Autoblog

There's been a lot of head-scratching about the exact cause of the meteoric rise in price for a barrel of oil. Are speculators driving it to turn a quick buck? Is it the weakening value of the U.S. dollar? How about increaded worldwide demand? Chances are, all those forces are playing a part in the rise of fuel prices, and no single solution is likely to fix the problem.

Just as it was starting to look like prices would rise on a daily basis for the rest of eternity, the price of a barrel of oil dropped by $16 from Tuesday to Thursday. Economists point to the dismal economic and inflation news as a main factor for the drop. All we know is that ever since gas got more expensive, everything else started to follow suit. That leads us to spend less on things that we don't absolutely need, which probably isn't good for the economy.

With news of the large drop in the price of a barrel of crude, Wall Street got all excited and responded with a couple days of very positive gains in the stock market. Good news, right? Well, oil jumped by over $2 on Friday morning alone, so we'll have to see. Is the $4 per gallon nightmare almost over? Probably not, but we can hope.

[Source: Yahoo, Photo: Getty/Justin Sullivan]

UPDATE: The Better Business Bureau apparently has some issues with MyGallons. This post was written several days ago and we were not aware of the dustups at that time.

You can pre-pay for cellphone minutes, here in New England it's popular to lock in your heating oil price for the winter, and now you'll be able to bank gallons of gasoline on a debit card, thanks to MyGallons.com. While you're screwed out of the money if the price of fuel drops, it's not looking like that's going to happen soon. MyGallons uses your zip code to determine what price you'll pay to add gallons to your card, which is accepted just like a normal debit or credit card at most fuel stations. It's a creative way to smooth out the fluctuations in the price of fuel, and it could also be a boon to those wanting to run a tighter budget, or at least know what they'll be spending on fuel for a given time period, as they've pre-bought. Shoot, it could even be a decent gift idea for the person who has everything!

[Source: Reuters]

Automakers understand that the buying public is struggling with high gas prices, and the entire industry is working on new technologies to ease our financial burden. Unfortunately, new fuel efficient products are going to take a while to develop on a large scale, so for now we're just going to have to grin and bear it. That is unless you want to follow the wisdom of Toyota, which has dug deep into its core of corporate genius to give the car-driving public this little tidbit of advice: drive less. Wow, the solution was right under our noses the whole time, and we just didn't figure it out. You know there is a problem with gas prices when automakers start telling you to buy a bicycle.

Head over to Autoblog Green to read up on some very real ways that you can save on fuel, and check out the site's fancy new diggs while you're at it.

[Source: Autoblog Green]

If you think that gas prices are high in the U.S., consider that the average price for a gallon of gas in Germany is $9.40. Yikes. Since the record high prices in the States are causing some people to change their lifestyles, imagine how Europeans feel. Bet they're pretty upset, right? One man was ticked off enough to send his 1995 BMW 3 Series out in a blaze of glory. That's right, after parking the Bimmer on the lawn of the Convention Center in Frankfurt, he doused the car in gasoline and torched it in protest of high gasoline prices.

The car was already nice and crispy by the time firefighters arrived. At this point, the local authorities are still considering what, if anything, to charge the man with. Interestingly, various environmental laws were likely broken which could send the perpetrator to jail for up to five years.

[Source: AP via WIBW.com]

The tremendous pressure on the auto industry is rapidly unraveling even the most carefully laid out plans. Fuel economy is king right now, and trucks and SUVs have gone from cash cows to the 6,000-pound albatross around the necks of automakers. Ford has been giving us a steady flow of news regarding its plans to weather this wicked storm, including the decision to switch truck and SUV plants into facilities that can produce fuel efficient cars and the delayed launch of the 2009 F-150. Now we're hearing from Mike Levine at Pickuptrucks.com that the Blue Oval has all but killed the once promising Boss V8 engine program.

The powerful V8 engine was slated to appear on models ranging from the new Mustang to the best-selling F-150 and Super Dudy, but a stop work order has narrowed the Boss' available engine bays down to one model. Ford President of the Americas Mark Fields told Levine that while the program isn't being killed completely, it will now only appear in one vehicle. Levine has heard from three sources that the lone vehicle will be the Super Duty, which needs a more efficient replacement for the 6.8L V10. Ford has already spent a load of cash on the beefy pushrod, so killing the program altogether would have been a tough pill to swallow. Ford was also planning on more than one displacement for the Boss, but with it now only going in the Super Duty, it'll likely only appear in 6.2-liter guise.

Ford will likely move any and all monetary and development resources possible away from the Boss, and into the hands of greener projects like the US-bound Fiesta. The move makes abundant sense given the current realities Ford is facing, but it still saddens us that we won't get to mash the pedal to unleash 400 naturally aspirated ponies any time soon.

[Source: Pickuptrucks]

There's no official obituary for GM's HUMMER brand yet, but haters are lacing up their dancing shoes while lovers wring their hands. Dealers with HUMMER franchises have a lot of skin in the game, so the uncertain future is bound to give business officers ulcers. Not willing to wait around to the bitter end, Milwaukee's Bergstrom HUMMER is planning to move into the same space as the group's Chevrolet store. The HUMMER-specific Quonset hut style dealership building will be toned down and pressed into service as an outlet for Certified used GM vehicles. Other HUMMER dealers across the nation are staring down the same conundrum, being on the hook for that big, rugged showroom, test track, inventory, and staff, while the parent company looks to clamp off bleeders. Some might follow Bergstrom's lead and shove the big trucks into a corner of a showroom dominated by a more stable brand, while others are shipping inventory as fast as they can.

Moving product is a tremendous challenge when the bobbleheads on the nightly news continue shrilly about the price of fuel and you've got a lot full of low-mpg, high weight trucks that happen to be a favorite target of vandals euphemistically masquerading as "activists." Customers that do make it through the door are looking for deals, and HUMMER will spot you five thousand bucks to take an H3, PLEASE. Existing customers are looking to get out of their vehicles any way possible, even if it means a financial hit. The mass exodus isn't solely due to hysteria, when it costs over $100 to fill the fuel tank, it chafes to watch the fuel gauge's precipitously quick drop toward "E." Retail issues aside, HUMMER still offers capable vehicles with a high level of style. If you've got a boat to pull, and want to look like the Governator, an H2 could still be just the thing, and now you'll be able to find one for a song; most likely the blues.


[Source: Inside Line]

U.S. university boffins have hypothesized that you'll get a better idea of how much you spend on gas if you start thinking in gallons per mile. With U.S. gas prices headed for the upper atmosphere, people are paying more attention to fuel efficiency numbers. Europeans already express their fuel usage in liters/100 km, which makes sense seeing that they've been paying $5 a gallon for much longer than we have.

The key is that going from 10- to 20-MPG yields higher savings -- which means less money spent on fuel -- than going from 25- to 50-MPG. The former swap yields $25 dollars in savings over 100 miles, the latter yields just $10 in savings. However, if you know that one car uses 5.5 gallons per 100 miles, and another uses 3.5 gallons per 100 miles... then you immediately know which one will cost you less at the pump.

Of course, this all depends on what kind of car you're starting with in the first place. Researcher Richard Larrick said, "We were trying to decide whether to get rid of a minivan and go for a station wagon versus getting rid of a sedan and going for a really high-mileage hybrid car. We realized in the end we were better off trading in the minivan and only gaining 10 miles per gallon then we would be trying to swap out the sedan for a highly efficient car." Thanks for the tip, Stephen!

[Source: Reuters]

The Detroit Free Press is reporting that the national average for premium gas is now $4.48 a gallon, some 40 cents more than regular, and that drivers are just refusing to buy it.

Truth be told, most people who've been buying premium probably don't need it at all, but even among those whose engines specify 91 or higher, demand is way down. The Freep says it's actually at its lowest level since 1984. The higher-octane fuel accounted for 16% of gas sales at the height of its demand in 1997. Last month it was half that at 8%. Demand for premium is so low that in some areas it takes gas stations 3 or 4 weeks to sell out a shipment of premium compared to just a couple of days for regular.

Experts say that demand is dropping for a number of reasons. People are switching from luxury and performance models to more efficient cars that only require regular. Many owners of premium-only vehicles are just driving less. And some people who choose to buy premium despite their cars and trucks only requiring regular are just wising up. When looking at the situation, Consumer Reports has gone so far as to say that "many cars that are supposed to only use premium perform just as well with regular." So keep those extra bucks in your pocket and go with the 87 for now. Just don't yell at us if something starts knocking underhood.

NOTE: This picture was taken on March 3, 2007... in Nevada.

[Source: Detroit Free Press]

In San Diego, drivers are paying an average of $4.61 a gallon for the cheap stuff. And like the rest of the country, most of them aren't too happy about it.

But a 17-mile drive south will save them more than a $2 per gallon. Gas war? Some radio station's wacky promotional stunt? No, Mexican government subsidies that allow filling stations to sell gas for as little as $2.54 a gallon, even less if you have a pocket full of pesos.

Diesel burners have an even greater incentive to make the drive. Diesel prices in San Diego average $5.04. In Tijuana? Only $2.20.

Downside? Of course! Even if you live near enough to the Mexican border, the wait coming back into the States is supposedly terrible, sometimes as long as a two hours. Leave your HUMMER idling that long, and you'll be filling up in Chula Vista.

[Source: The Associated Press via Placeropolis]

It's a complex issue, this business of oil. With stock markets and unemployment numbers taking their lumps, civilian unrest at oil and food prices, and politicians weighing in with all manner of cures and pronouncements, the Group of Eight nations got together to try and figure something out. The result: they want oil producing companies to produce more oil while they work on creating oil-independent fuel sources.

It's the equivalent of Wimpy saying to Popeye, "For a hamburger today I will gladly pay you on Tuesday." The G8 nations, including the U.S., want more of the black stuff to see them through this rough spot. In the mean time, all countries but Germany pledged to begin exploring nuclear power and building reactors, and examining technology like carbon capture and storage. Think of carbon storage as a sealed, underground landfill for coal plant emissions. If they can get it to work -- and find the space -- they can use more coal without creating more emissions.

An OPEC representative said there would be no decision on any production change until it convenes its next meeting in Vienna on September 9. In the mean time, the retail price of oil has passed $4 nationwide in the U.S. for the first time ever, and you can probably expect to pay more for gas as each week of summer passes.

[Source: Detroit Free Press]