Mileage Be Damned, SUV Remains American Darling

Despite predictions of its demise, the SUV is alive and well at the New York auto show this year, Dan Carney writes for MSNBC. Sure, more fuel-efficient models of classic 4x4s make up the majority of the cars on display, but reports that the gas guzzler is passé, emanating from “literary critics, Broadway choreographers, and other practitioners of the bedrock industries that built this country” are greatly exaggerated. According to one website that tracks such things, half of Americans shopping for new cars are looking at crossovers and SUVs.

In spite of those “touting the benefits of smaller, more fuel-efficient vehicles,” an analyst said, “Americans seem to have an insatiable feeling that bigger is better.” The SUVs from Jeep, GMC, Land Rover, and Mercedes all boast fuel economy superior to their predecessors'—some even went hybrid—and orders are up. “But it’s a safe bet,” Carney writes, “that very few of them will be from the book editors and fashion photographers of New York.” (More New York International Auto Show stories.)