The rise and fall of the large SUV; small is the new black

Our Mini is small, black, uses premium, gets lousy gas mileage and is parked next to our 3G IV and we LOVE it!

 

Please don't take offense because the Mini appeared in the Prius forum. The Mini and the Prius have little in common other than they both have 4 wheels.

The Mini is a car that few would consider an economy car. The designers have followed somewhat the original Mini from 50 years ago, and stress handling performance. Owners tolerate a back seat that could be better describe as a shelf and reliability that is only average. If there was ever a niche car ...

Although they advertise a start at $20,000, it's not unheard of to see them top $40,000. Whatever the price, owners pay for the sheer joy of driving. When pushed hard fuel economy may drop into the 20's MPG, while 40 MPG or more can be seen on the highway.

Whatever you drive, be thankful that not everyone wants what you drive. Otherwise, we would probably see horrendous dealer markups.

 

I don't think that the large SUV is dead quite yet. I was listening to the latest Autoblog podcast as I mowed the lawn yesterday and one of the topics they mentioned was GM - the discussion started with their financial situation and moved into talking about the production of their SUV's - they stated that the new ones (the Traverse, etc - I know more crossovers but I would lump them in with suv's) were selling so well that the factory was maxed out and that the bigger ones (Suburban, etc) were selling pretty briskly as well.

My takeaway from this was just how short a memory span the American public has. I would have said GM as well, but I think that they have done a pretty commendable job the past few years introducing new fuel efficient products. At least this time around they are developing fuel efficient cars while selling the big stuff as well.

 

Auto Sales - Markets Data Center - WSJ.com

Some hard numbers for SUV sales this past year. This was posted on another thread but I thought it'd be appropriate here since this thread mentions the large SUVs. It appears that large and luxury SUV sales went up tremendously last year while smaller SUV sales were down. Interesting phenomenon, to say the least. Cash for Clunkers could be one factor. Note also that the best selling vehicle was the Ford F-series trucks.

No, Americans haven't fallen out of love with their land barges just yet. Definitely not around here in good ol' Texas. I'm constantly surrounded by shiny Tahoes, Yukons (XL) and their big fat cousins...

 

Hey Bob, you must have read post #12 . . . . . took the works out of my mouth.

 

Americans are still some of the most obese people on the planet. Battleship-size SUVs are the only cars which don't give people the "OMG that person is HUGE!" reaction. A good fraction would probably do serious damage to the suspension of a vehicle not rated to haul like 50,000lbs.

* I hope someone had a good laugh.