Apparently taking a cue from our friends at Chrysler, the down under team from General Motors are now offering cheap gas as a buying incentive. Back in June, Chrysler began offering a three-year guarantee of gas at $2.99 a gallon on most new Chrysler vehicles in a bid to get consumers to buy. Holden is now offering buyers a guarantee of 99¢/liter which equates to about $3.22/gallon in U.S. dollars and gallons. The current price for regular gas in Australia is around $4.63/gallon. Holden's incentive goes for two years or 12,000 miles, which is considerably less than the three years/36,000 miles offered by Chrysler. Given the continued collapse of Chrysler sales this summer, it's not clear if the promotion is having any meaningful impact, but Holden is going to try it - at least through the end of October anyway. The press release is after the jump.

[Source: General Motors]

Chrysler's "Let's Refuel America" incentive, in which the automaker gave out gas cards which guarantees fuel at $2.99 a gallon, has not proven very successful at all. After the program was initially launched, critics were quick to point out its flaws, and it appears that the car buying public was smart enough to see past the tactic as well. It's easy to understand that offering fuel at lower prices is no way to reduce its consumption, but it's the unfavorable financial information which likely proves the most harmful to the campaign. After all, it's difficult to get excited about something which is going to end up costing you more money in the long run.

Consumer Reports did a bit of math itself and found the incentive program to be lacking in sense. The results of its numbers crunching can be found here, though the short version is that buyers who choose normal incentives will save money over those who choose the gas card. Note, Consumer Reports only compared vehicles from Chrysler that it recommends.

[Source: Consumer Reports]

While the government of Dubai is testing in Chevy Tahoe Hybrids as taxis, ordinary drivers aren't being quite so conscientious. So far record high prices for crude oil aren't being felt at the pump by drivers. While Americans are now paying over $4/gallon for gasoline, people in Dubai are paying only $1.36. Dubai itself has limited oil supplies and is getting only six percent of its revenue directly from crude. Nonetheless, the high price of oil benefits Dubai as people from more oil rich areas of the Middle East invest and spend their money in the emirate. That means residents of Dubai have cash to spend and manufacturers of big powerful vehicles are the beneficiaries. GM may be having trouble moving HUMMERS and Escalades in the US but they are still extremely popular in Dubai as are big Mercedes, Bugattis and Nissan GT-Rs. Sales of full-size SUVs grew 40 percent in the Middle East in the first quarter of 2008. Unfortunately for GM, the absolute numbers are still far too small to keep the U.S. factories that build those big trucks running.

[Source: International Herald Tribune]

By now, you are surely aware of the gas promotions being run by auto companies such as Chrysler and Suzuki. While these programs have proved unsuccessful overall, this has not stopped other industries from jumping on the bandwagon. For instance, such diverse companies as Callaway Golf, Hasbro games, Hertz Rental Cars, Choice Hotels and Hotels.com are running promotions which include free gas. Additionally, the Northern Ohio Blood Services Region of the American Red Cross is offering such prizes as one $3,000 gas card and five $500 cards.

According to marketing professor at the Tepper School of Business at Carnegie Mellon University Baohong Sun, "A lot of companies, when they make decisions they don't think independently. They'll jump into whatever their competitors are doing, so more companies are likely to mimic this strategy." Suzanne Shu, a marketing professor at the UCLA Anderson School of Management adds a warning, saying, "I would say this type of promotion will only be effective in the short run. People will pay attention until they re-adapt to prices and then it won't be such a big deal anymore." Sounds like if a company wants to get in on the free gas bonanza, now is the time to get it in gear.

[Source: AOL Money]

Here in the United States, consumers who fill up their fuel tanks are just now beginning to see the type of pain that Europeans have seen at the pump for years. Reactions to the recent rises in gasoline and diesel fuel are pretty much what you would expect, with new car purchasers eschewing gas guzzlers for more fuel efficient models left and right. Even manufacturers have gotten into the game, offering low cost fuel for up to three years in Chrysler's case, or giving gasoline away for free for a few months, as Suzuki has done.

These same manufacturers, though, are not planning on such tactics in Europe, where the trend has been towards smaller, more fuel efficient vehicles for a long time now. Only Kia is considering fuel incentives at all, according to Auto Express. Even here in the states, the cheap gas ploy has seen decidedly underwhelming response, so we don't expect to see many manufacturers opt for this type of incentive much in the future. Just building more fuel efficient cars in the first place seems to make much sense, wouldn't you say?

[Source: Auto Express]

If the gas stations around here we're selling regular gasoline for under $2.20 a gallon these days (when it was over $3 not too long ago), this article from MSN would seem even more ridiculous that it is. So perhaps MSN is right, and gas prices drop to about $1.15 a gallon again. MSN says it's not a fantasy. Here's why:

First, the price drop won't happen soon, maybe in a couple years' time. Second, with all the recent pressure from high oil prices, all sorts of new oil supplies are being explored and "more supply is on its way". Third, drivers are changing their habits, which means demand will be (slightly) lower.

All this means a drop in the price of oil is coming, MSN says. Indeed, oil was costing about $63 dollars a barrel last week, down from over $77 in July. One energy consultant told MSN that oil could cost as little at $15 a barrel in the future. Unlikely? I think so, but we will have to wait and see. What would you do with the return of cheap gas?

[MSN]