Sport-utility vehicles and crossovers in November hit their highest share of new vehicle sales in eight years compared with sales of cars and pickups, a USA TODAY analysis shows
The analysis of Edmunds.com data for November sales since 2002 shows an uptick for SUVs and crossovers (SUV-style vehicles on a car chassis) to 32.4% of new vehicle sales last month, up from 29% a year ago and 25.9% in 2008.
With gas prices rising -- now more than $3 a gallon for regular nationally -- the comeback is a sign that family haulers are beginning to shake their image as gas guzzlers.
"SUVs are getting slowly but surely more fuel-efficient," says Karl Brauer, senior analyst for Edmunds.com, a car-shopping site. "It's just becoming easier and easier to justify buying them."
SUVs took their share gains from car sales. While pickups' percentage of total sales has remained relatively stable -- it was 13.9% last month -- cars generated 47.5% of new vehicle sales in November, down from 51.6% in November 2009.
Behind the SUV's comeback:
Example: The new Ford Explorer, now a unibody crossover SUV, is rated about 5 miles per gallon better on the highway than the outgoing truck-based model.
Crossover SUVs had half the sales share industrywide of traditional SUVs in 2002, General Motors says. Now crossovers outsell them 3-to-1.
For families, the rolling box is a necessity. "They have always needed 'utilities,' whether it was minivans or sport-utilities or car-based crossovers," Ford Motor sales analyst George Pipas says.
While 2010 auto sales through November are up 11.1% vs. the same period last year, SUV and crossover sales are up 19.3%, Autodata reports. And December results may widen that.
"Trucks and SUVs typically have stronger sales in December because of snowy and icy conditions," says Jesse Toprak, a TrueCar.com vice president.