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]

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]