One down, many to go

The Ford Excursion is no more. The last of the 19-foot-long, 12mpg behemoths nicknamed by some the Ford Valdez ran off the assembly line last Friday after five years of torturous existence.

The Excursion was severely out-sold by its competitor, the Chevy Suburban, and was well on its way out long before Katrina, but with $3 / gallon gas a reality in much of the country (or so I hear - *I* never buy gas), all big SUV models are hurting. Sales of Explorers are down 58% in September 2005 compared to the same month in 2004, and the larger Expeditions are down 61%. GM’s line of full-size SUVs, including it’s Suburban, fell by 56% and it’s Hummer H2 (too large to be categorized) is down 31%. Toyota Sequoias are off 46%, Honda Pilots down 26% and Nissan Armadas fell 20%.

Overall car sales are actually up, so the phenomenon can’t be explained as post-employee-discount-sale doldrums or lower overall consumer confidence. Clearly a market shift is taking place. It may be bad news for suburban asshats trying to compensate for inadequate biology, but it’s good news for the rest of the world.

Tags: environment society