An environmental perfect storm hits the automotive industry/Oil sources, war, international demand, global warming in confluence

摘要

It seems like yesterday but it was nearly two and a half years ago that Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast. Apart from the human cost, the hurricane had another critical effect: It appears to have permanently changed our perception of fossil fuels. Years of scientists' comments about oil as an imminently nonrenewable resource and impending exhaustion of oil fields around the world did little to change consumers' buying habits. Paying 80 dollars to fill up an SUV delivered that message much more clearly. It appears that consumers are changing their vehicle purchase decisions to take fuel consumption and emissions into account. This does not sound like a profound conclusion, but given the tidal-wave departure from a few years ago (when no engine was big enough and no SUV was heavy enough), it is having a transformational effect on the automotive industry.