Will the CUV Change the Way We Drive?
TheSUV is dead. Long live the SUV. Sales of traditional, truck-based sportutility vehicles have declined by double digits - 13.5
percent overall,dropping by 400,000 units for 2005. The numbers are worse for largeSUVs as sales of Ford Expeditions, Chevy Tahoes and Suburbans, GMCYukons, Toyota Sequoias, Nissan Armadas and Dodge Durangos have plungedan average of 18 percent, dropping from 1 million units in 2004 toabout 800,000 today.
Although some automotive journalists andindustry analysts are writing epitaphs for the sport utility vehiclebased on the declining sales of vehicles such as the Ford Explorer,Ford Motor Co.'s U.S. sales analyst provided a different view when hespoke to the Automotive
Press Association at the Detroit Athletic Clubon Dec. 8.
Although sales of truck-based SUVs are down fromtheir peak of nearly 3 million units in 2000, "the total SUV marketkeeps growing," said Ford's George Pipas.
The growth of SUVsales is coming from so-called "crossovers" or CUVs, which arecar-based vehicles. In fact, Pipas predicted that crossover sales wouldsurpass SUV sales in 2006, nearly three or four years earlier thanprevious projections.
Currently, about 2.45 milliontraditional SUVs have been sold through 2005 versus sales of 2.24million CUVs, and the sales figures for those segments will flip nextyear, Pipas forecasted.
TheSUV is dead. Long live the SUV. Sales of traditional, truck-based sportutility vehicles have declined by double digits - 13.5
 |
| Sales of traditional, truck-based sport utility vehicles have declined by double digits - 13.5 percent overall, dropping by 400,000 units for 2005. (Photo: Trevor Hofmann, Canadian Auto Press) |
Although some automotive journalists andindustry analysts are writing epitaphs for the sport utility vehiclebased on the declining sales of vehicles such as the Ford Explorer,Ford Motor Co.'s U.S. sales analyst provided a different view when hespoke to the Automotive
 |
| Although sales of truck-based SUVs are down from their peak of nearly 3 million units in 2000, "the total SUV market keeps growing," said Ford's George Pipas. (Photo: Joseph Cabadas, Canadian Auto Press) |
Although sales of truck-based SUVs are down fromtheir peak of nearly 3 million units in 2000, "the total SUV marketkeeps growing," said Ford's George Pipas.
The growth of SUVsales is coming from so-called "crossovers" or CUVs, which arecar-based vehicles. In fact, Pipas predicted that crossover sales wouldsurpass SUV sales in 2006, nearly three or four years earlier thanprevious projections.
Currently, about 2.45 milliontraditional SUVs have been sold through 2005 versus sales of 2.24million CUVs, and the sales figures for those segments will flip nextyear, Pipas forecasted.