Are car buyers paying a lot of attention to gas mileage when they make their choices?

An auto dealer in Maine is disagreeing with the chairman of the National Automobile Dealers Association on the issue. Adam Lee writes that yes, customers care a lot.

He writes:

News outlets across the county have reported on comments made by Ed Tonkin, Chairman of the National Automobile Dealers Association. Mr. Tonkin has said, "Consumers today are not buying cars based on fuel economy." Mr. Tonkin makes this statement as the Environmental Protection Agency and Department of Transportation are working to increase Federal Corporate Average Fuel Economy Standards.

I respectfully disagree with him.

The Toyota Prius first went on sale in Japan in 1997, making it the first mass-produced hybrid vehicle in the world. By September 2010, the Prius reached worldwide cumulative sales of two million units.

You can't sell two million of anything if people don't want it:

I do not know Ed Tonkin that well; I have met him a handful of times, but I know him well enough to know that I like him. He is the head of a huge car dealership chain in Oregon with at least 15 showrooms in roughly 17 markets. The Ron Tonkin Family of Dealerships is Oregon's 17th largest private employer and was voted "One of the Best 100 Companies in Oregon to Work For".

I am the chairman of a fairly large dealership chain in Maine. And, while we both sell many of the same brands like Honda, Nissan, Toyota and Dodge, he has Ferrari and I have a lot of used car stores.

If given the choice, I would like to be Ed Tonkin. Not only is he the chairman of the National Automobile Dealers Association, he is smart, handsome, a great car dealer, and he sells Ferraris (I still have to look up how to spell it). His dealerships are forward-looking, as evidenced by the variety of headlines I came across when looking up his dealership.

"The Ron Tonkin Family of Dealerships, a Ward's Automotive Top 10 eDealer, launches a new site for fuel-efficient transportation featuring Hybrid, Flex Fuel, Diesel, Motorcycles and information supporting a 'Greener' Lifestyle."

So my question is: Ed, why are you saying that people don't want to buy fuel-efficient cars when your own business has devoted resources to capture those consumer dollars? Why tell the world that we should not be looking 15 years ahead for even better fuel economy standards? This country recently ushered in the first change to fuel economy standards in 25 years. We went from 27.5 miles per gallon (mpg) for cars to 35 mpg by 2016. That is an increase of 7.5 mpg in five years. We got these new standards in the midst of the bankruptcies of Chrysler and General Motors. Detroit and the rest of the industry have finally embraced these standards. I think the smartest thing for all of us to do is to plan ahead. The auto industry needs a huge amount of lead time to plan for the future; waiting until the last minute is not wise.

Ed also mentioned recently that, "It's good to be environmentally conscious, but don't get ahead of the consumer." Well, that depends on whether you want to be ahead or behind the market. Was Apple afraid of introducing the iPod because it might have been ahead of the consumer? When the Prius was introduced worldwide in 2001, Toyota was definitely ahead of the consumer. By May of 2008, they had sold one million vehicles, but it took about seven years. By September of 2010, they had sold two million vehicles. It took only two years and four months to sell the second million. That's not bad. Ford didn't even sell two million vehicles in the U.S. in all of 2008.

When Toyota first came out with the Prius, we didn't even know we wanted them. It's obvious now that consumers have caught up with Toyota. You can't sell two million of anything if people don't want it. Consumers absolutely want cars that go farther on a tank of gas and pollute less.

I don't drive a Prius; I don't want to. I drive a hybrid through, and today, if I wanted to buy a new one, I can now choose from dozens of styles. I could also drive a clean diesel that gets 35-40 mpg, or I could drive a hot-looking Chevy Malibu that gets 33 mpg. Or, I could drive a really nice Jeep Grand Cherokee that only gets 22 mpg. I have the choice and I want to continue to have the choice. One day, I would like to be able to choose a vehicle that gets between 45 and 60 mpg and maybe even an American vehicle at that. I don't want to wait for gas to hit $5 per gallon before we get there.

I believe that the U.S. auto industry is crucial to our nation. I want to see them succeed, which is why I do not want to wait for them to figure out what to do. I have consumers demanding cars that go further on a dollar now. I have consumers demanding SUVs that get more than 22 mpg and I have consumers telling me about the new technologies that will help get us there. But, even if I wasn't hearing this from consumers, our country should not wait for consumers to demand cars that get 60 mpg. Apple didn't wait for consumers to demand the iPod or the iPhone. If we wait, Toyota will be selling 60 mpg cars while Detroit files for their second bankruptcy.