Detroit Free Press

DETROIT – Despite softening gasoline prices, consumers continued to reject large vehicles, especially SUVs and pickups, last month – a trend that could rub salt in the already wounded bottom line of General Motors Corp. and Ford Motor Co. in the fourth quarter.

While car sales fell 3.8 percent in October, trucks fell off a cliff, declining 22.1 percent compared to October 2004. The light-truck category includes a variety of large vehicles ranging from minivans to pickups to SUVs and full-size vans.

“Consumers are certainly not treating all vehicles equal, as SUVs continue to bear the brunt of the downturn,” Robert Barry, an auto industry expert for brokerage Goldman Sachs, wrote in a research note to investors Wednesday. “We believe this mix shift is more than just gas prices.”

Barry views some vehicles, such as SUVs, as fashion goods and says they are simply out of vogue.

That shift could be a more fuel-efficient move for consumers, but the larger vehicles are often more profitable to automakers. So this does not appear to be a good shift for Detroit.

“The Big Three are suffering dreadfully from this trend, as SUV sales represent a much larger proportion of their sales,” Merrill Lynch auto analyst John Casesa said in a note to investors Wednesday.

Overall, sales of truck-based SUVs fell 31 percent in October, compared with the same period a year ago. Sales were up 8.2 percent for small SUVs but down 30.1 percent for midsize models and down 44.1 percent for large SUVs.

Domestic brands sold by GM, Ford and Chrysler Group fared worse in every SUV category. Sales were down 26.2 percent for small domestic SUVs, 36.1 percent for midsize SUVs and 45.4 percent for large SUVs.

The disparity between the domestic and import SUV drop-off was most noticeable in the luxury category. While overall luxury SUV sales were down 26.4 percent, they were down 2 percent for import automakers and down 55.2 percent for domestic brands.

The biggest victims, with sales all down 50 percent or more during October: the Buick Rainier, Chevrolet Suburban, Chevrolet Tahoe, Ford Expedition, Ford Explorer, GMC Yukon XL, Hummer H2, Mitsubishi Montero and Suzuki XL7.

Despite the poor overall performance of SUVs, Ed Springs, general sales manager of Suburban Cadillac-Buick-Hummer, said sales of midsize SUVs were strong at his store in Troy, Mich. The Buick Rainier, he said, was selling well. Still, he noted that consumer tastes have shifted.

“I don’t think there’s any question that customers are looking for more fuel efficient vehicles; that’s certainly a consideration,” he said.