The average price of fuel has hit $4 in this country for regular and it looks like it's going to keep going up. GM announced it was going to close four truck plants in the near future and (horror of horrors!) may put the Hummer brand up for sale. The $64,000 question is now what?

I was talking to someone the other day when I was coaching a little league game and he was moaning about the price of gas. "My Land Rover only gets 9 miles per gallon," he said dejectedly. "I don't know what I'm going to do."

Silly me: I thought 9 mpg daily drivers went out of style in 1978, but I'm slow about these trends. But one thing I'm sure he won't do is park the Land Rover or trade it in on a Cobalt. Part of the reason we're paying so much for fuel is, frankly, because we are willing do. For years when the price of gasoline was well under $2 a gallon, people bought Suburbans, Tahoes, Escalades and the like because corrected for inflation gasoline was never cheaper. The cliche of the suburban housewife piloting a giant SUV while drinking a Starbucks with one hand, holding a cell phone with another and steering with her left knee is based on truth. I still see it all the time in my town. Does a 5-foot-tall woman really need a three-ton truck to drive a couple of miles to get her nails done?

Hey, I know a lot of people who drive large trucks every day. They use them on weekends to tow race cars, boats and horse trailers. Buying another vehicle for a daily driver was never an option because the gas or diesel fuel was considered a bargain. Not anymore.

Let's see a show of hands. Who's trading in their Suburban for a Mailbu Hybrid?