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Some 40 per cent of Americans would curb their driving habits if retail petrol prices shot up to US$3.50 a gallon, according to a poll.
The poll also reflected the increasing popularity of petrol-electric hybrids, with 45 per cent of people saying they expected to own a hybrid in 10 years, compared with 20 per cent who said they expected to own a petrol-only car.
Hybrid car sales have grown by more than 50 per cent during the last year, according to www.hybridcars.com, while the overall car market shrank by 3 per cent. Sales of the Toyota Prius, the most popular hybrid in the United States, rose 83 per cent.
Surging energy costs have already forced many Americans to consider cutting back on travel, retail, and entertainment spending to ease sticker shock at the pumps, according to the poll of 524 people across the country.
Petrol prices in the US, the world's largest energy consumer, hit a record average last month of US$3.23 a gallon but have since slipped back to just above US$3 a gallon, according to auto and travel association AAA.
"It's so hard to read what consumer behaviour is going to be at higher price points - be that US$3.50 per gallon or US$4 per gallon - because we're all in uncharted territory," said Geoff Sundstrom, a spokesperson for AAA.
Price thresholds for cutting time on the road varied, with about 19 per cent of participants responding they would cut back at US$4 per gallon.
Another 9 per cent said it would take US$4.50, while 7 per cent said prices would have to reach US$5 a gallon before they would scale back.
Some 19 per cent indicated that they could not cut their road travel no matter how high prices climb.
The only time AAA has observed flagging consumer demand for petrol was after prices soared to US$3.07 a gallon after Hurricane Katrina in August 2005, Sundstrom said.
Prices hit a fresh record this year due to a spate of refinery problems that cut fuel production during the spring and as geopolitical tensions raised the cost of crude - the main feedstock for petrol.
"With each passing year, we're experiencing new highs," said Sundstrom. But he added: "We've not had a climate where large numbers of Americans are fearing for their economic future."
As energy costs rise, 39 per cent of the people in the poll said they would compensate by limiting their energy use, while 22 per cent said they would cut entertainment spending and 12 per cent said they would cut retail spending.
Economists have been concerned that high energy costs could have a knock-on effect on the US retail sector.
In some parts of the US, petrol prices are already near or above US$3.50 per gallon.
Motorists in Juneau, Alaska, are paying US$3.47 while in Wailuku, Hawaii, they are paying US$3.59 a gallon, AAA said.
The findings are the result of questions asked of 524 US voters who identified themselves as members of an "investor class." They were a subset of a broader survey of 1012 likely voters who were asked about topics ranging from President George W. Bush's performance to whether they shopped at Wal-Mart Stores.
- Reuters
