Frustrated Owners Try to Unload Gas Guzzlers

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Washington DC May 7, 2008; The AIADA newsletter reported that, Douglas Chrystall of Massachusetts is feeling pinched at the pump, and guilty as well, so he is putting ads online to sell his Dodge Ram, and the family's other gas-guzzler, a Jeep Grand Cherokee.

He knows it will be tough to unload them because he is one of a growing number of consumers downsizing to smaller, more fuel-efficient cars.

The Boston Globe reports that Americans are turning away from big, four-wheel-drive vehicles that have for years dominated the nation's highways. The sale of new SUVs and pickup trucks has plunged in recent months amid soaring gas prices and a weakening economy: SUV sales for the month of April alone fell 32.3 percent from a year earlier and small car sales rose 18.6 percent.

This fundamental shift comes against a backdrop of relentless gas increases, and growing concerns over the environment and US oil consumption. "The SUV craze was a bubble and now it is bursting," said George Hoffer, an economics professor whose research focuses on the automotive industry. "It's an irrational vehicle. It'll never come back."