Big wheels keep on rolling Despite sky-high gas prices, some of the largest SUVs remain in demand for their purpose-driven ways By Jeffrey Steele With gas prices at an all-time high, you'd expect certain developments, such as: Motorists eliminating unnecessary trips? Check. Car buyers looking into subcompact and hybrid gas-sippers? Check. Large sport utility vehicle sales climbing higher. Check? No, that's not a mistake. Through the first half of 2007, sales of the largest SUVs were on the rise, even as pump prices for a gallon of gasoline reach all-time highs. And there's good reason for this paradox, says Alex Rosten, industry analyst with Edmunds.com, the Santa Monica, Calif.-based automotive Web site. The market's interest in both re designed and refreshed large SUVs and new sevenpassenger crossover models is trumping buyers' fears of wallet-drain ing fuel prices. "There's a slew of new product that's hit the market in the last year," Rosten says. "General Motors redesigned all of their large SUV offerings, and Ford did as well with the Navigator and Expedi tion. And you have several new offerings in seven-passenger crossovers, which are included in the large SUV segment. Those include the GMC Acadia, the Saturn Outlook and the Buick Enclave." Redesigned models tend to experi ence their most robust sales during the first year after they've been introduced, he adds. On top of that, the newly un veiled seven-passenger crossovers, par ticularly the GMC Acadia, are all sell ing very well so far this year. Other re cently introduced seven-passenger crossovers catching the public's eye in clude the Mazda CX-9 and Hyundai Ve racruz. But don't expect good times to re main good for large SUVs, particularly if gasoline prices stay sky high. We're likely to see a totally different picture as 2007 progresses. "In the second half of the year, I guarantee you that large SUV sales will be down," Rosten says. "All the first movers who tend to pay more for newer models will have al ready purchased their vehicles. Typi cally, after about a year, you'll see sales declines. GM's products were in troduced at the beginning of 2006, whereas Ford's were introduced in the summer of 2006." As proof that large SUVs aren't likely to score the same sales gains af ter the luster of newness wears off, Ros ten points to two older SUVs that haven't been refreshed for a few years. The Dodge Durango, Chrysler's large SUV, experienced an 11 percent sales decline so far this year, while Toyota's imposing Sequoia is down a hefty 28 percent. What is it about the re designed/refreshed models that's spurred higher sales? For starters, the Chevrolet Tahoe and Suburban, and GMC Yukon and Yukon XL "feature much more lux urious interiors, as GM moves to up grade the interiors across their entire model line," Rosten says. "They also feature slightly better gas mileage and morepowerful engines. Overall, quality, fit and finish has improved." In the case of Ford, the large SUVs weren't completely redesigned, though the Ford Expedition and Lincoln Navi gator models profited from substantial refreshening, Rosten notes. "That re sulted in much smoother rides, more op tions and standard features, and better quality, fit and finish, as well as dramat ically improved interiors. Another change worth noting is Ford expanded its large-SUV offerings by bringing out long-wheelbase models for both the Ex pedition and the Navigator." As for the new General Motors crossovers, since they're built on front-drive unibody platforms instead of rear-drive body-on-frame truck construction, they offer a smoother ride, better gas mileage and more car-like handling dy namics than traditional SUVs. Crossovers also provide slightly more in terior space than large SUVs, because they don't feature a drivetrain "hump" that protrudes down the middle of the floor. Finally, buyers like the large crossovers' usable third-row seating, Rosten says. "Up until this point, most crossovers didn't offer a usable third row, but the new larger ones do," he says. Asian giants Toyota and Nissan aren't to be outdone by the changes wrought by domestic automakers to their large SUV lineups. Toyota's upcoming 2008 redesign of the Sequoia, which is built on the half-ton Tundra platform, will be in showrooms by the end of this year, Rosten says. Nissan's Armada, based on the Titan platform and an early 2008 introduction, has been out since March. If pump prices remain high or go higher, they are likely to erode a portion of large SUV sales, Rosten believes. But don't count on the large SUV seg ment ever going away. Sales in this segment once surpassed a million vehi cles annually in the U.S. but still remain strong at 650,000 to 750,000 units a year. "There is no other vehicle out there that offers the combination of cargo capacity, passenger capacity, towing capacity and ground clearance that the large SUV offers," Rosten says. © CTW Features