Fueling debate: Is $4.00 gas the death of the SUV?

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Peter Viles, our LA Land blogger, took a snapshot in Santa Monica, fueling the bad news for L.A. commuters yesterday and posted it to his popular blog resulting in an outpour of comments.

I didn’t go looking for expensive gas this morning, it found me, on Lincoln Boulevard in Santa Monica. What does it have to do with housing and the economy? Not much if you live in Manhattan and take the subway to work. A lot of you live in Southern California and drive everywhere. -- Peter Viles

In the automotive industry, the $4.00 mark has long been considered the ‘tipping point’ which will alledgedly cause consumers to dump their trucks and SUVs for small, gas-efficient cars. At least that’s been the buzz among the analysts and auto blogosphere. But what do buyers say?

The largest car-related Web site in this country, Kelley Blue Book, has been polling car buyers for years on this question and have come to quite a different conclusion. Jack R. Nerad, the site’s executive editor and market analyst, believes that, even with $4.00+ gasoline prices, the SUV is decidedely not dead.

He believes it has been virtually replaced by a new animal - the CUV. ‘... A largely under-reported fact is the rise of the CUV (Crossover Utility Vehicle). The CUV is designed strictly as a ‘road car’ and has become the family car of 2008. At this point, sales of CUVs outnumber SUVs 2 to 1. And, evidence is strong that it will stay that way for a while.’

So, what do you think? Are we Americans ready to sacrifice seating and cargo space to conserve or do we want what we want at any price? Perhaps it will happen at $8.00 per gallon.

-- Joni Gray