Just when you thought buyers might be revving up for summer by driving new sets of wheels off car dealers' lots, up went oil prices. Between that and an otherwise soft economy, June car sales found "R" for reverse, hitting their lowest level in more than a decade.
Let's start with General Motors
At Ford
Even Toyota
Clearly, buyers are flocking toward smaller, more fuel-efficient vehicles. The diminutive Ford Focus sedan has seen its sales leap by 53% during the first half of this year.
Amid these clear trends, perhaps there's a Fool out there who can justify the lobbying group of 10 major automakers currently taking issue with governmental requirements that they raise their average fuel efficiency by 4.5% annually between 2011 and 2015. Sure, guys -- you continue to crank out your gas-guzzlers, and we'll continue to find better places for our investment dollars than your downtrodden stocks.
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