Looks like more old people are going to die:
Chrysler is doubling its SUV offerings over the next three years, including the radical Dodge Nitro model coming next year with flared fenders and fuel-friendly V-6. GM is counting on a new crop of full-bodied SUVs arriving next year to drive its comeback. And though the models are still big, GM designers burnished the edges to make them look smaller. By 2010, the number of SUVs on the market will increase 24 percent to 109 models, while just 44 different hybrids will be offered by then, according to auto researcher J.D. Power. Even Toyota, the hybrid leader, is building a $1 billion pickup-truck plant in Texas where analysts expect it to build a new — and bigger — version of its Sequoia SUV. Despite pain at the pump, 56 percent of Americans refuse to downsize and will stick with the wheels they’ve got, according to a new survey by consultant AutoPacific. "We haven’t turned into wimps overnight," says AutoPacific’s George Peterson. "People still like a tough-looking SUV."
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"For hybrids to have a double-digit market share," says Power’s Jeff Schuster, "we’d essentially have to run out of fossil fuel."
Sigh.
