SUVS: Dismal Deaths or Design Inspiration?

Over a year ago, when it was announced that the U.S. Senate was pushing for a 40% improvement in fuel economy by 2020, pundits in both the green and automotive worlds predicted the death of the SUV. Now, with gas prices hovering near and in many cases over – $4.00/gallon across the country, even GM, which has long been the king of American’s truck and full-sized SUV market, has finally learned what the rest of us already knew: good fuel economy comes in compact packages.

GM’s announcement came a month and a half ago, and included not only the news that they would be embracing compacts, but also that they would be shutting down four truck-production plants, and maybe even giving Hummer the axe. All of this adds up to the very clear message that large SUVs are dead, and smaller, lighter vehicles, with smaller engines and greater gas mileage.

It would be easy to claim that this was a problem limited to GM. After all, the company has counted on pickups and SUVs for the bulk of its profit for more than a decade, but the reality is that this change of direction is industry wide. Since last year, sales of SUVs are down 24 percent overall, and the numbers for May, 2008 showed 38% fewer sales than the same month in 2007, according to Autodata, Inc.

What are auto companies doing? Like GM, many are cutting production sometimes completely of heavier vehicles. Toyota, for example, is not only stopping production of their Tundra and Sequoia until November so they can devote resources to building the in-demand Prius, while Ford has been showing off a version of their popular Explorer that is built on a smaller, lighter car chassis, and Chrysler had already planned to close the facilities where the Chrysler Aspen and Dodge Durango are built. All of these automakers are pushing smaller cars, of course, instead of the SUVs and trucks that are no longer selling.

As to GM, despite the closing of the four truck plants, they’ve added shifts to two facilities where the Pontiac G5 and Chevrolet Cobalt are produced, and they have also stepped up the plan to get the extended-range electric Chevrolet Volt rolling off the assembly line by November, 2010, and they’ve also announced that 18 of their next 19 American product launches will either be actual cars, or crossover utility vehicles essentially SUVs built on car chassis.

Does all this mean the death of SUVs? Don’t expect them to be completely extinct. Do look for the changes in global economy, beginning with fuel prices, but extending beyond them, to serve as the catalyst for innovative design and corporate change.