Thu, May 15, 2008 (2:05 a.m.)

Before the price of gasoline and the advent of global warming were issues for the car-buying public, automakers reveled in profits from sales of pickups, SUVs and full-sized sedans.

As long as those polluting gas hogs were hot sellers, dealerships were full of them and the options for buying smaller, truly fuel-efficient vehicles were limited.

Car manufacturers made the case that technology had not progressed to the point where even moderately more efficient vehicles could be produced at mass-market prices. Such contentions were made as part of lobbying offensives in Washington, to head off government mandates for greater fuel economy.

But it turns out the marketplace is an equal-opportunity provider, after all.

Now that demand for high-mileage vehicles has picked up, mostly because gas prices keep rising alarmingly but also out of concern for the environment, car manufacturers are responding.

Nissan Motor Co., for example, announced Tuesday that it will be selling all-electric cars in the United States by 2010. The announcement was made by Nisssan’s chief executive, Carlos Ghosn, who told The New York Times that the competitively priced car will represent “a new chapter in the life of this industry.”

Other car manufacturers are also responding to the sudden turnaround in demand. Most offer several smaller-car choices and several hybrid models. Toyota and General Motors are close to introducing “plug-in” hybrids, which will run mostly on electricity.

The lesson here is that consumers have the power to create a cleaner world — if they demand it, the marketplace will respond.