Cheap Petrol gives great growth for large cars in the USA – Aftenposten

Cheap Petrol gives great growth for large cars in the USA – Aftenposten

Oil price has more than halved since summer 2014, and pulled out the US gasoline price down.

It gives a boom in sales of the great classic American car models.

• Ford F-Series tops the list of America’s best-selling cars in 2014. 753 851 models rolled out of the shops. It is 1.3 percent less than last year.
• In second place is the Chevrolet Silverado, which has had a growth in sales of 10.3 percent.
• Dodge Ram is the third best selling car, with a growth of 23.6 percent. It has thus taken over third place from Toyota Camry.

– During the financial crisis of 2008 could look like the Americans had become more environmentally conscious and wanted smaller cars, but it did not last long. Americans penchant for big cars sits deep, said Thina Saltvedt, chief analyst for oil at Nordea Markets.

Large car types like SUV, van and pickup increases its market share at the expense of small and midsize cars, according to figures from the Financial Times and Wall Street Journal.

While sales of regular passenger cars rose by 1.8 percent last year, sales of larger cars (SUVs and “crossover”) up by 11.8 percent in 2014.

Affected by cheap gasoline

Petrol prices have moved downwards in line with oil prices. In the United States it is now down to $ 2.1 per. gallon after falling by 34.5 per cent last year.

– Americans are very sensitive to changes in the price of gasoline. Is it at four US dollars per. gallon is the closest emergency. Now give it a extra speed on new car sales, said Saltvedt.

She emphasizes that the price of gasoline in the US fluctuates more than in many other countries because the proportion taxes are much lower. It makes the oil price has a greater impact on the final price at the gas pump.

About 15 percent of the price of gasoline in the US is taxes, while the figure in Norway is slightly above 60 percent, with current prices. Fee ‘share of the final price will vary over time because many fuel taxes are related to the number of gallons purchased and not to the price of fuel.

Barb Samarzich, executive director of Ford Europe, has previously stated that petrol price drop makes people “more comfortable “buying a big car.

– It’s a shame to say it, but when customers considering how expensive it is to have a car, they look at the price of gasoline today. Not what it’s going to be, says Samarzich to Financial Times.

Not unlike Norwegians relation to interest rates and house prices, in other words.

Larger and larger engines

Thina Saltvedt notes that automotive USA also get help of an economy in rapid improvement. Auto sales in the US in 2014 is the best since the peak year of 2006.

– Unemployment has dalt, consumption increases and confidence in the economy is greatly improved. When topped with low gasoline prices, taking several afford to buy good car, she said.

While fuel consumption in Europe has fallen for several years, the trend has been in the United States more stable.

– The large cars in the US are also becoming more energy efficient, but also driving people bigger and bigger cars, and then go win no up spin, says Saltvedt.

Doubling Tesla

Auto sales in Norway has also been expanding in recent years. From 2013 to 2014 the number of registered new cars by 1.4 percent.

Here at home it is smaller and more energy efficient vehicles that dominate the top of the sales statistics. Volkswagen Golf has been on top since 2008.

For the first time is also a Tesla with the top 10 list. Sales of Tesla Model S has doubled since 2013 to over 4,000 in 2014. No other of the most common models increases sales just as quickly.

Published: 06.jan. 2015 11:01 p.m.