OTTUMWA — It’s no secret that gas prices have clobbered what were the highest-performing areas for vehicle sales just a few years ago.

General Motors is reportedly considering an end to its Hummer line. The behemoths were a popular status symbol for most of the past decade, but their ability to guzzle gas has made them a target as prices for unleaded gasoline approach $4 per gallon. Sales of trucks and SUVs are taking a beating as well.

Consumers are looking for smaller, more fuel efficient cars. The Smart Car, which looks like the offspring of a VW Beetle and a golf cart, is the new trend. But they’re hard to come by.

So some southeast Iowa consumers are turning to fewer wheels to make their rounds. Motorcycle and scooter sales are up.

At Lentner Cycle in Ottumwa, the Harley Davidson Sportster is doing well. A spokeswoman said the dealer has a near-sellout of the model.

Terry Hurley of RJ Performance sees a similar trend with business. Motorcycle sales are up a bit, but smaller scooters are doing even better.

Gas mileage is the big reason. Cars do well if they approach 30 mpg on the highways. Motorcycles crush that in city driving, and many approach 50-60 mpg on the highways.

Scooters make motorcycles look like gluttons. You wouldn’t want to take one out on Interstate 80, but Hurley calls them the “perfect little thing” for around town. Some get as much as 120 mpg, but even the less efficient models see mileage around 85-90 mpg.

That works out to about 4 cents per mile.

The evidence suggests the increase in consumer interest in motorcycles and scooters isn’t limited to just the U.S. Higher gas prices are cited as reasons for rising purchases in Taiwan, Austrailia, New Zealand and Canada. India, one of the countries whose overall gas consumption is rising, is an exception. Reports show sales there are in a slump.

There is a price for some who choose a motorcycle. The Iowa Department of Transportation says injuries and fatalities are rising with the number of motorcycle drivers. But those numbers aren’t keeping people from making the switch from a car.

PB Choppers in Moravia is seeing record business right now, but Jim Wubben is reluctant to tie that too closely to gas prices. He thinks there are a lot of factors that have pushed people who might have been on the fence onto a motorcycle.

“There’s a lot of people driving them these days,” he said. “Our business is better than it’s ever been.”

Gas mileage is probably one of the pieces of the puzzle, Wubben said. But people are also looking at doing more with the cycles they already owned. Customization has become more popular, helped in part by the emergence of several popular programs on cable television.

But bikes have their limit in Iowa. It is possible to ride a motorcycle year-round if the weather is mild. But a hard winter like last year pushes most people right back into their cars.