American’s love affair with the truck continues as sport utility vehicles, aka SUVs, and crossovers, CUVs, have supplanted sedans as the most popular body styles in the US. The claim, part of a long-running trend, comes from an analysis of registration data for the first five months of 2014.
New retail sales registration data through May indicate that SUVs and CUVs now account for 36.5% of the new vehicle market – more than any other body style – compared to 35.4% for sedans. Five years ago, sedans were one spot with 36.3%, while SUV/CUVs accounted for 31.4%. Together, SUV/CUV market share has increased 2.6 percentage points in the past year, while sedan share has retreated more than one percentage point.
“These vehicles offer the combination of appealing features associated with both cars and light trucks, including a higher seating position, higher ground clearance, softer ride, more interior space, optional four-wheel or all-wheel drive, and towing capacity, among others,” said Tom Libby of IHS Automotive, the source of the data.
See the segment shift during the past five years below:
