Fed Up With Filling Up; Detroit used to think that consumers wouldn't worry about gas prices until they hit $3 a gallon. But sales of hulking SUVs are suffering, and hybrids are the new 'it' car.(Industry Overview)

Publication: Newsweek

Publication Date: 28-JUN-04

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Byline: Keith Naughton, With Patrick Crowley

John Luber reached the breaking point when he took the family SUV for a fill-up recently and the pump didn't stop spinning until it hit $65. When the Cincinnati-area dentist got home, he sat down with his wife and did the math. With their GMC Yukon getting only 13mpg and gas at $2 a gallon, they discovered their monthly fuel bill was more like a car payment: $385. So last month the Lubers doubled down. They traded in one guzzling SUV for two sipping Hondas. The new math: the family gas bill is slashed nearly in half. "We don't miss the big SUV," says Luber. "Not at all."

Pain at the pump is threatening America's long love affair with SUVs. Sales of large SUVs, which boomed earlier this year, fell 5 percent in April and May as pump prices soared. And that could be just the beginning. Neither two-buck gas nor the stress on SUVs is expected to ease up any time soon. Analysts warn that we shouldn't take comfort in the recent small drop in gas prices. What we're...

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