--- Stephen West-Fisher <steve@coastaldatasystems.com> wrote:
> That really isn't correct. GMC has been building the Suburban since
> the '40s
> I think. Just like the craze where everyone thinks they want a
> truck, SUVs
> went from work vehicles to popularity, the only thing they added
> was the "Sport". They were previously known as Utility Vehicles.
The SUV basically replaced the full-size station wagon,
which because of fuel economy laws was pretty well
legislated out of existence (at least in a form that
most customers for such a car would want). Add to that
the abiding attraction Americans have for "working"vehicles such as
jeeps and pickup trucks, and the fact
that truck are less regulated than cars, and there was
a confluence of factors that made a pickup truck with
a welded-on canopy and filled with luxury accoutrements
a very attractive vehicle to many people. Now there are
a lot of SUVs that aren't pickup based, and many that are
really just testosterone-injected minivans. The SUV
craze will, I think, peter out with the advent of
fairly permanent $3/gallon gas, increasing government
regulation of "trucks" as other cars, and the appearance
on the US market of prestige station wagons like those
made by BMW and Mercedes. But California really had
nothing to do with it - it was the federal government
that created the SUV craze as one of the "unintended
consequences" that always come about when the government
butts into things that are none of its business.
ObDisclaimer: My daily driver is a Chevy Trailblazer.
I bought it because I need to tow a boat trailer, and
deal with notoriously fickle Puget Sound weather on
what was at the time a 150 mile a day commute. I
acutally preferred the smaller S10 small-pickup based
Blazer I had before it, but that was replaced in
Chevrolet's line with an aforementioned butch minivan.
David Breneman david_breneman@yahoo.com
____________________________________________________________________________________
Boardwalk for $500? In 2007? Ha! Play Monopoly Here and Now (it's updated for
today's economy) at Yahoo! Games.
http://get.games.yahoo.com/proddesc?gamekey=monopolyherenow
_______________________________________________
Edit your replies
Mgs@autox.team.net
http://autox.team.net/mailman/listinfo/mgs
|