GoKawiilIt’s become an American truism: Once you buy an SUV, there’s no going back. And our love affair with pickups has been documented in a million country songs and TV commercials.
But a brutal spike in gasoline prices — nipping $4 nationwide for a gallon of unleaded, up from $3 when the bombs first began to fall on Iran — has some car shoppers considering energy-saving alternatives.
Tomi Mikula is the founder of Delivrd, a car-buying consultancy that’s built a following through hardball negotiations with dealers on behalf of buyers. Among customers, “We’ve seen a big transition to hybrids especially in just the past few weeks,” Mikula says. “There’s definitely a heightened awareness of fuel economy; way more conversations about it than when gas was $2 a gallon.”
Just before I spoke with Mikula, he closed a deal on a Hyundai Ioniq 9 Calligraphy, the brand’s top-shelf, three-row electric SUV. Mikula managed to knock $12,000 off the roughly $77,000 price, on behalf of a Michigan family that was trading in a gasoline Toyota SUV.
“They needed a three-row SUV, and really wanted to get into an EV, because they were so sick of these rising gas prices,” Mikula says. It typically takes four to six months of sustained high fuel prices to spark a real exodus to economical models.
“There’s definitely a heightened awareness of fuel economy; way more conversations about it than when gas was $2 a gallon.” — Tomi Mikula, founder of Delivrd
Mikula says shoppers are focusing more on the fuel-efficient versions of various models, such as the Toyota RAV4 hybrid.
Toyota had taken a beating from the media and environmental groups for resisting the EV transition. But its crystal ball now appears in solid working order. Toyota embarked on a strategy to build several models — including the Land Cruiser, Sienna, Camry and RAV4 — in exclusively hybrid form. The Camry and RAV4, respectively, are America’s perennially bestselling sedan and SUV, which made that strategy a potential risk. Now, Mikula says that hybrid-only 2026 RAV4 is already in unusually short supply, which he attributes in part to consumers seeking a hedge against fuel prices.
“Dealerships are getting slim on hybrid inventory” for some other models as well, Mikula says.
Soaring gasoline prices threaten to spike Americans’ fuel bills by $9.4 billion a month, according to an analysis by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. That’s an average of $34 in added monthly costs for every person of driving age. Californians are in a special class of hurt, shelling out $5.84 a gallon on average, and $6.27 for premium.
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