What's gone wrong? Gasoline prices are the obvious answer. It takes a lot of money to fill the tank of a Ford Expedition, especially if it's the way you make your daily commute. But pump prices aren't the only reason. I'd venture to say that utes are just getting a little passe. After all, they're everywhere you look these days, and while diehards are going to write me nasty letters for saying this, they all tend to look too much alike. The exception are the new crossovers, especially those not nervous about looking unique. Think Nissan Murano or Infinti FX. Okay, the distinctive Cadillac SRX is a dud, but that's because GM got greedy -- wow, there's a surprise -- and scuttled the launch by overpricing the vehicle, loading it up with options and under-building the V6 model. But the bottom line is that crossovers and sport wagons are the only reason why overall SUV sales haven't come crashing down to earth.
That's bad news for Detroit, of course. The Big Three were slow to catch on to crossovers. I recall a rather loud disagreement I had with Bob Lutz during his pre-1998 Chrysler days. A crossover skeptic then, he's admittedly become a convert, but it takes time to turn things around in this business, and Detroit has simply too much capacity for traditional, truck-based SUVs and not nearly enough for car-based crossovers.
Incidentally, don't be surprised to see even some of the most popular SUV nameplates go through radical changes in the years to come. There's been an ongoing debate inside Ford as to what Explorer should be. Might the number two maker switch from a body-on-frame SUV to a car-based version for the industry's best-selling ute? Stay tuned.
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