K4YZ wrote:
Americans were use to having "the wide open spaces" and
cheap gas.


Well, we do still have some "wide open spaces".


So...where was the incentive to make itty-bitty gas sippers? That
wasn't what the American market wanted. Even now more and more SUV's
are rolling off the lines...even Honda and Suzuki have gotten on the
band wagon.

And SUV sales are in the dumpster.

Truck and SUV Sales Plunge as Gas Prices Rise
GM, Ford Hit Hardest in September

By Sholnn Freeman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, October 4, 2005; Page D01

General Motors Corp. reported a sales drop of 24 percent compared with
the same month a year ago. Ford Motor Co.'s sales declined 20 percent.


Tuesday, October 4, 2005

SUV sales tank in Sept.

Double-digit losses sock Ford, GM as truck demand falls, employee
discounts for all cool off.

By Brett Clanton and Bryce G. Hoffman / The Detroit News

GM and Ford posted September U.S. sales declines of 24 percent and 20
percent, respectively, as consumers lost interest in employee-pricing
promotions and passed over big SUVs and trucks.

Light truck sales skidded an alarming 30 percent at GM and 28 percent at
Ford last month.