by CAROL MARTINDALE

SMALL and fuel-efficient.

These are the two essentials Barbadians in the market for new cars say are "must-haves".

With oil prices in the United States hitting a high of US$133 a barrel last Wednesday, Barbadians are paying more attention to the money they spend at the pump. This, coupled with the hike in gas and diesel prices in April, has motorists becoming more circumspect when hunting for vehicles.

In Barbados, gasolene has moved from $2.15 per litre to $2.67 while diesel jumped from $1.46 per litre to $2.57.

When the SUNDAY SUN checked with some car dealers they said it was a little too early to tell the impact all this could have on local car sales, but there was already some indication that most of the queries were for vehicles that would help them maximise mileage on dollars spent.

Chevrolet brand manager Mark Perkins confirmed that small fuel-efficient vehicles were the biggest buys. "People are on the market for smaller vehicles but they still want fuel efficiency," he said.

Perkins said, for example, the Chevrolet Spark they sold with an 800cc fuel-injected engine that packed 41 miles per gallon was one that piqued the interest of many in the market.

He explained that fuel injected simply meant the vehicle was more fuel-efficient. He also said that even though diesel had gone up, there
were still "diesel-hunting" consumers. "You are still saving, as far as diesel consumption, since diesel burns less," he said.

Perkins said while Galaxy Motors had the widest range of diesel vehicles in cars, SUVs (sport utility vehicles) and pick-up trucks, it was too early to tell if motorists were shying away from SUVs and gasolene vehicles.

His colleague Johnny Tudor, who is BMW brand manager at Galaxy Motors, said he too had observed that people now tended to buy smaller and cheaper fuel-efficient cars.

He said he also recognised a shift to diesel, even before the increases were announced by Prime Minister David Thompson.

"This is because the mileage from diesel is superb. The BMW 530 gasolene car gives
18 to 22 miles a gallon, while the diesel version of this vehicle gives 54 miles
a gallon," he said.

Nassco sales director Roger Moore said buyers were definitely looking more at fuel-efficiency. While he did say there were some people looking to sell and trade bigger vehicles, which were not limited to SUVs but included luxury gasolene-powered vehicles because of the range of vehicles they carried, their clientele was still buying.

"There is no indication of a drop in sales," he said, pointing out it was still too early to tell.

Moore said individuals approaching retirement were also looking for fuel-efficient vehicles.

He noted, for example, that the Yaris which had a 1300cc fuel-injected engine was in demand for that very reason.

A source in the car industry, who did not want to be named, said any engine 1600 cc or smaller would be classified as fuel-efficient.

Efforts to get comments from Simpson Motors and McEnearney Quality were unsuccessful.

Earlier this month automakers in the United States reported higher sales of small cars as oil and gasolene prices skyrocketed.

A report said that consumers have been shunning pickup trucks and SUVs in search of smaller and more efficient offerings. One spokesperson said it was not the right time to be producing large trucks. GM said last week it planned to cut production of its full-size pickups by 88 000 units and its big SUVs by 50 000 units this year.

The article also noted that newer small cars like the Ford Focus, which increased in sales by 32 per cent, were more in demand now.

* carolmartindale@
nationnews.com