IL Sean,
A lot more people care than you realize. The majority of the people where I work are already out shopping to replace their SUVs/Trucks with fuel-sippers. I'm liquidating assets right now to build-up the money to replace my Contour with a fuel-sipper. My replacement will either be a Honda Civic hybrid, Toyota Echo or Corolla, or one of the Volkswagon Turbodiesels (haven't finalized decision).
The interesting thing is that the American car industry has missed the boat once again. Back in the 1960s, the American auto industry completely ignored the influx of fuel efficient compact cars from Japan that were gaining a foothold in the US. When the oil embargo of 1973 hit, the American auto industry was caught with it's pants down and lost huge market share as a result (John Delorean saw this trend coming but GM management ignored him). Now, here we are with rapid inflation in fuel prices (not for the same reasons) that will drive a good percentage of the public back to compact fuel efficient cars. The top 10 most fuel efficient cars for 2004 are all foreign. Looks to me like the American auto industry is about to give up more market share because they do not have matching products in this area. There are some good fuel efficient American cars but there are a lot of people living paycheck-to-paycheck who are going to maximize efficiency when possible; the American cars are not pushing the limits of efficiency like the Japanese and Germans.
Mr. Spindlelegs
