Sales of Large SUVs...REBOUNDING?!?! [View All]

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2007/05/20/MNG2NPU9FD1.DTL

High gas cost won't drive away buyers of big SUVs
After 2-year slump, demand rebounds
Michael Taylor, Chronicle Staff Writer
Sunday, May 20, 2007

In these days of nearly $4-a-gallon gasoline, a three-ton SUV that practically requires a bank loan to fill 'er up would seem to be a tough sell.
Americans, however, are not shunning these beasts. Far from it. Auto industry figures show that after a two-year slump, sales of the gas guzzlers are up over 2006 -- in some cases, way up.
The numbers for large SUVs rose nearly 6 percent in the first quarter of 2007, and the April figures were up 25 percent from April 2006, according to automakers' statistics provided by Edmunds.com, an automotive research Web site.
The bigger the guzzler, the better the numbers. Sales of GMC's Yukon XL were up a whopping 72 percent last month, and the totals for its Chevrolet sister, the Suburban, rose 38 percent. Topping off the tank on either one can cost as much as $120.
The turnaround comes after a 24 percent drop in SUV sales from the first quarter of 2004 to the same period of 2006. One explanation for the renewed interest is that U.S. automakers are selling a more modern fleet of SUVs, some of which consume moderately less gas than their predecessors.



I don't get it for the life of me. I am a family guy with two kids. We've had a station wagon and a small van since we had them, but I have NEVER understood what the appeal of Stupid Ugly Vehicles was.

Now a van or minivan, I can understand. They are easier to drive, less wieldy, have more space, headroom enough so that kids can walk around in them, and minivans get better mileage. But even the minivans have gotten huge lately.

And now, according to the article, most of the minivan lines are being phased out in favor of new car-based SUVs.

Can someone explain to me the appeal? Is it just about being up higher than everyone else? Is it like an arms race, since everyone else in in the SUVS, if you drive a normal car, you can't see anything, so you have to get a tall vehicle too?