The end of the SUV era?

SUV's are almost synonymous with exurban excess - even in an era when more Americans can't even afford a car. By mid-decade, SUV's were so tied with America's widening economic gap that they constituted a majority of vehicles on the country's roads. (It was like a "two Americas", where a few people could afford an SUV and the gas it took to run it, while everyone else couldn't afford a car at all.)

The government promoted SUV mania just as strongly as Corporate America did. The Bush regime began granting tax breaks for buyers of extra large models. A town in California even began ticketing folks if they had a regular car rather than an SUV. (An official from a city in that area was ticketed for parking a small car in that town.)

With SUV's being such amazing gas guzzlers, people are now being forced to come to their senses. Maybe they could afford to buy an SUV, but they can no longer afford the (ppphh!) gas.

So now America's used car lots are bulging with hulking SUV's, as folks are trading SUV's in for more efficient cars. And used auto dealers can't get rid of the things. Nobody wants to buy a vehicle that uses so much gas.

For the first 4 months of the year, SUV sales declined a mind-numbing 32.8%. A $40,000 SUV may only be worth half that now.

If there's one good thing about today's rip-off fuel costs, it's that it may finally break the SUV habit.

(Source: http://www.cnn.com/2008/LIVING/wayoflife/05/23/dumping.suvs)