They're Baaaaaaaaaaaack!
As gas is down, the behemoths roar back.
Bertel Schmitt comes back to journalism after taking a 35 year break in advertising and marketing. He ran and owned advertising agencies in Duesseldorf, Germany, and New York City. Volkswagen A.G. was Bertel's most important corporate account. Schmitt's advertising and marketing career touched many corners of the industry with a special focus on automotive products and services. Since 2004, he lives in Japan and China with his wife <a href="http://www.tomokoandbertel.com"> Tomoko </a>. Bertel Schmitt is a founding board member of the <a href="http://www.offshoresuperseries.com"> Offshore Super Series </a>, an American offshore powerboat racing organization. He is co-owner of the racing team Typhoon.
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@n4571c : Never got rid of my Yukon Denali, Yukon XL or Escalade! Get POed at the Prius and other under powered little crappos that can’t go up a hill, I drive a Jetta 1.8T that goes up hill just fine, and can corner/handle. Oh, two drivers, four dogs. - is this really justification for three massive SUVs? As my sister quips regarding Suvs and the Brady Bunch - Carol Brady did it with one husband, six kids, a maid, and a dog all in one station wagon. People should be free to choose their vehicle (both SUV and compact) provided they are safe (the head of the Dept. of Transportation once said he would not put his daughters in an SUV if it were the last vehicle on earth due to roll over issues), and fuel efficient (and yes, this can include large vehicles). We have finite resources and with the growing Chinese and Indian markets we need to make certain we have the foresight to make vehicles that meet our needs and minimise their impact on the environment (this will most likely have to come about through a mixture of governmental and market forces). @ SD 328I : November 27th, 2008 at 4:43 pm This just demonstrates that people like larger vehicles. - Some people, not all The majority of them were already regretting their decision before gas prices dropped, and are really regretting it now. - The majority? Where are the studies on this published? Is this merely anecdotal? I personally own a Honda Civic EX and Ford Expedition. Nothing is more user friendly than a SUV. It has no compromises, and it very nice to drive. The only negatives are high gas prices. Nothing is more user friendly? Wow, there are plenty of vehicles out there other than SUVs that are incredibly user friendly (both in handling, gas mileage, storage, an reliability). As for SUV negatives - poor handling, poor line of sight, prone to roll overs, poor fuel efficiency, et cetera. As long as there are people with differing opinions, there will be different cars/vehicles on the road. The trick is for people to co-exist, and manufacturers to think long term and make efficient, safe, sustainable vehicles (and making them fun would not hurt either).
Whatever happened to letting sleeping dogs lie? Some people like SUVs, there is no need to chastize them for it and try to prove them wrong. I like cognac, but I know at least five people who will argue with me all day about why cognac is terrible, overpriced, and a ridiculous product that gets undeserved praise. Let it go. It's a free market and a free country. Otherwise you get dangerously close to the greenhead attitude of "my (green) way or you can die in a cloud of carbon emissions".
Finite resources!? What kind of argument is this? What resource do we have that is NOT finite? There is a straight line from these arguments right to controlling the way others live because you think their choices are foolish. Well, sorry, but your line of thinking leads us all straight to misery. Once again, the reasons for SUV hate are legion, and almost all of them are lame, and mostly hypocritical. If you are a multi-millionaire minimalist, then perhaps you have grounds to stand on, but then the very same SUV haters have lots of things to hate about you as well. We have had SUV's almost as long as we have had cars. CAFE is one of the prime reasons for the growth of SUV's. One of the others is hate for large luxury cars which we had thirty years ago when the cadillac driver was a fat cat, but the guy in the suburban was given a pass because it was believed he needed the truck or he would not have bought it. Go ahead and bitch, next round will only get worse. Furthermore, how many tries at being smarter than the market do you want to have before you gas savers give up and go for the gas tax (you know, the one thing we know WILL work)?