Since gas prices nationwide have hit the $4 a gallon mark, U.S. buyers have largely abandoned trucks and SUVs in favor of more economical models. However, record high gas prices have not only shifted demand from trucks to cars but also from six-cylinder models to four-cylinder models, greatly straining many automakers’ production capacities.
Demand for four-cylinder engines is at its highest since the energy crisis of the early 1980s and many automakers simply don’t have the capacity to keep up with demand. GM’s marketing and sales head Mark LaNeve estimates that a shortage of four-cylinder engines cost GM 10,000 sales in June.
Ford is operating under the same constraints. “You have dealers screaming for any type of four-cylinder product from us,†Jim Farley, Ford Motor Co.’s group vice president of marketing and communications, told Automotive News. “We have adjusted our plants to do everything we can to supply them.”
This time last year, Ford only saw a 57 percent take rate on its four-cylinder Fusion. This year, that number has climbed to 70 percent.
But the Big Three weren’t the only automakers to be caught off guard by the dramatic consumer shift. Toyota , Hyundai , Honda and Nissan are all scrambling to boost four-cylinder engine production, with many looking to production facilities in other parts of the world or opening completely new factories to keep up with skyrocketing demand.
With the vast majority of consumers now choosing the four-cylinder version of bread and butter cars like the Toyota Camry and Honda Accord, many dealers are struggling to keep inventory levels up on popular models. “I have been in the car business for 38 years. It is as wild a swing toward four-cylinders as I have ever seen,” one Tennessee dealer told Automotive News.
