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SUV Drivers Burned Twice: At the Pump, on the Car Lot
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The magic started fading well before prices at the pump pierced the $4 barrier. Sales of new full-size SUVs peaked in 2004, said Bruce Giffin of R.L. Polk, which compiles sales and registration data for automakers. That year, about 1 million were sold. Last year, 741,871 full-size SUVs were sold, according to Edmunds.com, a publisher of online auto information based in Santa Monica, Calif. But that was before the latest spike in fuel prices.
Drivers have since moved on to smaller SUVs and crossover vehicles, which have many of the same features but are less susceptible to tipping over and are more fuel-efficient.
In the first three months of this year, about 900,000 SUVs were for sale at online auto market AutoTrader.com, an increase of 19 percent over the same period last year.
Yesterday, the big automakers were announcing dismal June sales -- GM was down 18.5 percent -- and blaming its troubles on poor sales of heavy and fuel-gulping vehicles. Analysts and car dealers alike accept that as the new reality, even though there are drivers out there who still long for an SUV.
"This is a long-term systemic change," Giffin said. "Four-dollar-a-gallon gas is here to stay."
Blair Wheeler of Damascus still carries a torch for SUVs, even though gas prices have forced him to put his 1996 Suburban on the market. He said it won't be the last one he owns. "If gas prices do eventually come down," he said, "I would love to go back. The space, the versatility . . ."
Meanwhile, vehicle prices are still dropping. May saw the steepest drop yet in the price of full-size SUVs, which are now down 24 percent compared with last year, said Tom Webb, chief economist for Manheim Consulting, which tracks the used-vehicle market. Prices continued to decline in June.
Some dealerships have stopped accepting SUVs as trade-ins, even as the hybrid Toyota Prius grows scarce and dealers troll the streets for them. "If I see them at a gas station or see them at a red light, I say I would like to buy their car," said Vince Leonard, a used-car manager with Antwerpen Toyota in Clarksville.
SUV owners reveal their own desperation as they try to create ads that will sell.
There's the Crazy Eddie route: "THIS 'MONSTER SUV' CAN TAKE ANY HUMMER H1 FOR BREAKFAST."
The less-is-more approach: "135 K miles. Runs great. One owner."
Or the heartfelt plea: "I just don't want to pay the gas anymore."
