US car buyers choose size over hybrid as fuel prices fall
Detroit
IT is the automotive equivalent of Pavlov's bell: when petrol is expensive, US car owners try to downsize, but once pump prices ring down, they salivate over big pickup trucks and SUVs.
With petrol prices dipping below US$3 a gallon last month for the first time since December 2010, size is back in vogue. "The migration to trucks will turn into a stampede if these gas prices go lower or stay low," Mike Jackson, chief executive of AutoNation Inc, leading US car retailer, told Reuters. "Americans just love big."
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