Related Articles: T. Boone Pickens’s Mighty Wind
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DETROIT
Efficiency vs. Economics
1/14/2009 12:00:00 AMDavid Blume, a 48 year-old seafood retailer from Bloomfield Hills, Mich., feels guilty about the gas he burns during his 60-mile roundtrip commute—up to a point. A self-described environmentalist, he considered purchasing a hybrid, but balked at spending $5,000 more, an amount he won't soon recoup with gas prices at their current level. He ultimately picked a conventional Honda Civic that gets 37 miles per gallon. "I'm all for saving the environment, but my first priority is putting my kid through college," says the father of a high-school senior. "I won't even consider a hybrid unless gas prices change dramatically again."
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PROJECT GREEN
A Natural Road Trip
8/22/2008 12:00:00 AMI feigned reportorial omniscience, but had to admit—I really didn't know what he was talking about. That night, from my hotel in Dallas, I called my brother, an energy-industry executive in Houston. He didn't know much about compressed natural gas (CNG) as a consumer transportation fuel either. So I decided to take Pickens' suggestion, and go find out for myself.
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CARS
Honda Gets It Right, All Over Again
8/2/2008 12:00:00 AMHow do you know your ride is hot? When it's not only the most popular car on the road, but also the favorite boost among thieves. That's the case with the Honda Civic. In 2007, Americans bought 331,000 of them, and stole 51,000—more than any other model. This year, Civic sales are up 16 percent, and in May, the 36-mpg car supplanted Ford's hulking F-series pickup truck as America's favorite ride. In this summer of Detroit's discontent, the Civic has become Honda's engine. With GM losing $15.5 billion in the second quarter and even Toyota slashing pickup and SUV production, Honda is in high gear, reporting record profits and sales up 3 percent this year, while overall U.S. auto sales are down by 11 percent.
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Prius Politics
7/25/2007 12:00:00 AMMy younger son calls the Toyota Prius a "hippie car," and he has a point. Not that Prius drivers are hippies. Toyota says that typical buyers are 54 and have incomes of $99,800; 81 percent are college graduates. But, like hippies, they're making a loud lifestyle statement: We're saving the planet; what are you doing?
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