The Sports Utility Vehicle Debate
The debate on the proliferation of sport utility vehicles in America continues unabated. Opponents complain about their low gas mileage and the manufacturers proclaim they are only building and selling what American consumers want. With a highway mileage average of 17 miles per gallon, that's far below passenger cars that get 25 plus miles per gallon. SUVs have not had to meet passenger car mileage requirements because they have been classified as trucks not cars even though they are mostly used as passenger vehicle (that's the US Congress for you)!
As to the arguments by manufacturers that they only build what buyers ask for, I've never seen a buyer walk into a dealer showroom and ask to see the lowest mileage vehicle on the lot. What buyers want is a multi-passenger vehicle that provides them with a sense of security when driving it. The fact that manufacturers put buyer-desirable features in a behemoth is the manufacturers choice, not the consumers. SUVs are built on a truck frame and tend to have a high center of gravity making them candidates for rollover when driven at high speed like a passenger car.
It's time that the US Congress act and make SUVs meet passenger car mileage requirements. With SUVs being 25% of the new vehicle market, manufacturers are unlikely to upgrade mileage on their own. It's time for manufacturers to truly listen to consumers and give them the features they want in a package that gets the gas mileage of a passenger vehicle.
05/07/03 ( 505 )
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