Ford F-150 the Number 1 Selling Vehicle in America?

This story from Forbes came just in time to dispel some of the mumbo jumbo which Washington politicians and media analysts have inundated us with. There mumbo jumbo narrative goes something like this: The big three auto makers were evil evil men who wanted nothing else but to personally melt the polar ice caps, kill all the polar bears, and bring about the apocalypse, just for fun!

So they, the unholy trinity from Detroit, made big evil dangerous and gas guzzling cars which noooooo one ever wanted buy. It was these diabolic intentions and deeds which led to the demise of the US auto industry.

Now the US auto industry is coming apart at the seems, and our benevolent representatives are willing to save them on condition of repentance from their sinful ways. They must now make a fuel efficient car since that is what Americans wanted all along.

You may think that I overdramatize the narrative being told by the media and Washington, but considering it wasn't too long ago that media pundit Thomas Freidman wrote the GM was un-American and worse for the country than Osama Ben Laden for offering a $500 gas certificate with every new GM sold, I don't think I've exaggerated the narrative at all. Why else would these evil CEO's make gas guzzling cars except to destroy the planet as we know it? They wouldn't be selling them to make money...Americans don't really want big gas guzzling cars...Or do they?

In a year when gas prices hit a record high, what would you guess would be the number one selling automobile in the US? The Honda Accord? The Prius? The Geo Metro? Wrong! It was the Ford F-150, followed by the Chevy Silverado.

You can read the story at:http://autos.yahoo.com/articles/autos_content_landing_pages/782/the-years-bestand-worst-selling-cars

It's taken from the story at Forbes:http://www.forbes.com/2008/12/03/2008-car-sales-forbeslife-cx_jm_1203cars.html

Now take a quick look at both and tell me what you notice about the pictures. That's right, the yahoo version of the story has a picture of the Ford Focus which has nothing to do with anything and the original Forbes story has a picture of a big truck.

The point is the reason that the big three were making big gas gosling SUV's and trucks is because that is what Americans wanted to drive. Even in an economic slowdown and gas reaching over four dollars a barrel the number one and two selling vehicles were big trucks!

I know small cars had a huge increase in sales, but did that surprise anybody? To be perfectly honest I was expecting to see some small car on the top of the list. That's what I think most people were expecting, that fact that it didn't happen says a lot about American tastes.

There was also a huge slump in SUV sales. (Once again, no surprise) But let's remember that SUV's were a top seller until the past couple years when gas prices sky rocketed! It's important to understand this so that we can better understand the real problem with the big three. Believe it or not as incompetent as the big three have been managed, they were still making cars that Americans did want to buy all these years, and not just trying to bring about the apocalypse.

Jason Bentley is just a punk college kid who is attending Brigham Young University.