With sky-high gas, buyers think small

0 Comments | USA TODAY, May, 2008 | by Sharon Silke Carty

DETROIT -- Figuring out the point at which gas prices are too high for consumers to keep buying trucks and SUVs has, in the past, been a futile exercise for auto executives.

It now appears the tipping point is between $3.38 and $3.60 a gallon. That's the national gas price average in the past three weeks, and is why, car company executives say, sales of trucks and SUVs plummeted 17.4% in April from April 2007.

Overall vehicle sales were the weakest since 1992, hitting an annualized rate of 14.4 million vehicles, down from 16.29 million a year ago, according to industry tracker Autodata. But car sales were up 5.2%.

General Motors, Ford Motor and Chrysler all posted considerable drops in April. GM's sales fell 16.2% and Ford 12.1%, both led by truck...