If you were to guess which market segment dominates today’s new vehicle sales, we’re betting most of you would answer sport utility vehicles. The question, however, is what percentage of sales have SUV captured? North of 30 percent? Perhaps 40 percent? A May 2022 report issued by JATO Dynamics stated SUV sales accounted for 53.5 percent of the market. Pickups accounted for 19.4 percent. Put into perspective, when combined, truck and SUV sales accounted for a whopping 72.9 percent after the first quarter of 2022. At year’s end, that figure had jumped to a smidge over 80 percent.
That percentage would have us believe the SUV market came out of the gate white hot, each vehicle festooned with luxury trappings that rival presidential suites at tropical island resorts. How quickly we’ve forgotten that cultivating those market shares was initially a slow burn.
The catalyst was Willys-Overland’s newfor-1946 Jeep Wagon, at a time when “utility vehicle” was the key phrase to a revolutionary multipurposethe utility vehicle until 1962, just one year after International-Harvester pulled the wraps off its Scout. Suddenly, the game was afoot, and Ford unveiled its newfor-1966 Bronco. And once Ford recognized and reacted to consumer demands, so did Chevrolet.
