GAS PRICES TAKE TOLL: Sales of sport-utilities hit bump Fuel-efficient cars returning to favor Russell Grantham - Staff Wednesday, May 23, 2001

After a month of Atlanta's endless commutes and high gasoline prices, Joe Scott is no longer basking in the new-car smell of his lustrous Toyota 4Runner.

"I wish I could give this thing back," said Scott as he recently swapped a new Georgia tag for the dealer tag on the SUV. Scott said he hadn't realized how much gasoline he'd burn when he became a Fulton County parole officer after moving from Cleveland, where he bought the sport-utility vehicle last month.

"In Atlanta, everything is so far apart, you need an economy vehicle," he said.

With the pointed reminder of record high gasoline prices, lots more vehicle buyers apparently feel the same way. They're strolling past the rows of SUVs at dealerships and buying more fuel-efficient cars or the so-called crossover utility vehicles that have suddenly become popular.

Nationwide, gasoline prices, a weakened economy and growing crossover vehicle sales have taken a double-digit bite out of SUV sales so far this year, said Paul Taylor, chief economist for the National Automobile Dealers Association. Overall SUV sales are down 11 percent through April compared with the same period last year. Sales of luxury SUVs are down 31 percent.

While total light-vehicle sales have dropped more than 6 percent, Taylor noted that sales of small cars have dropped less than 2 percent.

Meanwhile, sales of crossover utility vehicles, which are built on car platforms rather than truck frames, have soared almost 76 percent this year, he said. Vehicles such as the new Ford Escape, Chrysler PT Cruiser and Acura MDX have become "wildly popular" he said, partly because they're lighter vehicles that get better gas mileage and handle more like cars than SUVs.

For instance, the Ford Escape, rated at up to 28 miles per gallon on the highway, gets more than 25 percent higher gas mileage than the Ford Explorer, the top-selling SUV.

"My sense is you won't see a return to truck-framed larger SUVs," predicted Taylor.

People seem to be retooling their vehicle buying plans, he said, much as they did for two years after gasoline prices jumped in 1996. SUVs' rampant sales growth, which had topped 22 percent in 1996, slowed to 8 percent by 1998.

"We think the same adjustment process is going on now," said Taylor.

Still, a collapse in gasoline prices in 1998 quickly revived Americans' love affair with SUVs the following year.

Some local dealers say SUVs are more popular than ever with Atlanta drivers. DeLance Knight, with Carl Black Buick Pontiac GMC Truck, said the Kennesaw dealership's SUV sales are up more than 12 percent since January.

Knight said buyers apparently aren't worried about gasoline prices. "We don't bring it up as an issue, and neither do they," he said.

Regular unleaded has hovered for a month at about $1.47 a gallon in metro Atlanta, up 13 percent since March, according to the American Automobile Association.

But John Maples, who forecasts fuel demand for the Department of Energy's Energy Information Administration, thinks people are starting to factor higher gas prices into their decisions. After the past two summers' high gas prices, they may perceive a new pattern emerging, he said.

"Last year I think a lot of people thought (high gas prices were) an anomaly," he said. "Now there's a concern."

Personal Note: Who hasn't heard the rumor of $3.00 gas? I think that rumor goes a long way. Its not totally unbelievable either. After all we have blackouts in CA which was totally unthinkable not too long ago.

-- Guy Daley (guydaley1@netzero.net), May 23, 2001

Answers

Here we go again....just like in the 1970's....then, too, we had the big run on small, gas efficient cars.

-- R2D2 (r2d2A2@earthend.net), May 23, 2001.

Big sigh!!! I had a Honda Civic that got 52mph on the freeway. Guess I will keep my 1989 Taurus for awhile longer. Its only got 57K on it.

-- Taz (Tassie123@aol.com), May 23, 2001.