Autoblog http://www.autoblog.com Autoblog http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.autoblog.com/media/feedlogo.gif Autoblog http://www.autoblog.com en-us Copyright 2009 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/<![CDATA[Gassed Up: Exxon Mobil posts record $45.2 billion profit in 2008]]>http://www.autoblog.com/2009/01/30/gassed-up-exxon-mobil-posts-record-45-2-billion-profit-in-2008/http://www.autoblog.com/2009/01/30/gassed-up-exxon-mobil-posts-record-45-2-billion-profit-in-2008/http://www.autoblog.com/2009/01/30/gassed-up-exxon-mobil-posts-record-45-2-billion-profit-in-2008/#commentsFiled under: ,



Another year, another record profit statement from Exxon Mobil, the world's largest publicly traded oil company. The specific mind-numbingly large figure is $45.2 billion, which translates to $8.69 per share. While this figure handily beats the previous record of $40.6 billion that had been set by Exxon Mobil in 2007, these huge profits were recorded mostly in the second and third quarters of 2008 when fuel prices were at record levels in much of the world. Fourth quarter earnings fell by 27%, though it's tough to feel too sorry for a company that still made $84.7 billion in the down economy.

Chevron, second only to Exxon Mobil in size, managed to post a $43 billion profit in 2008, but other smaller oil companies haven't been quite as successful in navigating the sinking global economy. Royal Dutch Shell, Europe's largest oil company, posted its first quarterly loss in a decade after seeing huge profits earlier in the year. The coming year should prove to be a similar challenge for each of the oil producing companies.

[Source: AP via Google | Photo by David McNew/Getty]

Gassed Up: Exxon Mobil posts record $45.2 billion profit in 2008 originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 30 Jan 2009 12:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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People have always had something of an aversion to hard truths. Most Americans say they want their country to get off foreign oil or help the environment, but when it comes to the bottom line, they want cheap fuel. And when the prices on gas pumps start to dip, consumer interest in smaller more efficient vehicles tends to go out the window. Understandably, drivers everywhere tend to make vehicle purchasing decisions in large part based on fuel prices.

Ward's Auto World columnist Drew Winters notes that executives like Bob Lutz have long advocated that fossil fuel prices need to increase in order to make more efficient vehicles appeal to consumers. But with U.S. consumers' almost instinctual avoidance of taxation, it has been difficult for politicians to consider such measures. Instead, it would appear that most constituents want government to mandate both more fuel efficient cars (through mechanisms like CAFE) and cheap gas without impacting the cost of automobiles themselves.

Winters paraphrases The End of Oil author Paul Roberts, noting that "every major fuel shift in history - from wood to coal to oil - was driven primarily by market forces, specifically by competitive advantages of the new fuel over the old." Thus, part of the solution may simply to make the fossil fuels more expensive relative to other energy sources.

Unfortunately, Winters surmises, it appears that nobody can handle this truth.

[Source: Ward's Auto World | Photo: GoodGreentips.com]

Ward's columnist wonders if Americans can handle the truth about gas taxes originally appeared on Autoblog on Sat, 27 Dec 2008 18:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It's the same old story, people say one thing, yet do another. The price of fuel has fallen to the point that it's no longer financially ruinous to fill the tank on a full-size pickup, so looks like truck sales will eclipse cars in December. Despite the public's rhetoric about smaller and more fuel efficient vehicles, the populous has seemingly gone back for another feed at the truck trough. Winter tends to remind people of the things that SUVs and trucks are good for, like plowing and effortless going in inclement conditions while also carrying a passel of rugrats and their associated detritus. Not only are truck sales expected to be up, Hybrids will be the flip side of the trend, underperforming compared to what everyone might have thought a mere four months ago. It might end well for the automakers, with higher profit trucks bouncing back, though the investment in green and hybrid technology will go wasted if the marketplace ignores it, a real danger with fuel prices easing... for the time being. Hat tip to reader "Throwback"

[Source: CNN, Photo: yammeringmagpie]


Cheap Gas = Trucks to outsell cars again this month originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 24 Dec 2008 09:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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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]

German man burns BMW in protest of high gas prices originally appeared on Autoblog on Sun, 29 Jun 2008 09:03:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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These days it seems more common to overhear comments about a particular car's appalling fuel economy than idle chatter about the weather, which makes sense when a gallon of gas costs as much as a cheap umbrella. For instance, just the other day there was some guy going on about how his car was getting 3 mpg less than just a few months ago and had no idea why. That is until it was pointed out to him that his car's adjustable luggage rack was in its full, upright position, giving his car the aerodynamic efficiency of a cinder block.

That's just one of the points Forbes includes on its list of things to do so you can drive green without buying a new car. Improving your gas-guzzling vehicle's sleekness by losing that luggage rack, ditching that inefficient and egregiously ugly three-foot-tall spoiler and quit sticking your hand out the window are all little things that add up to an appreciable difference at the pump.

Most of the advice is common sense we've all heard before, but Sebastian Blanco, editor of AutoblogGreen, offered a novel suggestion for the list. Reduce your car's weight by only filling up half the tank. One gallon of gasoline can weigh as much as 6.5 lbs. On a 2008 Ford Escape, a half a tank of gas weighs 53 pounds.

Like the Forbes article points out, there's only so much you can do to curb a car's drinking habit, especially if you're driving something like an Escalade. But in smaller, lighter cars, even small steps like this can make a big difference in your fuel bill.

[Source: Forbes.com]

How to keep your land barge and still drive green(ish) originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 31 Mar 2008 18:04:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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click above to view more images of the Tata Nano

A report at CNN kinda states the obvious, that if the $2,500 Tata Nano proves as popular in India as most people think it will be, there will be a huge increase in demand for gasoline there. And if worldwide demand for oil goes up, the price of gasoline here will go up. Basic economics, right? Well, CNN looks a little deeper, and gets into why we're likely to see higher pump prices soon.

The target market for the Nano in India is people who do not currently own cars. That means droves of fuel-efficient scooter drivers will trade two wheels for four. And even though the Nano gets 54 mpg, that's still not as good as most of the scooters sold there.

And the second reason is that Tata sees the Nano as a "gateway" car. Get 'em addicted to the cheap stuff, then move 'em up to bigger, more profitable, less fuel-efficient cars later.

Combine these two reasons with the fact that the Nano will likely be sold in China as well, and you potentially have hundreds of millions of newly licensed drivers in line at the pump. The CNN story quotes one oil analyst who says we're likely to see gas prices near $4 or $5 well before 2015.

[Source: CNN]

Gallery: Tata Nano

Cheap cars in India = expensive gas in the States originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 04 Feb 2008 18:21:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The picture at right nicely captures the sales message at many service centers. But will you get better gas mileage if you inflate your car's tires with nitrogen instead of compressed air? That's one of the claims of advocates of nitrogen inflation systems, like N2Revolution, and auto service centers that offer nitrogen inflation services (often for a fee).

The idea stems from the fact that underinflated tires increase rolling resistance, adversely affecting fuel economy (among other things). Any gas mileage improvement through using nitrogen in tires would come from nitrogen's reported ability to maintain tire pressure at the correct level for longer, because nitrogen is supposed to leak through the walls of the tire more slowly than oxygen. Well, perhaps, but air is already about 78 percent nitrogen, so devotees won't really realize a huge benefit from switching to pure nitrogen. Not only that, but leakage is likely to be more significant at the tire bead or around the valve than through the body of the tire.

Other nitrogen benefits are sort of "inherited" from its use in aircraft tires, truck tires and race car tires. (If it's good for the pros it should be good for us, right?) The use of nitrogen is required in the braked wheels of aircraft over a certain weight, because the inert gas reduces explosion risk under combinations of extreme loads and high temperatures that far exceed the conditions experienced by car tires. As an inert gas, nitrogen may also extend the life of the tire carcass - important if tires are retreaded, as is common for trucks and aircraft, but insignificant for car and light vehicle tires, where tread wear determines longevity. Racers know that the most important benefit of using nitrogen is that it is "dry" - the water vapor in compressed air causes too great a pressure change as the tire heats up, a big deal when a half-pound of air pressure change can affect the handling of a racecar at the outer limits of performance.

The bottom line? Nitrogen is no substitute for checking your tire's inflation regularly. If it's free, go ahead and use it. If you have to pay for it, save your money.

[N2Revolution via CNET]

High gas prices inflate nitrogen-in-tires debate. Again. originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 03 May 2006 14:06:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The New York Times reports that California, New York and eight other states plan to file a suit to force the Bush administration to impose tougher CAFE rules on SUVs, trucks and minivans. The suit claims the federal government's analysis of the environmental impact of the new fuel economy regulations was not sufficiently rigorous. The states also assert that the government did not take into account the impact of gasoline consumption on climate change when formulating the new CAFE standards.

Meanwhile, President Bush is pushing a proposal to raise U.S. fuel economy standards, in a bid to address widespread consumer concern about rising fuel prices.

[Source: New York Times - registration required]

Ten states to file suit for tougher CAFE rules originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 02 May 2006 16:23:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Or so says Andris Piebalgs, the European Union's energy commissioner. Gas prices in Europe are currently at the equivalent of $6.62/gallon, more than twice the average price of a gallon of go-juice in the U.S. Imagine paying $72.82 to fill your 11-gallon gas tank, or how about $125 to fill your 20-gallon tank? Though we in the U.S. cry foul at $3/gallon gas, Europeans can only remember with envy those days when fuel didn't cost a day's wage. Meanwhile fuel-dependant companies are passing the extra costs right down the line to consumers.

One interesting note is that taxes comprise 66% of the cost of fuel in Europe. As of 2005 gas in the U.S. carried with it federal, state and local taxes that ranged anywhere from 32.9 cents to 62.9 cents per gallon. New York's combined gas tax is the highest in the nation at near 63 cents/gallon, which means at last week's price of $2.914/gallon about 29%, or less than half the amount of taxes Europeans pay, went to the government.

High gas prices crippling European growth originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 01 May 2006 11:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Despite a conspicuous rise in gas prices over the last three months, the demand for hybrids isn't budging.

According to analysts cited in a new Reuters article, consumers aren't being swayed by increases in fuel economy, available tax credits and in some areas, high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) lane privileges that hybrid ownership offers. The reason? Most cite a reluctance to pay the up-front premium of around $3,000, while others believe would-be buyers are turned off by hybrid vehicles' added complexity and potential long-term costs.

Earlier this month, Consumer Reports magazine worked out ownership costs over five years and 75,000 miles for a number of hybrids, determining that only the Honda Civic Hybrid and Toyota Prius saved owners any money (the former scrimped just $400 and latter $300). More to the point, others cost thousands more over the long haul.

[Sources: Reuters; Honda UK]

Hybrid sales inelastic despite surging gas prices originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 25 Apr 2006 12:26:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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To all General Motors executives and news reporters proclaiming the company's new SUVs a rousing success, hold your horses-- at least through the summer. The new GMT900 siblings may be fine vehicles, but gas prices are back up and consumers are starting to feel the pinch again. While full-size SUVs like the Chevy Tahoe and GMC Yukon (pictured) appeal to buyers who would buy an SUV regardless of the state of gas prices, vehicles such like the Chevy Trailblazer and GMC Envoy are arguably more price sensitive purchases. These buyers may in fact choose a more fuel-efficient crossover vehicle instead -- a vehicle doesn't make GM nearly as much money, not to mention the fact that the company is currently experiencing a gaping hole in the mid-size crossover segment, sending potential GM buyers elsewhere.

[Source: Reuters via Stuff.co.za]

 

Gas prices a threat to GM turnaround? originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 19 Apr 2006 11:52:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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