Looking Beyond the SUV

Looking Beyond the SUV
Car Makers Show New Models at Auto Show

Jan 9, 2006 — After a bleak 2005 for the American auto industry, the big three American car makers, GM, Ford and Chrysler, are showing off their wares at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit. Among the wares is a new kind of vehicle called the crossover, which is something in between a car and a sport utility vehicle.

Last year saw the decline of once-explosive SUV sales while foreign car makers continued to make record-breaking sales in the United States. Foreign rivals like Toyota, Honda and Hyundai are gaining in the American market. With declining sales and rising domestic gas prices just scraping the surface of the automotive industry's ills, U.S. car makers have finally declared that they must change.

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The Decline of the SUV

Sales of the SUV — once heralded as the savior of the American car industry — plummeted this past year to their lowest level since 1998. And most industry analysts said this could be the end for the SUV's popularity — marking a huge shift in auto trends.

At the auto show in Detroit, evidence of this shift can be found around every corner. The hybrid is now the focus of attention.

With sales of combination gas and electric cars expected to at least double in 2006, U.S. automakers have jumped on the bandwagon. Ford now offers a hybrid, and GM is unveiling two.

http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Autos/story?id=1484201

Automotive reporting is often awful, but jeepers--there have been "crossover vehicles" for about as long as Subaru's been making all wheel drive Legacy wagons and calling them "Outbacks."

Replaced by the gasoline engine when the Carburetor was invented (Vastly improving fuel economy). A secondary factor was the decline in the price of Gasoline.

In many ways the Model T was a SUV, it had large wheels for its size (and time) on a large frame (For its time). The Model T was a very boxy car design to operate on dirt roads at low speed (Sounds like a SUV to me). IT was replaced by the more car-like Model A (During its last years of production the Model T lost market share to the new more car like gasoline vehicles of General Motors of the 1920s).

In simple terms, nothing really new is happening, just a different set of marketing rules which then determines what is produced.

:eyes:

Just like they were before everyone decided that they needed to have off-road capabilities to get to the video store.

Well, I suppose I can thank NetFlix for the demise of SUVs.

I'm tired of being run off the road by driveres who have no idea just how frickin large their vehicle is and do not need anywhere near a vehicle of that size!

Granted some people need such a vehicle, but nowhere near the amount of idiots who own one.

I used to own a Jeep Wagoneer ('84 model, classified as a station wagon, essentially a Cherokee, not the bigger ones with the wooden side panels), and I lived in a region where roads were often snow covered. Guess who was tapped to haul our band equipment around too?

Anyway, one day, I was going to the animal shelter with a friend to help her pick out a cat, and I just missed the drive for the shelter, which was located above the road on a ridgetop. I saw what I thought at first was another drive and drove up it, afterwards realizing it was actually just a ditch. Didn't even put in 4-wheel drive. The poor thing literally fell apart on me though, as I was driving it in to trade it for a corolla, the rearview mirror fell off! Still was my favorite vehicle to drive, regardless of the various mechanical problems.

so that was a plenty big SUV.

In Europe, the Ford motor company sells much smaller, fuel-efficient cars.

Like the European Ford Fusion. The 1.6 liter diesel engine has excellent performance and gives an average 50 mpg (in US gallons) - or up to 60 mpg on the highway. Top speed 109 mph, and zero to 60 in under 13 seconds. Plus a climate-respectin' CO2 emission level of 119 grammes per kilometer.

Check it out on any of Ford's European websites like here:
http://www.ford.co.uk/ie/fusion

By the way ... I drive this car myself! :)

Pontiac Vibe/Toyota Matrix this car is very nice and it come in 2 wheel drive, sport, all wheel drive and 4x4 (Toyota Matrix). What a nice car. I got the Pontiac Vibe Sport loaded and it cost us $17,500.00. Also at 27 mpg in the city and 36 on the highway I'm very happy with the car.:)

Another difference:
Your Pontiac Vibe is 172 inches long.
My European Ford Fusion is 161 inches long.
When you are parking your car in a European city ... every inch counts! :)

I just love my Vibe. What a wonderful little SUV/Wagon.:woohoo:

Excursions and Hummers as they age and fall into the hands of under-insured, inexperienced and drunk drivers? Worn tires and faulty brakes and steering, combined with careless driving, will create highway dangers for years to come.

...and similarly wide roads. I admit the need (or application, at least) of SUVs and pick-up trucks; certain jobs make these necessary. I have a problem with the SUVs that get driven like sports cars, paticularly by single commuters. Let's restrict them to the two right lanes, along with tractor-trailers and other large vehicles, and fine misbavior.