The annual New Vehicle Customer Study put forth by research outfit Maritz Research revealed just how important the matter of fuel economy really is. Reaching approximately 200,000 buyers, the 2011 study surveyed consumers and the results speak for themselves: 42 percent said fuel economy is “extremely important” in their purchasing decision. Compared to the survey taken 10 years ago, that is a 13.5 percent increase. That’s a substantial increase from 2001 and that importance should grow even larger as 37 percent of the surveyed people indicated that they expect economy will have the “greatest impact” on new car purchases.
Maritz looked at the sales of Ford Motor Company vehicles to put some evidence to the survey results. An increase of 74 percent compared to last year were seen in Ford’s small car sales. 80 percent of sales of the midsize Fusion went to the four cylinder model instead of the larger V6 and in the month of may, more than 55 percent of F150 trucks sold were V6s. More evidence can be seen in new technology as well. Numerous makes and models are offered with small displacement forced-induction engines, start-stop features, cylinder deactivation, and hybrids galore.
