The Rise Of The SUV |
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Winston Takeda
23 August 2012
You see a lot of SUVs out on the road lately. Although they burn up a lot of gas, they are fast becoming the vehicle of choice for a lot of people, and for a lot of different reasons. If you've never driven one before, or even ridden in one, you don't know what you are missing. While it may seem a bit of overkill for the suburbanite to drive something that looks like an assault vehicle to the grocery store, everybody with enough money has a right to buy whatever they want. In this article, you'll understand why.
When they first came out, these vehicles were designed primarily for people who wanted to go off the beaten path. They wanted to get to places where there weren't any roads. As you would expect, most civilian vehicles designed for this were modeled after military vehicles. Naturally, when you're fighting a war, you can't really rely on roads to take you where you want to go.
After World War II, the economy in the United States took off. This gave a lot of people a lot more disposable income. For a generation previous, people could barely feed themselves. Now people found themselves with all kinds of extra cash. This is when these vehicles started becoming available to the general public.
At first, only people who had legitimate reason to go off roading bought these. Naturalists, fishing enthusiasts, hikers and explorers. It didn't take long for people to understand the benefits of being able to drive somewhere that was secluded, surrounded by nature, and free from normal city elements.
Pretty soon, though, these same people started realizing that just driving these vehicles around town made them feel pretty good. They were bigger, and a lot safer. Of course, this was back in the days when gas was cheaper than a dollar a gallon. Most people weren't concerned about gas mileage.
Naturally, companies that sold these vehicles noticed this. They started marketing these vehicles to people who they knew would never go off-roading. They marketed them as vehicles that large families could use to travel in comfort, style, and most of all, complete safety. When this happened, they began selling like wildfire.
Pretty soon, almost every auto manufacturer under the sun was making their version of an SUV. Pretty soon there were hybrids, that were a lot cheaper. The more people bought them, the more popular they got. So where we are today, with these wonderful vehicles available to anybody that wants one. Safety, comfort, and social status can be yours.