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The SUV Is Dethroned

Posted by kdawson on from the four-dollar-stake-through-the-engine dept.

Wired's Autopia blog documents what we all knew was coming: rising gas prices have killed off the SUV. Auto industry watchers had predicted that the gas guzzlers in the "light truck" category would lose the ascendancy by 2010; no one expected their reign to end in a month, in the spring of 2008. Toyota, GM, Ford, and now Nissan have announced they will scale back truck and SUV production and ramp up that of smaller passenger cars. Of course there will always be a market for this class of vehicle, but its days on the top of the sales charts are done. "'All of our previous assumptions on the full-size pickup truck segment are off the table,' Bob Carter, Toyota division sales chief said last week during a conference call with reporters. Translation — we have no idea how low they'll go."

18 of 1,234 comments (clear)

  1. i'll still drive my hummer by timmarhy · · Score: 3, Funny

    you can keep your prius and save enough gas so i can continue to run over baby seals with my H2.

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    1. Re:i'll still drive my hummer by The+Evil+Couch · · Score: 4, Funny

      You should have gotten the H2 option to use flexible fuels, like baby seals; then you'd be killing two birds with one stone.

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      The World's Worst Webcomic!
  2. Re:SUVs aren't dead by mrbluze · · Score: 4, Funny

    They just call them "crossovers" now. Seriously, it's all marketing. Really? That's queer, where I live we still call them cars with big trannies (for short).
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    Do it yourself, because no one else will do it yourself. [beta blockade 10-17 Feb]
  3. Re:And may I be the first to say... by mrbluze · · Score: 5, Funny

    you apparently didn't read the first post, who said that first. 1st. I like that. A post about redundancy that contains its own in-built redundancy.
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    Do it yourself, because no one else will do it yourself. [beta blockade 10-17 Feb]
  4. Wait, wait, wait... by Pichu0102 · · Score: 5, Funny

    Has Netcraft confirmed this yet?

  5. Re:SUVs were always mostly a waste by Mr2001 · · Score: 4, Funny

    The machine (SUV) was built for the purpose of being a sports utility vehicle. If you need large passenger seating, there are minivans. If you need to haul load, there are trucks. If your commuting, there are sedans and compacts. An SUV can do all those things - but none of them very well. It's more of a Spork Utility Vehicle.
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  6. Westbake == Twitter sock-puppet. by TapeCutter · · Score: 5, Funny

    Irony: Using a sock-puppet account to complain about other people's dishonesty.

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    And did you exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage? - Pink Floyd.
  7. Re:Uncle Sam is too fat. You need to trim it. by Majik+Sheff · · Score: 4, Funny

    An anarchist who supports big government... Next up, a vegan espouses the virtues of pork chops.

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    Women are like electronics: you don't know how damaged they are until you try to turn them on.
  8. Re:Good riddance! by Anpheus · · Score: 3, Funny

    You are covering up for something with your post, but I think your email spam filter's contents can help you with that.

    What I'm trying to say is: GP doesn't have anything to do with you, and everything to do with people who get SUVs and don't do "SUV stuff."

  9. Re:Good riddance! by n3tcat · · Score: 4, Funny

    So retirement precludes one from posting on Slashdot?

  10. Re:Good riddance! by Stooshie · · Score: 4, Funny

    If Mac is run over by an SUV tomorrow do you think the police would think the same thing?

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    America, Home of the Brave. ... .and the Squaw.
  11. Re:Good riddance! by seifried · · Score: 4, Funny

    I probably would have looked her in the eye, and then cranked the door open. Look startled as it hits her car, and try again. Then look at her, look at the car door, and try it once more. I love rental cars and 0 deductibles.

  12. Re:Good riddance! by Zoxed · · Score: 4, Funny

    > A metre is a metre (well, a meter at least) but it's the same distance.

    Unless you are a spacecraft engineer, and then a meter is the same as a foot !!

  13. Re:Good riddance! by Barsteward · · Score: 4, Funny

    * it's just not practical to strap 2 kids, a wife and a bag full of groceries on top of it Where's your sense of adventure???? :o) http://www.flickr.com/photos/bwpingu/2512050427/

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    "The hands that help are better far than lips that pray." - Robert Ingersoll (1833-1899)
  14. Re:Good riddance! by j00r0m4nc3r · · Score: 4, Funny

    Yes, they are. Poorly designed station wagons with less interior space.

    By your logic you might as well call a van a poorly-designed subcompact.

  15. Re:Good riddance! by Nimey · · Score: 4, Funny

    They would need a buyer who is happy to trade functionality for form, and pay extra for it on top. Find a Mac user!
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    E pluribus sanguinem
  16. Re:Good riddance! by orlanz · · Score: 5, Funny

    HEY, this is America! Our 2.4 children ARE too large to fit in your undersized small penis Japanese sedans. /sarcasm

  17. Re:Good riddance! by level_headed_midwest · · Score: 4, Funny

    The only breeding an average Slashdotter will do is hamsters or cats.

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