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SUV Boom is Due to Buyer Demand for Traditional Car Flexibility

11 February 1998

SUV Boom is Due to Buyer Demand for Traditional Car Flexibility

    SANTA ANA, Calif., Feb. 11 / PRNewswire/ -- Joint analysis by two of the
auto industry's most prestigious consulting and research firms Strategic
Vision and AutoPacific, Inc. concludes that America's growing fascination with
light trucks is primarily a return to traditional vehicle values - good
visibility, chairlike seating, easy entry and exit, lots of interior room, and
ample ground clearance.  Today's SUV Boom, and the growing percentage of truck
market share, is due to the demand of buyers for characteristics provided by
cars in the past but not available today - flexibility, interior size and ease
of use.
    Both consulting houses find little evidence that the 90's light truck boom
is a result of fashion.  "It's a sad fact of human nature that we tend to
dismiss movements we don't understand as fads," lamented Strategic Vision vice
president Dan Gorrell.  "Today's SUVs offer functionality that most cars have
forgotten how to deliver, and that's why buyers have switched," adds
AutoPacific president George Peterson.  "Consumers don't care about truck
versus car labels, they care about the ease of use and versatility that comes
from good packaging."  To back his claim, Peterson cites recent analysis by
his firm revealing that today's light trucks have more in common with cars of
old than do current cars.  "Applied to a car today, the traditional package of
a '55 Chevy would likely produce a vehicle more appealing than most current
cars."
    Strategic Vision examines the issue from a psychological viewpoint and
arrives at a similar conclusion.  "Rather than being a fashion statement,
light trucks are offering something far beyond image to their buyers, they're
meeting fundamental emotional needs that cars used to do a better job of
meeting," states Gorrell, "and those needs surface in good research."  Indeed,
both firms base their conclusions on extensive surveys of buyers from every
vehicle model sold in America.
    Results of combined analysis from the firms' research is set to be
released in a series of conferences held in Los Angeles and Detroit on
February 23rd and 27th respectively.  There, analysts from both companies will
detail product and psychological information gleaned from more than 85,000
1997 vehicle buyers.
    In a capstone to the conference, the companies will detail the design and
emotional attributes needed to rekindle buyers' love affair with cars.  These
attributes will be demonstrated through eight "SuperCar" concepts designed for
conference attendees to take away from the meeting.
    "Without data, it's just opinion," states Peterson.  And about light
trucks adds Gorrell, "There's been more than enough of that already."

SOURCE  AutoPacific, Inc.