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We had a significant price shock today that will probably change something in the perception of the car owners.

For the first time ever diesel hit the the price of petrol although it is taxed lower than petrol in Germany and reached a price of 1.5 €/L.

At the same time people can buy vegetable oil at 0.9 €/L at the grocery store which has become big business for tuners. Diesel cars are retuned for salat oil and people are buying their fuel at trhe supermarket.

Worldwide

WOW that's expensive. Filling up the other day I paid about 4.17 USD/gal (0.70 eur/L) to fill up. My buddy in NJ pays I think about 3.60/gal (0.60 eur/L)

For Argentina

In January

Petrol: 2.39 ARG$/L (0.48 euro/L)
Diesel: 1.95 ARG$/L (0.4 euro/L)

In May

Petrol: 3 ARG$/L (0.6 euro/L)
Diesel: 2.4 ARG$/L (0.48 euro/L)

I used to spent arround $108 to fill tank (45lts) (700km average) 15km/l

Let´s see what can I save if I stay at 100km/h instead of the usually 130km/h I use to do on the freeway for going to work.
As my father is on vacation I´m using his diesel car now, but I´ll do some numbers and tell you

This will be an era where both the environmentalists AND oil companies can be content. This situation is good for both and will provide great opportunities for auto manufacturers if they get cracking at delivering some new techologies and not just talking about them and using them as PR.
An example of this is that everyone but Ford, GM and Chrysler are bringing clean diesels into North America.

Bellati, your comment of driving at 100km/hr vs 130km/hr is exactly what I've been preaching to my friends who complain about fuel prices. You could save yourself 2-3 L/100 easily by doing just that... but people are impatient and in this day and age, impatience costs money.

I think that fuel could still double (in canada) in price and not impact peoples driving habits that much. People here are still driving 5.7 L V8 fullsize trucks, minivans, cars with the v6 or v8 package instead of the 4 cylinder with standard transmission so they have a lot of breathing room if things get really expensive. I drive a BMW 318 now and if need be, I could drop down to a Toyota Yaris and still maintain my 30000km/year driving habit.
We can all adjust.

In Canada (British Columbia), the price of gas creaps up every day, and usually jumps come the weekend, and suspiciously, jumps significantly in time for any holidays.

Price today: $1.32/litre

Canadians enjoy both provincial tax and a number of national taxes. Over 32% of each sale total is tax!

Gasoline prices are very close to $4/gallon in much of the USA.

Here in Houston, TX, USA, Prius and Camry Hybrids are virtually unobtainable (they are not even listed on dealers' web sites). At the 23 local Toyota dealers there are a total of THREE Highlander Hybrids.

There is a positive frenzy of people trying to trade out of their domestic pickups and SUVs into Toyotas. (I work at a Toyota dealer)

donskar wrote:Gasoline prices are very close to $4/gallon in much of the USA.

Here in Houston, TX, USA, Prius and Camry Hybrids are virtually unobtainable (they are not even listed on dealers' web sites). At the 23 local Toyota dealers there are a total of THREE Highlander Hybrids.

There is a positive frenzy of people trying to trade out of their domestic pickups and SUVs into Toyotas. (I work at a Toyota dealer)

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1211461 ... whats_news

wall street journal predicts collaps of truck and SUV sales in the US. Toyota is aparently also hit with truck capacity.

As for the European guys, I suggest you come and fuel in Belgium, because taxes were lowered to the European minimum.
Still costly, but apparently cheaper than in Germany, Netherlands or France.

I'm still baffled by the prices as it is said there is enough oil supply. Stock of oil companies has dropped recently due to higher demands, especially in China, but I wonder why when there is enough supply...

@Donskar: If only American government would raise fuel prices, US people would more eagerly switch to more European style cars. All big European manufacturers are all downsizing their engines, putting turbos in them, direct enjection etc.
There is for instance a new BMW (diesel) engine which outputs 143hp at 5l/100km (in the books).
The USA has a serious financial deficit due to their Military strategy, and the solution would be so simple and would make Al Gore happy too

Let me chime in by saying we pay 32 euro cents per liter of petrol.
It's likely to go up next week though, accompanied by the requisite street protests and sporadic rioting.

I am afrait of buying a car with so high fuel prices.
The problem I see ist,
that I now spend a lot of money to buy a new BMW
and in a few years the prices of fuel have grew up so much that a normal
petrol car has lost all it's worth and I can't resell the car for a good price.

So don't buy a BMW. Buy something practical.

That said, I plan on continuing to drive and upgrade my 350Z. At some point I could get it to work on an alternative fuel.

Sory mep , but I find hilarious you being worried about that!
If you have the money to buy a new BMW, you have the money to put fuel in it.
If you don´t, then you are not in the Bimmer leage.

Then you sound like saying that buying that car should be an investment that gives you X amount of $ in a few years. If resell price falls, every other car resell price will fall too, so whats the point to worry about that?

If you don´t understand all of this, just order a Tata Nano

It's not as if a car is much of an investment, anyway...
And if that worries you, buy something half the price of the BMW and invest the other half (gold, stock,...). It's surely safer!

This sounds like a joke but there is a lot of reality in it. Although the Nano isn't on the market yet and it will not be available outside of India for some time the product idea will probably have a massive impact on auto markets and fuel prices.

So far Suzuki was the biggest car seller in India and their cars were more than twice the Nano's announced price. But now Renault is teaming with motorbike maker Bajaj to compete in the Nano class.

people in India will drive heavier and more vehicles and fuel demand will accelerate as it will similarly in China and other Asian countries.

traditional auto makers will get under pressure to provide lower cost and lower consumption vehicles across the board. the going in the auto industry will get a lot tougher.