<br />US car makers hit by trend to smaller vehicles<br /><br />12.04.05 1.00pm<br />by Katherine Griffiths<br /> <br />Just when America's ailing car industry thought conditions could get no worse, it is finding it cannot even rely on the country's love of all things big to buoy up profits. <br /><br />Americans are abandoning their monster sport utility vehicles (SUVs) in favour of smaller, less expensive cars. <br /><br />For carmakers, which are already fighting intense competition from Asia, adverse economic conditions and high healthcare and pension costs, it's looking dangerously like the end of the road. <br /><br />Big SUVs, with their promise of conquering the great outdoors and pleasing roominess, have been the vehicle of choice for many Americans in the past 15 years. <br /><br />For their Detroit manufacturers, who have been able to make use of historic pick-up truck parts, SUVs have been a huge generator of profits. <br /><br />Unfortunately, the age of super-sizing of cars seems to be coming to an end. <br /><br />Sales of large SUVs have been hit by competition from Asian manufacturers which offer smaller, cheaper models, known as "small SUVs" or cross utility vehicles, and by the fact that the seemingly relentless rise in oil prices is making the American national past-time of gas guzzling too expensive for many. <br /><br />Ford warned on Friday that sales of its truck-like SUVs had fallen by 15 per cent during the first quarter of 2005 and said the car market overall was weaker than expected. <br /><br /> <br />.....<br />
