Morgan BellPetrol Prices and Small Cars and Bikes
January 5th 2007 10:34
Two news strike me in the eye today: one about the sales of small cars and the other about the sales of bikes. Our transportation modes are changing. What repercussions will this have? Stay with me for more.
The news today, 5 January 2007, is that “despite gloomy economic forecasts and unstable petrol prices, Australians are still in love with the car.”
“Sales figures for last year showed 962,521 new vehicles were bough – the second strongest year ever, down 2.6 per cent on the record set in 2005 – and embraced small cars in a big way.”
“Ten years ago almost 200,000 small cars were sold. Last year more than 335,000 were sold, an increase of 67.5 per cent.”
This news was published in the online version of The Sydney Morning Herald under the title “Small cars outgun their bigger rivals” and was written by Joshua Dowling.
The other news today is that “bicycle sales outpaced vehicle sales in 2006 as more people turned to pedal-power to cut petrol bills.”
“The Cycling Promotion Fund (CPF), Australia’s peak bicycle promotion group, said 1,273,781 new bikes were sold last year, well ahead of the 962,521 new cars and trucks sold.”
“CPF spokesman Ian Christie said people were using bikes not just for recreation, but increasingly as their preferred form of day-to-day transport.”
““There is an emerging trend towards people using bikes as their official company-supplied vehicle in place of the traditional company car,” he said.”
This news was published in the online version of The Australian under the title “Petrol price promotes pedal power” and was sourced from AAP.
With petrol prices at the pump in Australia having more than doubled and not having in sight a return to old levels, these two effects, increased sales of small cars and bikes, are only natural.
This is quite similar to what happened to most of Western Europe in the 1970s and 1980s with petrol prices increasing many times. People, just naturally, turn to cheaper alternatives and the small car or the bike is adopted.
It also calls my attention to the researchers of solar power to move cars and bikes. In our country, Australia, solar energy comes freely and abundantly. Shouldn’t we take the opportunity to invest more in this kind of research and make it a commercial reality?
We could become independent from petrol and export this car and bike powered by solar energy to many countries of the world.
But there’s more: how about liquid petroleum gas? It’s cheaper and almost doesn’t pollute the environment. And how about biodiesel? The options to think about could be so many more.
I will not consider at this stage cars and bikes powered by nuclear power since it would be too grotesque and not funny.
End
The news today, 5 January 2007, is that “despite gloomy economic forecasts and unstable petrol prices, Australians are still in love with the car.”
“Sales figures for last year showed 962,521 new vehicles were bough – the second strongest year ever, down 2.6 per cent on the record set in 2005 – and embraced small cars in a big way.”
“Ten years ago almost 200,000 small cars were sold. Last year more than 335,000 were sold, an increase of 67.5 per cent.”
This news was published in the online version of The Sydney Morning Herald under the title “Small cars outgun their bigger rivals” and was written by Joshua Dowling.
The other news today is that “bicycle sales outpaced vehicle sales in 2006 as more people turned to pedal-power to cut petrol bills.”
“The Cycling Promotion Fund (CPF), Australia’s peak bicycle promotion group, said 1,273,781 new bikes were sold last year, well ahead of the 962,521 new cars and trucks sold.”
“CPF spokesman Ian Christie said people were using bikes not just for recreation, but increasingly as their preferred form of day-to-day transport.”
““There is an emerging trend towards people using bikes as their official company-supplied vehicle in place of the traditional company car,” he said.”
This news was published in the online version of The Australian under the title “Petrol price promotes pedal power” and was sourced from AAP.
With petrol prices at the pump in Australia having more than doubled and not having in sight a return to old levels, these two effects, increased sales of small cars and bikes, are only natural.
This is quite similar to what happened to most of Western Europe in the 1970s and 1980s with petrol prices increasing many times. People, just naturally, turn to cheaper alternatives and the small car or the bike is adopted.
It also calls my attention to the researchers of solar power to move cars and bikes. In our country, Australia, solar energy comes freely and abundantly. Shouldn’t we take the opportunity to invest more in this kind of research and make it a commercial reality?
We could become independent from petrol and export this car and bike powered by solar energy to many countries of the world.
But there’s more: how about liquid petroleum gas? It’s cheaper and almost doesn’t pollute the environment. And how about biodiesel? The options to think about could be so many more.
I will not consider at this stage cars and bikes powered by nuclear power since it would be too grotesque and not funny.
End
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Comment by Benjamin
Benkaiser.NET Investment Portal
There you go, mate.
Ben