It seems like only yesterday that large vehicles went out of style and small cars ruled the roads. Like many fads the small car craze seemed to die out before it ever really took hold. Since gas prices declined drastically larger vehicles started to come back into fashion leaving small vehicle owners with a smaller market for resales. The same as SUV owners struggled to sell off their vehicles amidst 4 dollar per gallon gas prices, so now small car owners struggle, in some cases, to sell their wares. Will the trend of big cars continue in the US or will the small car craze come back into fashion before too long?

We can safely guess that small cars will eventually come back into fashion as gas prices inevitably rise. What may keep this in check for some time is the weak state of the US economy. Since most families and individuals tend to be consuming less for the time being, it is safe to assume that gas consumption will remain at lower levels then in previous years. The gas cartels would not be well served by pumping less oil, thereby raising the cost of gas, as higher prices would mean even less consumption. That said, some fads of recent memory may never recover. I understand that vehicles such as the Smart car have had difficulty in the resale market with few people trying to get their hands on these tiny one-hit wonders.

Car sales are inexorably going to be tied to gas prices in the future. We now have two great examples of people moving from gas guzzlers, to gas savers, and back again. The current example is almost a mirror image of what took place in the late 1970s to early 1980s. Sometimes we need only look at the past to see the present and the future more clearly.