OPEC’s Cheap Oil Strategy Lures Drivers Back Into Gas Guzzlers - Bloomberg
▻http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-05-30/opec-s-cheap-oil-strategy-lures-drivers-back-into-gas-guzzlers
Last year, SUVs outsold any other type of passenger vehicle in Europe for the first time, according to auto industry consultants JATO Dynamics. The trend has continued in 2016, with demand for SUVs such as the Hyundai Tucson and the Renault Kadjar accounting for a quarter of sales in the biggest European countries.
Europe is a mirror of what’s happening across the world. From China to the U.S., drivers are buying bigger vehicles, while sales of fuel-efficient hybrids struggle.
For Saudi Arabia, Iran and other members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, due to meet on Thursday, the sharp increase in sales of gas guzzlers is good news: It means stronger demand for gasoline and diesel for years to come.
“The trend of fuel-efficiency improvement of the last few years could be stopped by low oil prices,” said Christof Ruhl, head of research at the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, the emirate’s sovereign wealth fund, and a former chief economist at BP Plc.
U.S. average sales-weighted fuel-economy rating