Earlier this year the auto industry witnessed an unprecedented shift in consumer demand from large trucks and SUVs to smaller, more fuel-efficient vehicles as gas prices topped the $4 mark. Although gas prices have retreated from their record highs, most buyers are still giving trucks and SUVs a wide berth. However, Toyota feels the full-size truck and SUV segments are primed for recovery.
According to Ford CEO Alan Mulally, the breaking point for truck and SUV sales was when gas prices topped $3.50. Although seeing $3.50 at the pump seems like a distant memory for most Americans, Toyota division general manager for Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A., Bob Carter, revealed that the Japanese automaker expects U.S. gas prices to bottom out at $3.50. If Toyota’s prediction comes true, it would give some support to the ailing truck and SUV markets.
“We are absolutely confident that the recovery will take place, it’s just arguable when,” Carter told Automotive News.
However, Carter is unsure of whether “recreational user” of pickup trucks will ever return to the segment. Even if gas prices to come back down to $3.50, it’s likely pickup sales would be dominated by professionals, rather than the average person who only uses a truck’s capacities every once in a while.
But even if gas prices retreat in the interim, they won’t stay there forever. Toyota expecting gas prices to top $5 by the middle of next decade.
