Crossover Vehicles Gain as Gas Prices Stay High

July 5, 2007— -- With SUV practicality and carlike gas thriftiness, crossover vehicles are revving up sales in an otherwise tepid auto market, new figures show.

Motorists are increasingly turning their backs on midsize SUVs, lured in part by gas savings, two studies find.

Crossover and sport wagon sales soared 18.8 percent in June, while the overall automotive market fell 3 percent, continuing a pattern seen during the first half of the year, Autodata reports.

Automakers pointed to hot-selling crossover models in their June reports earlier this week:

*General Motors reported that dealers are selling out of its new Buick Enclave crossover. Demand is nearly as vigorous for the Saturn Vue and GMC Acadia.

*Ford Motor says Ford Edge and Lincoln MKX pushed up its crossover sales by 83 percent over June last year. Crossovers, says Ford analyst George Pipas, "are the hottest segment in the industry."

*Honda announced the sixth consecutive record month of sales for its CR-V compact crossover. Sales soared 53 percent for the model in June compared with the same month last year.

Crossover vehicles mix attributes of trucks and cars. They are boxy like SUVs but have unibody construction that generally makes them lighter, helping fuel economy. They aren't as rugged as SUVs but offer a softer, more carlike ride.

More midsize SUV owners are trading theirs in for crossovers, according to a new study by Power Information Network. Sales of midsize SUVs plunged 18 percent in the first five months of the year. Of midsize SUV owners who leave the segment, the percentage trading in to buy crossovers increased from 6 percent in May 2004, to 11 percent this May, the study reports.

"Crossovers are offering a viable alternative," says Tom Libby, senior director of industry analysis at Power.

But automakers are rolling out lots of new crossover models, making it harder for any of them to achieve the kind of huge sales tallies that some of the SUVs reached a few years ago.

Another study by website CarsDirect finds that buyers can save hundreds of dollars a year in gasoline costs by buying comparably sized crossovers instead of SUVs.