By Jennifer Keiper, WLS-AM 890 News
(CHICAGO) SUV and truck sales have been fueling the auto industry’s success and our “Drive Chicago” show, which airs on Saturday mornings, takes a look at why that is.
Auto sales are up just over one-percent this year through May. “If you take a look at SUVs and trucks, SUVs are really operating at record levels,” said Erich Merkle, Ford’s Head U.S. Sales Analyst.
Pick-up trucks are pretty close to that, sedans are way down, and Ford is even giving up on making most of them. “A lot of consumers are coming in. They’ve got a car that’s maybe eight or nine years old, they’re trading it in, they’re looking at an SUV and they’re saying ‘Wow, that’s better fuel economy than what I had with my car eight or nine years ago.’ So, the differential between fuel efficiency between a car and an SUV is pretty much closed at this point in time,” said Merkle.
Merkle also says when gas prices spike, instead of switching from a large SUV to a sedan, the choice is often a smaller SUV – keeping the sales going.
You can hear more about Ford, the new Ram 15-hundred, safe teen driving, and fun last-minute Father’s Day auto-related gifts on this week’s “Drive Chicago” at 8am Saturday, on WLS-AM 890.
@ 2018 WLS-AM Chicago
