, selling so pathetically, the folks Oprah Winfrey gave away cars to may be the only G6 owners in America.