SUV lovers strike back

[Klaus]

SUV lovers strike back
Entrenched drivers praise versatility, dismiss critics
Terry Box - Dallas Morning News
Friday, March 28, 2003


Every weekday afternoon, Molly Ellis stirs controversy with the turn of a key.

She climbs into her 2003 Ford Expedition sport-utility vehicle, fires up the eight-cylinder engine and heads off into traffic --- in the process, fouling the environment, risking a rollover, scaring drivers of smaller cars and maybe even supporting terrorism, say a growing number of SUV critics.

Phooey, says Ellis, who on a recent weekday was bound for schools in Garland, Texas, to pick up her 4-year-old son and 10- and 15-year-old stepsons. Often, she says, she waits in a line of other big, mom-driven SUVs, ready to transport children in one of the auto industry's most vilified vehicles. She doesn't dwell much on that irony.

''I hate all this stuff about SUVs,'' said Ellis, 31, who owned two Explorers and another Expedition before her current truck. ''But it hasn't changed anything. I feel safer in one, and I feel much more comfortable about my children being in one. I could never go back to a car.''

Those might seem strong words for what is essentially an overweight station wagon on steroids. But they underscore a hard truth confronting the ever-louder chorus of SUV critics: This is a vehicle that is firmly entrenched in American life and could be for decades to come.

Although sales of big SUVs dropped 26.4 percent in January, many in the industry expect the trucks to quickly regain their momentum. SUV sales last year were up about 7.5 percent in a down market, and the January decline probably can be attributed more to changes in incentives and inventory than to any budding opposition, industry officials say.

SUVs of all sizes account for about 23 million of the estimated 200 million cars and light trucks on the road today, according to the Sport Utility Vehicle Owners of America. They also represent about 25 percent of new-vehicle sales. Demand is so high that more than 70 SUV models are available.

Opponents have lashed out in a number of ways in recent weeks --- with ads assailing the vehicles' gas mileage and safety and with vandalism of SUVs in parking lots. Some Christian organizations played a theological card, asserting that Jesus would never drive one.

The public relations part of the campaign has drawn cheers from environmentalists and scorn from SUV defenders.

''Day after day, anti-SUV activists and others are stepping up their assault on SUV owners, outrageously suggesting that we are fellow travelers of terrorism, heartless highway marauders and selfish environmental criminals,'' Bill Brouse, founder of the Sport-Utility Vehicle Owners Association, said in a news release.

SUV opponents, however, think the January sales decline might well be related to the controversy, though they acknowledge that real changes in attitude will take time.

''I'd be surprised if it's having that much impact already,'' said Jim Marston, regional director of the Texas office of Environmental Defense in Austin. ''People have assumed for a long time that these are clean vehicles and safe vehicles.

''But over the long term, the [anti-SUV] campaigns are aimed at getting SUV buyers to demand that Detroit and Tokyo build cleaner and safer vehicles.''

Texans still onboard

Washington is poised to weigh in. SUVs are prone to rolling over in accidents because of their height and high center of gravity.

The federal government says occupants are three times more likely to die during a rollover in an SUV than in a car --- though according to other government statistics, the fatality rates are the same, about 24 percent, when seat belts are worn.

The controversy isn't having much effect on attitudes in the Dallas area --- and that is probably significant because automakers closely watch sales in Texas, the nation's truck capital. Even SUVs' gas mileage, typically in the teens, has yet to hurt their appeal.

''Once you get used to one --- the towing ability, the space to carry stuff, sitting up high so you can see in traffic --- you can never go back. Never,'' said Scott Durham, 41, vice president for sales and marketing at Datamatic of Plano, Texas. He drives a four-wheel-drive 2002 Suburban.

''I had to laugh about all of this,'' said Stacy Esley-Black, 37, a seventh-grade math teacher who drives a 2002 Chevrolet TrailBlazer. ''For me, the No. 1 reason to drive one is children. I think we're safer in one, and when you open the back door, the car seat is easy to reach.''

A national New Vehicle-Buyer Attitude Study on SUVs found that more than half the respondents felt that the negative press about SUVs was ''hype,'' and 70 percent said opponents have ignored the vehicle's positive aspects, according to the study by Kelley Blue Book.

''We have not seen an effect on SUV values or sales due to recent news. Any effect thus far can be attributed to uncertainty in the economy,'' said Charlie Vogelheim, executive editor at Kelley Blue Book. ''We do expect to see a drop among larger SUVs but attribute the decline to market saturation as well as the growth and popularity of crossover vehicles, not necessarily criticism or hype.''

The manufacturers have thousands of good reasons to be anxious about a controversy in which critics have labeled SUVs ''metal monstrosities,'' likened their campaign to the crusade against drunken driving and adopted the slogan, ''Tell Detroit their gas guzzlers help terrorists buy guns.''

With estimated profits of $10,000 to $15,000 each, big SUVs are one of the automakers' richest sources of revenue.

Even as some environmentalists and safety advocates press their campaigns against the big SUVs, a class of smaller, car-based SUVs is growing rapidly, selling the way the big trucks did a decade ago.

These crossover SUVs --- such as the Ford Escape, Toyota RAV4 and Honda Pilot --- have seen sales increase from fewer than 60,000 in 1996 to 1.2 million last year. They accounted for more than a fourth of the 4.3 million SUVs sold last year.

In short, even if opponents eventually succeed in slowing the sales of big SUVs, industry officials say, the rapidly expanding crossover segment practically guarantees an SUV presence on American roads for years --- perhaps decades --- to come.

''This is not the first time that there has been controversy about SUVs,'' said George Pipas, sales analysis manager at Ford Motor Co. in Dearborn, Mich. ''Our view is the SUV segment will continue to outperform all other segments for at least the remainder of this decade.''

When Jeep and Ford first bolted boxy bodies onto pickup chassis more than a decade ago --- creating the first mainstream SUVs --- they were mostly a new truck trend, a 2-ton fashion statement.

But in the intervening years, owners have found an array of uses for them, giving the trucks true utility.

''Name me any other vehicle that started off as a fad and became a mainstream product --- a big mainstream product,'' noted Jerry Reynolds, host of a weekly car-talk radio show and managing partner of Prestige Ford in Garland, Texas.

High-riding praised

SUVs haul kids to school on weekdays and boats to area lakes on the weekend. They can lug power tools and swimming pool chemicals and firewood. Many moms like the trucks' size, preferring to encase their children in trucks that weigh at least 1,000 pounds more than minivans.

No matter what reasons they cited for driving SUVs, every owner interviewed praised the high-riding stance, which they say enables them to more easily negotiate traffic.

Realtor Laura Stengle of Plano also came to appreciate the spacious interior of her first SUV, a 1995 Chevrolet Tahoe, and the ease in seeing over traffic.

''Now when I ride in a car with my husband, it bothers me,'' said Stengle, 44, who now drives a 1999 GMC Yukon.

''I don't feel safe in cars anymore.''

[Klaus]

SUV lovers strike back
Entrenched drivers praise versatility, dismiss critics
Terry Box - Dallas Morning News
Friday, March 28, 2003


Every weekday afternoon, Molly Ellis stirs controversy with the turn of a key.

She climbs into her 2003 Ford Expedition sport-utility vehicle, fires up the eight-cylinder engine and heads off into traffic --- in the process, fouling the environment, risking a rollover, scaring drivers of smaller cars and maybe even supporting terrorism, say a growing number of SUV critics.

Phooey, says Ellis, who on a recent weekday was bound for schools in Garland, Texas, to pick up her 4-year-old son and 10- and 15-year-old stepsons. Often, she says, she waits in a line of other big, mom-driven SUVs, ready to transport children in one of the auto industry's most vilified vehicles. She doesn't dwell much on that irony.

''I hate all this stuff about SUVs,'' said Ellis, 31, who owned two Explorers and another Expedition before her current truck. ''But it hasn't changed anything. I feel safer in one, and I feel much more comfortable about my children being in one. I could never go back to a car.''

Those might seem strong words for what is essentially an overweight station wagon on steroids. But they underscore a hard truth confronting the ever-louder chorus of SUV critics: This is a vehicle that is firmly entrenched in American life and could be for decades to come.

Although sales of big SUVs dropped 26.4 percent in January, many in the industry expect the trucks to quickly regain their momentum. SUV sales last year were up about 7.5 percent in a down market, and the January decline probably can be attributed more to changes in incentives and inventory than to any budding opposition, industry officials say.

SUVs of all sizes account for about 23 million of the estimated 200 million cars and light trucks on the road today, according to the Sport Utility Vehicle Owners of America. They also represent about 25 percent of new-vehicle sales. Demand is so high that more than 70 SUV models are available.

Opponents have lashed out in a number of ways in recent weeks --- with ads assailing the vehicles' gas mileage and safety and with vandalism of SUVs in parking lots. Some Christian organizations played a theological card, asserting that Jesus would never drive one.

The public relations part of the campaign has drawn cheers from environmentalists and scorn from SUV defenders.

''Day after day, anti-SUV activists and others are stepping up their assault on SUV owners, outrageously suggesting that we are fellow travelers of terrorism, heartless highway marauders and selfish environmental criminals,'' Bill Brouse, founder of the Sport-Utility Vehicle Owners Association, said in a news release.

SUV opponents, however, think the January sales decline might well be related to the controversy, though they acknowledge that real changes in attitude will take time.

''I'd be surprised if it's having that much impact already,'' said Jim Marston, regional director of the Texas office of Environmental Defense in Austin. ''People have assumed for a long time that these are clean vehicles and safe vehicles.

''But over the long term, the [anti-SUV] campaigns are aimed at getting SUV buyers to demand that Detroit and Tokyo build cleaner and safer vehicles.''

Texans still onboard

Washington is poised to weigh in. SUVs are prone to rolling over in accidents because of their height and high center of gravity.

The federal government says occupants are three times more likely to die during a rollover in an SUV than in a car --- though according to other government statistics, the fatality rates are the same, about 24 percent, when seat belts are worn.

The controversy isn't having much effect on attitudes in the Dallas area --- and that is probably significant because automakers closely watch sales in Texas, the nation's truck capital. Even SUVs' gas mileage, typically in the teens, has yet to hurt their appeal.

''Once you get used to one --- the towing ability, the space to carry stuff, sitting up high so you can see in traffic --- you can never go back. Never,'' said Scott Durham, 41, vice president for sales and marketing at Datamatic of Plano, Texas. He drives a four-wheel-drive 2002 Suburban.

''I had to laugh about all of this,'' said Stacy Esley-Black, 37, a seventh-grade math teacher who drives a 2002 Chevrolet TrailBlazer. ''For me, the No. 1 reason to drive one is children. I think we're safer in one, and when you open the back door, the car seat is easy to reach.''

A national New Vehicle-Buyer Attitude Study on SUVs found that more than half the respondents felt that the negative press about SUVs was ''hype,'' and 70 percent said opponents have ignored the vehicle's positive aspects, according to the study by Kelley Blue Book.

''We have not seen an effect on SUV values or sales due to recent news. Any effect thus far can be attributed to uncertainty in the economy,'' said Charlie Vogelheim, executive editor at Kelley Blue Book. ''We do expect to see a drop among larger SUVs but attribute the decline to market saturation as well as the growth and popularity of crossover vehicles, not necessarily criticism or hype.''

The manufacturers have thousands of good reasons to be anxious about a controversy in which critics have labeled SUVs ''metal monstrosities,'' likened their campaign to the crusade against drunken driving and adopted the slogan, ''Tell Detroit their gas guzzlers help terrorists buy guns.''

With estimated profits of $10,000 to $15,000 each, big SUVs are one of the automakers' richest sources of revenue.

Even as some environmentalists and safety advocates press their campaigns against the big SUVs, a class of smaller, car-based SUVs is growing rapidly, selling the way the big trucks did a decade ago.

These crossover SUVs --- such as the Ford Escape, Toyota RAV4 and Honda Pilot --- have seen sales increase from fewer than 60,000 in 1996 to 1.2 million last year. They accounted for more than a fourth of the 4.3 million SUVs sold last year.

In short, even if opponents eventually succeed in slowing the sales of big SUVs, industry officials say, the rapidly expanding crossover segment practically guarantees an SUV presence on American roads for years --- perhaps decades --- to come.

''This is not the first time that there has been controversy about SUVs,'' said George Pipas, sales analysis manager at Ford Motor Co. in Dearborn, Mich. ''Our view is the SUV segment will continue to outperform all other segments for at least the remainder of this decade.''

When Jeep and Ford first bolted boxy bodies onto pickup chassis more than a decade ago --- creating the first mainstream SUVs --- they were mostly a new truck trend, a 2-ton fashion statement.

But in the intervening years, owners have found an array of uses for them, giving the trucks true utility.

''Name me any other vehicle that started off as a fad and became a mainstream product --- a big mainstream product,'' noted Jerry Reynolds, host of a weekly car-talk radio show and managing partner of Prestige Ford in Garland, Texas.

High-riding praised

SUVs haul kids to school on weekdays and boats to area lakes on the weekend. They can lug power tools and swimming pool chemicals and firewood. Many moms like the trucks' size, preferring to encase their children in trucks that weigh at least 1,000 pounds more than minivans.

No matter what reasons they cited for driving SUVs, every owner interviewed praised the high-riding stance, which they say enables them to more easily negotiate traffic.

Realtor Laura Stengle of Plano also came to appreciate the spacious interior of her first SUV, a 1995 Chevrolet Tahoe, and the ease in seeing over traffic.

''Now when I ride in a car with my husband, it bothers me,'' said Stengle, 44, who now drives a 1999 GMC Yukon.

''I don't feel safe in cars anymore.''