---
title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: The harsh reality is that America moves…"
description: "\"The harsh reality is that America moves on four wheels, powered by conventional internal-combustion engines. At this point, while the elite media (excl..."
image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/baa/brock-yates-20099_america_the-harsh-reality-is-that-america-moves_2050012.png"
---

#  The harsh reality is that America moves on four wheels…

![“The harsh reality is that America moves on four wheels, powered by conventional internal-combustion engines. At this point, while the elite media (excluding Newsweek) trumpet the benefits of hybrids and Ford and Toyota plan to lead the nation into a low-powered, high-mileage hybrid Utopia, the…” quote by Brock Yates](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/baa/brock-yates-20099_america_the-harsh-reality-is-that-america-moves_2050012.png)   [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/baa/brock-yates-20099_america_the-harsh-reality-is-that-america-moves_2050012.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/baa/brock-yates-20099_america_the-harsh-reality-is-that-america-moves_2050012.png)

> “The harsh reality is that America moves on four wheels, powered by conventional internal-combustion engines. At this point, while the elite media (excluding Newsweek) trumpet the benefits of hybrids and Ford and Toyota plan to lead the nation into a low-powered, high-mileage hybrid Utopia, the multitudes remain loyal to the gas-guzzling family bus in the driveway.”

[Brock Yates](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brock-yates/)

## About This Quote

This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation.

America’s reliance on gasoline vehicles persists despite hybrid promises, showing cultural loyalty to familiar, powerful cars over efficiency.

**In simple terms:** People stick with gas cars despite greener options.

Key Takeaway

Consider alternatives to gasoline dependence.

Themes

transport culture technology environment

Mood

critical concerned

Type

analytical persuasive

When to use this quote

- Buying a car
- government incentives
- urban commuting
- family travel

Key Concepts

Consumer behavior energy policy market inertia

Questions to Reflect On

- What would motivate you to choose a hybrid?
- How can society shift car culture?

A Different Perspective

Hybrid benefits may be under‑communicated; infrastructure limits.

★ ★ ★ ★ ★   No ratings yet

[America](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/america/) [Benefits](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/benefits/) [Benefits Hybrids](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/benefits-hybrids-3858082/) [Bus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/bus/) [Combustion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/combustion/) [Conventional](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/conventional/) [Driveway](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/driveway/) [Electric](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/electric/) [Elites](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/elites/) [Engines](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/engines/) [Family](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/family/) [Four](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/four/) [Gas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/gas/) [Harsh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/harsh/) [Harsh reality](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/harsh-reality/) [Hybrid](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/hybrid/) [Hybrids](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/hybrids/) [Hybrids Ford](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/hybrids-ford-375962/) [Internals](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/internals/) [Lows](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/lows/) [Loyal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/loyal/) [Media](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/media/) [Mileage](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mileage/) [Mileage Hybrid](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mileage-hybrid-3858081/) [Moving](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/moving/) [Multitudes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/multitudes/) [Nations](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/nations/) [Plans](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/plans/) [Reality](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/reality/) [Toyota](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/toyota/) [Trumpets](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/trumpets/) [Utopia](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/utopia/) [Wheels](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/wheels/)

## Related quotes

> [Well, as you know, General Motors does not make hybrids. Ford only made 4,000 hybrids last year.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ed-markey/well-as-you-know-general-motors-does-not-make-hybrids-ford-only-made/)

[Ed Markey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ed-markey/)

> [If the numbers mean anything, they tell us that vastly more life is left in the reviled internal-combustion engine than any of the blue-state…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brock-yates/if-the-numbers-mean-anything-they-tell-us-that-vastly-more-life-is/)

[Brock Yates](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brock-yates/)

> [While greenies and their media flunkies continue to savage the gasoline-powered internal-combustion engine and rhapsodize about hybrids, hydrogen, electrics, natural gas, propane, nuclear, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brock-yates/while-greenies-and-their-media-flunkies-continue-to-savage-the/)

[Brock Yates](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brock-yates/)

> [Hybrids have become an important method for improving productivity or yield in many crops including the self-pollinated crop like rice.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/m-s-swaminathan/hybrids-have-become-an-important-method-for-improving-productivity-or/)

[M. S. Swaminathan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/m-s-swaminathan/)

> [That no generally applicable law of the formulation and development of hybrids has yet been successfully formulated can hardly astonish anyone who is acquainted…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gregor-mendel/that-no-generally-applicable-law-of-the-formulation-and-development/)

[Gregor Mendel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gregor-mendel/)

> [I think hybrids are inevitable. The question is not the technology: it's a question of the cost and whether the consumer will pay.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sergio-marchionne/i-think-hybrids-are-inevitable-the-question-is-not-the-technology-it/)

[Sergio Marchionne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sergio-marchionne/)

> [“Rich people’s garbage was every year more complex, rife with hybrid materials, impurities, impostors. Planks that looked like wood were shot through with plastic.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/katherine-boo/rich-people-s-garbage-was-every-year-more-complex-rife-with-hybrid/)

[Katherine Boo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/katherine-boo/)

> [“Time is truly apathetic to the many to whom a little empathy would mean so much. ~"Disarming (Reign of Blood #2)”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alexia-purdy/time-is-truly-apathetic-to-the-many-to-whom-a-little-empathy-would/)

[Alexia Purdy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alexia-purdy/)

> [I don't believe in the electric cars, but I strongly believe in hybrids.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/luca-cordero-di-montezemolo/i-don-t-believe-in-the-electric-cars-but-i-strongly-believe-in-hybrids/)

[Luca Cordero di Montezemolo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/luca-cordero-di-montezemolo/)

> [“This gesture is one of the motifs of modernity's turn against the principle of imitating nature, that is to say, imitating predefined morphological expectations.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-sloterdijk/this-gesture-is-one-of-the-motifs-of-modernity-s-turn-against-the/)

[Peter Sloterdijk](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-sloterdijk/)

> [I don't believe - till something radical changes that we are not on track to do - that hybrids are material to climate change.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vinod-khosla/i-don-t-believe-till-something-radical-changes-that-we-are-not-on/)

[Vinod Khosla](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vinod-khosla/)

> [Some people say hybrid vehicles such as the Prius are only a bridge to the future ... but we think it could be a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/takeshi-uchiyamada/some-people-say-hybrid-vehicles-such-as-the-prius-are-only-a-bridge/)

[Takeshi Uchiyamada](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/takeshi-uchiyamada/)

> [I always used to say hybrids would rule the world - people who have an understanding of many cultures and can relate to them…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/danai-gurira/i-always-used-to-say-hybrids-would-rule-the-world-people-who-have-an/)

[Danai Gurira](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/danai-gurira/)

> [So American culture is itself a hybrid and lends itself to use in other people's hybrids.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/todd-gitlin/so-american-culture-is-itself-a-hybrid-and-lends-itself-to-use-in/)

[Todd Gitlin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/todd-gitlin/)

> [Mileage makes champions](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steve-fairbairn/mileage-makes-champions/)

[Steve Fairbairn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steve-fairbairn/)

## More by Brock Yates

> [They still talk about the night that Augie Pabst, a fresh-faced heir to the brewing fortune, drove a rented Falcon into the swimming pool…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brock-yates/they-still-talk-about-the-night-that-augie-pabst-a-fresh-faced-heir/)

[Brock Yates](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brock-yates/)

> [Had I been more responsible I might have made something of myself as a junk bond trader, long-haul trucker or perhaps a plumbing contractor.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brock-yates/had-i-been-more-responsible-i-might-have-made-something-of-myself-as/)

[Brock Yates](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brock-yates/)

> [Unlike conventional jocks, who tend to sell aluminum siding and give canned speeches to parochial-school athletic banquets in the off-season, race drivers never shuck…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brock-yates/unlike-conventional-jocks-who-tend-to-sell-aluminum-siding-and-give/)

[Brock Yates](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brock-yates/)

> [More books, more racing and more foolishness with cars and motorcycles are in the works.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brock-yates/more-books-more-racing-and-more-foolishness-with-cars-and-motorcycles/)

[Brock Yates](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brock-yates/)

> [The whole movie thing has never been a source of great pride for me, in that Burt Reynolds, who starred in the picture, butchered…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brock-yates/the-whole-movie-thing-has-never-been-a-source-of-great-pride-for-me/)

[Brock Yates](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brock-yates/)

> [I admit to wasting my life messing around with fast cars and motorcycles.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brock-yates/i-admit-to-wasting-my-life-messing-around-with-fast-cars-and/)

[Brock Yates](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brock-yates/)

> [Regardless, I did rise to the editorship before embarking on a freelance career in the late '60's.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brock-yates/regardless-i-did-rise-to-the-editorship-before-embarking-on-a/)

[Brock Yates](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brock-yates/)

> [Some critics of racing witlessly claim that spectators only attend to see someone die. This is utter and complete nonsense. I have been at…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brock-yates/some-critics-of-racing-witlessly-claim-that-spectators-only-attend-to/)

[Brock Yates](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brock-yates/)

> [The bicycle is a former child's toy that has now been elevated to icon status because, presumably, it can move the human form from…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brock-yates/the-bicycle-is-a-former-child-s-toy-that-has-now-been-elevated-to/)

[Brock Yates](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brock-yates/)

> [Some guy once told me that skydiving is like cutting your throat and seeing if you can get to the doctor before you bleed…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brock-yates/some-guy-once-told-me-that-skydiving-is-like-cutting-your-throat-and/)

[Brock Yates](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brock-yates/)

> [A written regulation in NASCAR is about as reliable as an Egyptian immigration law.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brock-yates/a-written-regulation-in-nascar-is-about-as-reliable-as-an-egyptian/)

[Brock Yates](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brock-yates/)

> [ To be sure, \[NASCAR\] stars were initially ex-bootleggers for the most part drawn from that talent pool in the Carolinas hills: "good ol' boys"… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brock-yates/to-be-sure-nascar-stars-were-initially-ex-bootleggers-for-the-most/)

[Brock Yates](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brock-yates/)

> [Will a day come when our cars have carbon-fiber tubs, 18,000-rpm V-10 engines, and ground-effects tunnels? Perhaps, about the same time we have condos…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brock-yates/will-a-day-come-when-our-cars-have-carbon-fiber-tubs-18-000-rpm-v-10/)

[Brock Yates](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brock-yates/)

> [There was a day when you could identify a NASCAR Ford, Chevrolet, or Dodge and they actually looked like "stock cars." Now they are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brock-yates/there-was-a-day-when-you-could-identify-a-nascar-ford-chevrolet-or/)

[Brock Yates](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brock-yates/)

> [While greenies and their media flunkies continue to savage the gasoline-powered internal-combustion engine and rhapsodize about hybrids, hydrogen, electrics, natural gas, propane, nuclear, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brock-yates/while-greenies-and-their-media-flunkies-continue-to-savage-the/)

[Brock Yates](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brock-yates/)

[Explore all 31 Brock Yates quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brock-yates/)

## More America quotes

> [The costs of the Bush-Obama wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are now estimated to run as high as $4.4 trillion - a major victory…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/noam-chomsky/the-costs-of-the-bush-obama-wars-in-iraq-and-afghanistan-are-now/)

[Noam Chomsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/noam-chomsky/)

> [Young men, especially in America, write to me and ask me to recommend “a course of reading.” Distrust a course of reading! People who…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrew-lang/young-men-especially-in-america-write-to-me-and-ask-me-to-recommend-a/)

[Andrew Lang](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrew-lang/)

> [Well, The Day the Earth Caught Fire was a story... I don't if anybody knows what it is but it was about... in the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/val-guest/well-the-day-the-earth-caught-fire-was-a-story-i-don-t-if-anybody/)

[Val Guest](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/val-guest/)

> [So here's what I want you to know, and here's what I want all our men and women in uniform to know: Because of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/barack-obama/so-here-s-what-i-want-you-to-know-and-here-s-what-i-want-all-our-men/)

[Barack Obama](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/barack-obama/)

> [Today, the world looks to America for leadership. And America looks to its Corps of Marines.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ronald-reagan/today-the-world-looks-to-america-for-leadership-and-america-looks-to/)

[Ronald Reagan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ronald-reagan/)

> [The image of blacks usually is one of people who are suffering from hunger, unemployment, and poverty. The idea of them as agents and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/grace-lee-boggs/the-image-of-blacks-usually-is-one-of-people-who-are-suffering-from/)

[Grace Lee Boggs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/grace-lee-boggs/)

> [ I'll smoke, I'll cough, I'll get the tumors, I'll die, deal? Thank you America. \[salutes\] ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-hicks/i-ll-smoke-i-ll-cough-i-ll-get-the-tumors-i-ll-die-deal-thank-you/)

[Bill Hicks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-hicks/)

> [America is a democracy and has no Hitler, but I am afraid for her future; there are hard times ahead for the American people,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/albert-einstein/america-is-a-democracy-and-has-no-hitler-but-i-am-afraid-for-her/)

[Albert Einstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/albert-einstein/)

> [I'm gonna bring America together.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/donald-trump/i-m-gonna-bring-america-together/)

[Donald Trump](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/donald-trump/)

> [In the nineteenth century some parts of the world were unexplored, but there was almost no restriction on travel.:; Up to 1914 you did…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-orwell/in-the-nineteenth-century-some-parts-of-the-world-were-unexplored-but/)

[George Orwell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-orwell/)

> [We need a system that serves our needs, not the needs of others. Remember, under a Trump administration it's called America first. Remember that.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/donald-trump/we-need-a-system-that-serves-our-needs-not-the-needs-of-others/)

[Donald Trump](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/donald-trump/)

> [America, you're sending girls a mixed message. On one hand, you're saying to have positive body image and love who we are; on the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adora-svitak/america-you-re-sending-girls-a-mixed-message-on-one-hand-you-re/)

[Adora Svitak](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adora-svitak/)

> [You live overseas, you see these exotic places and you want to know about them. But, weirdly, it also made me homesick for all…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ken-jennings/you-live-overseas-you-see-these-exotic-places-and-you-want-to-know/)

[Ken Jennings](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ken-jennings/)

> [Freedom in every sense but primarily political sense, a rise in repression that stems from a repression of sexuality. It's AIDS, it's herpes, it's…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jack-nicholson/freedom-in-every-sense-but-primarily-political-sense-a-rise-in/)

[Jack Nicholson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jack-nicholson/)

> [“In American terms, the accomplishment of Genghis Khan might be understood if the United States, instead of being created by a group of educated…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jack-weatherford/in-american-terms-the-accomplishment-of-genghis-khan-might-be/)

[Jack Weatherford](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jack-weatherford/)

[Browse all 20,382 America quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/america/)

```json
{
    "@context": "https://schema.org",
    "@graph": [
        {
            "@type": "Quotation",
            "text": "The harsh reality is that America moves on four wheels, powered by conventional internal-combustion engines. At this point, while the elite media (excluding Newsweek) trumpet the benefits of hybrids and Ford and Toyota plan to lead the nation into a low-powered, high-mileage hybrid Utopia, the multitudes remain loyal to the gas-guzzling family bus in the driveway.",
            "creator": {
                "@type": "Person",
                "name": "Brock Yates"
            },
            "isPartOf": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website"
            },
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brock-yates/the-harsh-reality-is-that-america-moves-on-four-wheels-powered-by/",
            "about": {
                "@type": "Thing",
                "name": "America"
            },
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brock-yates/the-harsh-reality-is-that-america-moves-on-four-wheels-powered-by/#quotation",
            "image": {
                "@type": "ImageObject",
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/baa/brock-yates-20099_america_the-harsh-reality-is-that-america-moves_2050012.png",
                "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/baa/brock-yates-20099_america_the-harsh-reality-is-that-america-moves_2050012.png",
                "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/baa/brock-yates-20099_america_the-harsh-reality-is-that-america-moves_2050012.png",
                "width": 1080,
                "height": 1080,
                "caption": "“The harsh reality is that America moves on four wheels, powered by conventional internal-combustion engines…” — Brock Yates",
                "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
                "creator": {
                    "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
                }
            }
        },
        {
            "@type": "BreadcrumbList",
            "itemListElement": [
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 1,
                    "name": "Home",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 2,
                    "name": "Quotes",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 3,
                    "name": "Brock Yates",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brock-yates/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 4,
                    "name": "The harsh reality is that America...",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brock-yates/the-harsh-reality-is-that-america-moves-on-four-wheels-powered-by/"
                }
            ],
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brock-yates/the-harsh-reality-is-that-america-moves-on-four-wheels-powered-by/#breadcrumb"
        },
        {
            "@type": "WebSite",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website",
            "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/",
            "publisher": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
            }
        },
        {
            "@type": "Organization",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization",
            "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/",
            "logo": {
                "@type": "ImageObject",
                "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png",
                "width": 512,
                "height": 512
            }
        }
    ]
}
```
