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Smaller cars rising in popularity
Australia is showing the first signs of a move towards smaller cars. Although the trend has already begun in Europe and started to appear in North American, it was only in October that sales of four-wheel drive vehicles (SUVs) show an obvious drop. High petrol prices were blamed for what was an 11.9% decline in Australia's monthly sales figures for SUVs.
In the United States, the home of the SUV, sales there are on the slide too coupled with growing public interests in hybrid cars like the petrol-electric Toyota Prius pictured above. But the US interest in hybrids is not driven purely by rising oil prices. Environmental groups, including the Hollywood-supported organisation, Global Green USA, have been achieving considerable success in persuading more people to drive less polluting cars.
At the recent Academy Awards, many actors were seen driving to the event in hybrids - instead of the more traditional "gas-guzzling limos". One of those actors was Kate Bosworth (seen in the photo). Global Green USA is the local off-shoot of Green Cross International, the organisation headed by Mikhail Gorbachev to promote a global shift towards a sustainable future.
In Australia the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries is also reporting an upsurge in demand for smaller cars - although more compact medium-sized SUVs are still proving popular.
In fact worldwide, the increasing attraction of smaller cars and hybrids has prompted a commentator with the financial news service, Bloomberge, to say that large SUVs "seemed to be going out of fashion".
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Hybrid demand soars
The decision by Asian carmakers, particularly the Japanese, to invest in hybrid cars is giving them increasing influence as trendsetters in the design of the next generation of cars. In America the traditional market leaders, General Motors and Ford, have both been reporting falling sales while Asian manufactures with their hybrids are enjoying double-digit sales growth. In fact early in May credit agency, Standard & Poors, downgraded the credit rating of both General Motors and Ford to junk status. Soon after the downgrade GM was reported to be holding talks with Toyota to share Toyota's hybrid technology and accelerate production of petrol-electric technology vehicles. Previously Toyota recorded a 21.3% jump in monthly sales of all the company's models while for the Prius, sales in April jumped to 11,345 - three-times as many as April 2004. The increasing popularity of hybrids is not all as a direct result of petrol prices. According to Lonnie Miller, a US car industry analyst, America's federal and state tax credits for fuel-efficient vehicles have helped spur sales. "More people are also buying into the idea that driving a hybrid is socially responsible," he says.
China cars
Before the end of the decade, China could be joining Japan and Korea as a major car exporter. DaimlerChrysler revealed at the recent Shanghai Auto Show that it was holding talks with Chinese interests to build an export factory in China to supply the North American market. Meanwhile Chinese manufactures Hafei and Chery have both started exporting to South America, Africa and the Middle East and plan to export to North America and Europe by 2007. Until now the quality of Chinese cars has been a problem but with the help of Korea's Hyundai, the quality is said to be reaching parity with that now establish by Hyundai in its Korean manufacturing plants. The potential impact of "cheap" Chinese cars on the world market is of cause huge. Currently workers in Chinese car plants are earning about $2.60 an hour.
