Sunday, May 08, 2005

SUV's gone mad

With all the talk of high gas prices and the like, you think people would stop wanting the big SUV type trucks?? Well, the answer is yes and no. Minivans are still 'uncool' and only to be driven by soccor moms and dads. The Hummer and Suburbans are often to 'truckie' for people who want a powerful, roomy and prestigious ride. What is left?? Well, the new segment of crossover SUV's are flooding the market. Upscale carmaker, Porsche introduced the Cayenne, and it now accounts for over half of total Porsche sales. BMW has the X5, Lexus the Rx330 (and the new hybrid Rh400). Volvo and Mercedes have had a crossover SUV for years and rumors are spilling about a possible Jaguar vehicle. These 'trucks' are roomy, big, powerful, loaded with gizmos and gadgets, yet are built in a unibody manner. While most big trucks and SUV's are body on frame construction, for added durability and towing capacity, but this is rarely used for the average buyer of an Escalade or Denali.
Porsche recently topped the market with a 450hp twin turbo Cayanne Turbo, that ran to 60mph in about 5 seconds (the usual sports car benchmark) and was electronically limited to 155mph, but would go faster. Well, the ante has been upped another level. Bentley, the supercar luxo-barge maker has introduced a vehicle that will cost around $160,000-$200,000 and be powered by a VW 12cyl producing around 550hp. They expect to make and sell 2000 units a year. Looking slightly like the Infinit FX 45 with a Bentley grill, expect luxory performance, with SUV people hauling capabilities. When will it end? who knows....is Ferrari next for and SUV????

1 Comments:

Blogger EDL said...

yeah it seems kinda of ridiculous. Especially when an SUV cost 200G. It seems the market for these cars/trucks never softens though. There are always a select group of people that will be able to afford a ride in that stratospheric price range...when the economny goes south, its usally the 60-80K priced cars that suffer.

10:28 AM  

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