by professional council

Created on: October 24, 2008   Last Updated: April 15, 2009

It is important that we look primarily at two factors that contribute to market trends. Market demands and what the market has to offer to meet those demands. What automobile manufacturers have always had, specifically American manufacturers, were a lot of big cars to offer their consumers. For along time American manufacturers set trends in the industry, and those trends focused on large vehicles. To this day the best selling automobile in the United States is the Ford F-150, a pickup truck.

It only seemed natural that the American automobile industry, in an effort to boost slowing sales in the late 80's to early 90's, invented what we now know as the SUV. This was also aided by the Clean Air Act of 1990 whereby SUV's and trucks were not required to meet the same emissions or fuel efficiency standards as cars until the model year 2004. Thanks to heavy lobbying, the Clean Air Act of 1990 allowed the industry to produce what were essentially trucks with a car's interior, thus spawning the age of the SUV.

Let's not forget American's have always loved big cars. Since the suburbanization of America, where the masses left cities in their fresh Detroit metal, the notion has been bigger is more and ultimately better. Think of the icons of classic American automobilia, the 1953 Cadillac Eldorado, the 1961 Lincoln Continental, the Mustangs, Camaros, GTOs, Chargers and Impalas of the mid 60's. All large vehicles, all V8 powered (the most popular Mustang to this day, however, is that which is powered by the 6 cylinder), all Detroit steel. A big country needs big cars, of course. This was clearly the logic behind the concept of the SUV. Facing pressure from foreign manufacturers who were building smaller more economical cars, the American auto industry decided to confront them head on by building even larger, even more powerful automobiles than it had before. After all that was how the American auto industry had grown so powerful in the past. They would stick to their guns and create an entirely new kind of automobile to be consumed by the American public.

Here lies the topic of discussion: Will Americans continue to buy large cars, trucks and SUVs? The answer is no. The average consumer will no longer be force fed large SUVs. It's clear that time is over, especially with Nissan dealerships offering 2 for 1 deals on their SUVs, and GM dealerships giving the lucky buyer of a new car or truck 50 shares of GM stock; the problem is across the board. GM and Ford are being hit

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