R.I.P. to the S.U.V.

[Purveyor]

The announcement that General Motors would shutter much of its production of pickups and sport utility vehicles is a step in the right direction.

It’s hard to convince most Americans that there is a silver lining to $4-a-gallon gasoline. But General Motors provided a nugget of good news when it announced that it would shutter much of its production of pickups and sport utility vehicles -- and might even get rid of the Hummer, the relative of the Abrams tank unleashed on the streets in the cheap-gas days of the 1990s.

It’s hardly the solution to global warming, or the country’s dependence on imported oil, but it’s a start.

Playing the urban warrior in a Hummer was a fairly inexpensive thrill when a gallon of gas cost just over $1. But at $4 a gallon, driving a full-powered Hummer H3 or a big Ford F-150 would cost a typical driver, who drives 15,000 miles a year, almost $4,300 in gas. This is more than 10 percent of the median earnings of full-time workers and about $2,200 more than it would cost to drive the same distance in a Honda Civic.

By May, there were signs that the S.U.V.-era was over. For the first time, Detroit’s Big Three automakers and their trucks were outsold in the United States by fuel-efficient cars made by Asian companies. And monthly sales of Ford’s muscular F-series pickups fell by a third, bumping it five spots from its previous perch as America’s best-selling vehicle, behind the Honda Civic, the Toyota Corolla, the Toyota Camry and the Honda Accord. It was the first time since December 1992 that a car, not a truck, claimed the top spot in monthly sales.

---EOE---

http://www.spiegel.de:80/international/0,1518,560113,00.html

[Warpy]

1. I live for the day when the only monster pickups I see on the road

are splattered with mud and have pens of livestock or bales of hay in the back or are dragging horse trailers. Oh, I see those now, but they're outnumbered by the urban cowboys who need penis extenders to get them to and from their desk jobs.

In other words, this was a group of silly fads I'll be glad to say goodbye to, at least until another cheap fuel source is found.

Sadly, they're taking others with them; I haven't seen very many RVs on the road for about a year now. I suppose all those RVs will be parked now and rented out to marginal workers.

[madrchsod]

5. like my next door neighbor

he has a F-150 extended cab and i have`t seen him haul anything in it.

[Parche]

2. More Like GOOD RIDDANCE

:woohoo: :woohoo:

I despise SUV's

[madrchsod]

3. it`s really hard to haul stuff in a honda

and a ford F 150 is not an suv

[awoke_in_2003]

9. Yep. I got my F-150 when gas was cheap

If you do your own home repairs, it is hard to get around owning one. Last August I had to bring down a 60 ft tall ash, and had to haul off about 4000 lbs of wood. Truck came in real handy then. But most of my driving is on my motorcycle, which get 42 MPG if I am hot dogging it, about 50 if I am rolling easy. Thank god you can ride year round down here.

[eleny]

4. I still miss the old family station wagon

But I'm a dinosaur. I never did get the whole van thing. Weren't vans built on truck chassis to begin with and therefore not subject to such stringent safety standards as cars and wagons? I recall a coworker saying he'd never get one because of that.

[madrchsod]

6. a 1993 buick roadmaster station wagon

with the corvette engine gets 25 mpg at highway speed and can carry a 4x8 sheet of plywood with the tailgate closed. i miss station wagon too

[eleny]

7. I didn't know they got such good mpg

:D A plus!

[physioex]

8. Yes.....

But they were butt ugly like all Buicks.... :)