All Cars, All the Time

SUV's = Falling Cat?


Wow, how far have SUV's fallen when Ford's own George Pipas said of any possible upswing in SUV sales "Even a dead cat bounces if you drop it from 10 floors up."

Comparing former showrooms stars to falling felines is not a good sign for the breed (or for making small talk at a PETA meeting) but it shows that the domestics are wising up.

I remember the first video review I saw of the Ford Excursion where a Ford rep boasted that you could lay down lengthwise in the back and still have plenty of room. The rep and the reporter then hopped into the back of the truck and demonstrated that it could in fact be done. At that point I knew that full sized SUV's had jumped the shark.

I'm all for sport. I'm all for utility. But these large beasts sold in numbers far exceeding the number of people who truly needed them. "Safety" was a big selling point, but as rollovers became more prevalent, those claims were scaled back. To be sure, today's SUV's are much less likely to roll that their predecessors, but it is too little, too late. Consumers are starting to shift towards car based crossovers and that momentum will only increase in the foreseeable future.

My concern now is what will become of these giants as they begin to age and are handed down to motorists who are less likely to take care of them? These trucks didn’t stop and turn very well to begin with and will be truly horrific with bald tires and worn out brake pads.

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