From a new study sponsored by Ford:
The survey shows fuel economy has jumped in importance in nearly all vehicle segments since 2001:
- Fuel economy as a purchase reason for small B-sized cars like the Ford Fiesta became the top consideration in 2011, up from fourth place in 2001
- Fuel economy as a purchase reason for small C-size cars like the Ford Focus nearly tripled in importance from 2001, going from fifth to first place this year
- Fuel economy now ranks fifth for mid-size cars like the Ford Fusion, up from 12th place
- Fuel economy is now among the top five most important purchase reasons for small utility vehicles like the Ford Escape, up from 16th in 2011
- Fuel economy is now among the top 10 drivers for sports car buyers like the Ford Mustang for the first time ever
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That is interesting, from those results it seems possible that whilst the demand elasticity for fuel (and energy generally) is very low in the short term a sustained increase in energy cost creates a medium to long term change in demand as people replace the energy consuming devices.