Been There, Done That : ...
Sport utilities--those high-riding, high-fashion image makers aimed at reliving the military experience or your farming childhood--will leave even heavier tire tracks on 1995 vehicle trends.
Whether honest off-roaders or two-wheel-drive poseurs that just look as if they could travel Jurassic Park, one out of every five vehicles sold in the United States next year will be a sport ute.
A recovering economy and healthier overall vehicle sales explains part of the pickup. Other reasons, say the experts, involve a general trend to tougher, less expensive transportation and full pursuit of chic. Plus a sharp decline in sales of sports cars as ubiquitous Baby Boomers dump their two-seaters for roomier, more outdoorsy sport utilities.
Chevrolet’s Blazer and Jeep’s Grand Cherokee are already in the Top 10 of all vehicle sales. Ford peddles twice as many Explorers as it does Mustangs. Land Rover sales are soaring, thank you veddy much. And next year--sniffing a change in buyer profiles from Indiana Jones to Gordon Gotrocks--luxury car makers will become heavily involved with recreational motoring.
Mercedes-Benz has announced that it will build a $30,000 sport utility at its new plant at Tuscaloosa, Ala. Infiniti, the leather-and-walnut division of Nissan, is planning a longer, softer, fancier version of its parent company’s Pathfinder.
Acura, upmarket arm of Honda, is examining the possibility of re-equipping, re-badging and reissuing Isuzu’s Trooper for U.S. service. And with Cadillac, Lincoln and Jaguar acknowledging interests in producing sport utilities, can a Rolls-Royce Rutland be far behind?
We have known for years that ordinary coupes, sedans and sports cars are clogging every available mile of freeway and surface streets. Could it be that more and more off-road vehicles will eventually mean overcrowded country dirt?
