When Everyone Stops Buying SUVs Because Of High Fuel Prices, Here’s What Should Come After

On Saturday I asked our readers to tell me what they thought should come next in the cyclical tastes of American consumers, once they’ve decided they’re done playing around with SUVs. At some point the driving populace of the U.S. is going to get sick of paying a premium at the pump for their over-inflated commuter monsters, right? Whenever that does eventually happen, something will have to be there to take its place. Maybe it’s time for a resurgence of hatchbacks or maybe we’re all converting to riding scooters around like they do in Asia. Whatever your answer, I wanted to hear it, and the readers of Jalopnik did not disappoint. 

My personal choice was the return of the station wagon. With a lower center of gravity, they handle better and with fewer compromises. With a lower frontal area, they’re more aerodynamic and easier to achieve a good fuel economy number, but without giving up the ability to swallow a week’s road trip worth of goodies in the back. And if you get the right one, they can still tow a utility trailer or a boat or something. 

Without further ado, these are my favorite answers submitted by our readers this weekend: 

Well, if you have kids, and need to haul them and their friends and their sports gear and maybe a cooler or two, there is only one answer.

Minivan.

Submitted by: Tigersharktoo

I don’t mind a van. They’re pretty great at moving lots of people and stuff. Unfortunately I think it’s going to take decades for the soccer mom vibe to wear thin enough for people to find them cool enough to drive again. It’s going to take a marketing push. If everyone starts giving thumbs ups to minivan drivers, it would go a long way. 

Two thoughts: I once heard a European car writer ask, “why is it Europe, we have a baby, which turns into a kid, and is essentially 40 pounds, for.. 5-10 years, and we drive it in a perfectly scaled Golf, but Americans need to buy a 6000 lb truck to drive it around?” And to that, this is a goooood point. We tend to over-buy our vehicles. You go to the dump twice a year, so you buy an F150, but basically use it for going to church and the mall.

Second: Wagons, for some reason in recent history have been less likely to get rear tinted windows. It’s subtle, but maybe buyers don’t realise, but they feel more exposed in wagons?

Last, I was already thinking of doing this, but I sold an X3 and got a used i4. Wow. THAT was a good decision. Love it. Payments dropped $150/month, no more super unleaded, and it’s FUN.

Submitted by: PicklePicklesPickles

I lived in Spain for a while in high school, and the cars were so much smaller than anything people drive every day in the U.S. it’s just nuts. We used to jam four people in a Ford Ka and it was perfectly acceptable. What a great car, I miss that Ka. 

I’m thinking it’s about time to move to Tuk-Tuks. When I traveled in India I saw families of 12 piled in those things traveling on the highway cross country. I realize market acceptance will be slow initially, but it’s all in how you sell it. Gotta make it the new way to be independent, tough, and macho. You can still put a gun rack on it. And for hauling stuff, you would not believe the massive piles of construction material and agricultural things they can pile onto a 125cc motorbike.

Submitted by: Michael Rosenfeld

Honestly, I’m here for it. My recent trip to Italy saw a whole lot of vintage Piaggio Ape three-wheel trucklets running around in the city centers for delivery and parcel carriers. It isn’t going to work for every American’s lifestyle, but I could passably use one as a daily rocker for around town duties. Maybe this is more feasible than people give it credit for. 

“High Gas Prices Could Kill The SUV Craze…”

Hahahaha! No it won’t, but it might convince people to buy a EV SUV. Look, people like SUVs for a variety of reasons. High gas prices won’t cancel out the “utility” of SUVs, but it might cancel out the cost of propelling an ICE SUV

Submitted by: Jimboy II, The Sequel

Yeah, I mean, this is definitely the answer that most Americans will go with. They aren’t going to give up the SUV, but they might give up gasoline. Leave it to the current administration to walk back incentivizing EVs while driving up the price of gasoline. Effective governance definitely involves a bit of carrot and a bit of stick, but it seems like Mr. Trump is only interested in using the stick. 

The fact that we don’t have the efficient family options from Europe is astounding. The Skoda Superb or Octavia hybrids/phevs could very easily be (and are mechanically) a VW product for American customers. It is shocking that the only manufacturer that has paid attention to Toyota’s (winning) strategy is Hyundai. Ford and Stellantis can’t seem to make their hybrids stick, and GM has all but forgotten about the Volt. Honda is playing too slowly, and it’s only a matter of time until Chinese joint-ventures show up on our shores offering 600-mile EVs with rapid charging and transform the automotive experience. No consumer is going to pay 50k for a mediocre hybrid from Detroit when they can have a better car for 25k.

Submitted by: Joe Exotic

Like Joe, I think that Chinese-built EVs are inevitable here in the U.S. and we’re kidding ourselves if we think we can keep them out forever. As the global automotive industry is increasingly taken over by the Chinese brands, traditional western brands are having a harder time keeping up. Massive sales growth in the global south at the expense of the Big Three’s market shares will beat them up too much. If the U.S. automakers are eventually only building cars for the North American market, they’ll eventually collapse under the pressure. Isolationism is not a good international policy plan. 

Motorcycle motorcycle motorcycle

Submitted by: Robert Harrison

Motorcycles and Miatas. Who needs more than 2 seats?

(I suppose any tiny 2-door would be acceptable, but no larger than a Z4.)

Submitted by: Sample Text

I’m going to need a lot of people to get real cool with riding motorcycles real quick. There’s nothing quite like commuting and running errands on a bike. Rather than just sitting in traffic and succumbing to its whims, you can take control of traffic and skirt the worst of it. There’s a freedom to riding bikes that just makes life more fun and perhaps even easy. And that’s before we even begin talking about the potential of three-digit fuel economy. Get a bike, you won’t regret it.

Let’s have some cheap compact cars with manual transmissions.

Submitted by: Mikey

I hope this leads to the comeback of the Fit and Yaris and some domestic manufacturer decides to rebadge the Swift. Have them come in Base, hybrid and performance (real performance not just white wheels and orange paint).

Submitted by: Minivanman

Man, wouldn’t it be great if there were a bevvy of small, high-rev, manual-transmission hatchbacks on the market right now? I’m not even talking about hot hatches, just a regular mild hatchback with a stick. Some of the most fun I’ve ever had while driving has been behind the wheel of a mediocre hatchback with a 5-speed row your own transmission. I still think fondly of my Ford Aspire with a stick because I beat it like a rented mule for years. We used to have it all, but they took it from us. 

An over reaction. The gas shock of 2007-08 was worse (especially factoring inflation, worse average mpg of vehicles). SUV and truck sales might have taken a dent, but the trend didn’t.

Big picture, unless something fundamentally changed with the average American lifestyle, this is just a short term pain.

Submitted by: jalopyJames

I’m sorry you think the car companies will follow consumer demand? SUVs all have 0 apr and better financing while cars have much higher rates because the auto companies want to move SUVs.

Submitted by: Scaramimer

How about we temporarily move to smaller vehicles instead of investing in walkable cities, mass transit and bicycle infrastructure, so that this can all happen again the next time gas gets squeezed?

Submitted by: Modusoperandi

They say nothing ever happens. Perhaps if we allow nothing to happen, then they’re right. If you’re in a position to demand more fuel efficient and smaller cars, perhaps you can do something to help out us regular folks down here with our faces in the mud. We are crying out for better choices, please, please, please give them to us!