SUVs, luxury cars lead U.S. consumer survey

April 25, 2002 BLOOMBERG NEWS reported that sport-utility vehicles and luxury cars are the most desirable models to U.S. consumers this year, as low gasoline prices blunt demand for more fuel-efficient autos, a study shows.

About 43 percent of consumers looking for a new car would consider a sport-utility, up from 32 percent in 1996, according to market research company AutoPacific Inc. About 45 percent of car buyers expressed interest in luxury class passenger cars, an increase from 25 percent seven years ago. The 34,000 people surveyed could select more than one category.

"We can't say the SUV segment has crashed; in fact, we see exactly the opposite," AutoPacific President George Peterson said at a conference in Long Beach, California. Luxury car interest is benefiting from more advertising and "the group of buyers that's able to afford them is growing," he said.

Sales of sport-utilities and other light trucks in the world's largest auto market topped passenger car sales for the first time in 2001, accounting for 51 percent of new vehicle registrations. Even with a rise in retail gasoline prices this year, demand for those models is helped by prices that remain near post-war lows when adjusted for inflation.

"People want a vehicle that's the right size and the right price; right now, fuel economy isn't on the radar," said Art Spinella, an auto analyst who conducts consumer sentiment for Bandon, Oregon-based CNW Marketing Research.

Recent studies by CNW and Tustin, California-based AutoPacific found that fuel economy ranked in the bottom half of about 40 features customers said they considered important in a model, less than items such as exterior paint quality and dashboard design.