I had to stifle a shout when I pulled up to the gas pump, yesterday morning, though the soccer mom in the minivan next to me actually shook her head in agreement with the words I mumbled. Almost overnight, prices have surged about 20 cents, here in Michigan, and the premium gulped down by the Land Rover LR2 I’m testing rang up at $3.29 a gallon.

Wasn’t it just a couple months ago that gasoline dropped down below $2 in many parts of the country? Yet, now we’re hearing some analysts project prices of as much as $4 before the summer ends. What’s happening here?

Let me stress that I am not a conspiracy theorist. I don’t spend time wondering who was really shooting at John Kennedy from that grassy knoll. I don’t take Oliver Stone too seriously. But I have a hard time believing there really isn’t some sort of collusion on the part of the oil industry. If you watch the pattern of the last few years, it’s unmistakable: gas prices rise to the limits of elasticity, then slump back, then, after consumers catch their collective breath, the numbers rise again, pushing a little bit higher before again slipping back.

For several years, that pattern has repeated over and over, each time nudging the top-line price a bit higher. American motorists freaked when the figures topped $2 a gallon, but the next round, $2 seemed cheap. And this time, last year’s $2.85 seems like a veritable bargain. Keep it up and we may soon accept $4-a-gallon gasoline as our norm.

There are some folks who like that idea, and not just ExxonMobil, the company that has, on average, invested less than any of its competitors in developing alternate fuel resources. There are plenty of regulators, lawmakers and environmentalists who think that despite the impact on the consumer’s pocketbook, high fuel prices are ultimately a good thing. In the long run, they argue, motorists will trim back their driving and switch to smaller, more fuel-efficient vehicles.

Perhaps they’re right, but I have a hard time accepting what’s happening at the pump. The irony is that despite all the dire warnings about our reaching the peak of oil production, the world is awash in petroleum. Yes, concerns about Mideast instability play into the hands of commodity traders. But there’s also the issue of refinery capacity. Whether you blame strict environmental regulations or greedy oil barons, U.S. production capacity is stretched thin, as we saw in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. That only makes it easier for the petro-giants to charge what they think they can get away with. I don’t need Oliver Stone to make me feel angry about that.

A lot of Americans agree, by the way. Notes a press release that crossed my digital transom, earlier today:

“Most Americans think they are being gouged at the gas pump and say that will cut back on their summer travel plans and general spending if fuel prices continue to climb to $3.50 a gallon or even higher, according to a major new Opinion Research Corporation (ORC) survey conducted for the nonprofit Civil Society Institute (CSI) think tank and its 40MPG.org project.”

The full report will be released on Wednesday, though you can get some advance information at http://www.40MPG.org and www.CivilSocietyInstitute.org.

AP: $4 Gas Is Nearly Here—Associated Press

When the Chrysler Aspen Hybrid arrives in showrooms next year, it will offer something you'd never find in a Prius or Honda Insight-a HEMI.

The Aspen Hybrid's gas-electric powertrain will be based around a battery-augmented HEMI engine, Chrysler announced today. The 5.7-liter HEMI will be mated to a new two-mode hybrid system being developed with General Motors and the BMW Group. The system is known as a "two-mode" setup because it will offer two transmission modes that will optimize fuel economy for city driving and for highway driving.

Read more over at the main site - and catch Chrysler's video release below:

Chrysler Aspen Hybrid Will Sport HEMI - The Car Connection

If you decide to give the cops a run for it, know that the law is decidedly against you. In an 8-1 decision today, the Supreme Court gave police wide latitude in how they proceed when high-speed chases erupt - and left them with significantly more protection against lawsuits filed after chases.

The original court case came about in Georgia, where 19-year-old Victor Harris claimed that police pursued him too vigorously in a March 2001 chase. The defendant - today, 25 years old - hit speeds of more than 90 mph and crossed the yellow lines on dark, empty roads to avoid the police. When Coweta County officer Timothy Scott performed a PIT maneuver to stop him, Harris' car rolled down an embankment. Harris' injuries left him a quadraplegic.

The ruling is interesting to car fans for the in-car camera video used to rule on the case. Like a scene lifted from Spike TV, justices viewed video of the chase, which followed the chase through to the final crash. Unlike police in, say, Los Angeles, these Georgia cops were authorized to pursue potentially deadly force to prevent the driver from harming others - and the cameras captured it all.

Harris had been pulled over for driving 73 mph in a 55-mph zone when he was pulled over.



Justices Back Police in Chase Case - New York Times

Global warming, Chrysler’s chronicles, and the cosmic implications of our editor’s writing - it’s all on the table this week as TheCarConnection.com sifts through its mailbox and answers your questions on the big car news of the day.

“‘Vette Gets More Power!” If we had a dime for every time in our careers we wrote that headline…we still couldn’t pay for a Starbucks. And God, do we need one right now.

Hey, don’t those official Lancer Evo shots look a huge lot like the concept from Detroit? In this case, it’s all good.

In Dearborn, there’s a glimmer of turnaround at Ford again in better than expected Q1 results. We say full steam ahead with the Flex—and somebody, please, if you’re going to kill off the Panther cars, don’t leave them on death row another year.

We’re still looking for your inside stories of the Chrysler chronicles. Think of us as an electronic shoulder to rant on.

Holy crap! We wanted you to call, we wanted you to write – and all we had to do was print an unpopular opinion. We’re getting the hang of polemics, bear with us.

Gas at $4 a gallon is here already. Do we hear $5? $6? It’s like the Price is Right, only there’s seemingly no upper limit.

Rondoism no, Kia Rondo, yes. Forget the ads and give us the car.

Earth Day came and went, and still, cars are 90 percent cleaner than ever before. So where’s the backslapping from Dennis Kucinich? That’s what we thought.

Can you imagine a General Motors that only sold Chevys, Saturns and Caddys? We can too. And so can Alex Taylor. Tell him why he’s wrong.

Lastly, a warm send-off for Warren Avis, rental car king who was returned a little late to the big parking lot in the sky, but presumably, with a full tank of gas.