Whither the SUV?
If you thought fuel costs would send the sport utility vehicle into the automotive tar pits, think again. A new species already beckons to the next generation.
At Lexus Santa Monica, Luke MacFarlane, one of the stars of FX Networks' "Over There," is searching for his dream wheels--something stylish in a funky, offbeat way, powerful enough to haul his bike to the mountains, efficient enough that it won't burn a hole through his gasoline credit card or the ozone layer.
The slim, sandy-haired actor--upwardly mobile, outdoorsy, adventurous--looks as if some Madison Avenue image-maker had conjured him up for a sport utility vehicle commercial. And the Lexus RX 400h, plugged by the company as "the world's first luxury gas-electric hybrid SUV," would seem to be the model to bait the 25-year-old. Its estimated city/highway fuel efficiency is 29 miles per gallon, nearly twice what many conventional four-wheel-drives manage. Green-dreaming drivers are biting. As conventional gasoline-powered SUVs collect dust on Southern California car lots, the RX 400h is a comparatively brisk seller at $49,000, brisk enough that there isn't one for MacFarlane to see. He must make do with a glossy brochure and a sales pitch.
The slim, sandy-haired actor--upwardly mobile, outdoorsy, adventurous--looks as if some Madison Avenue image-maker had conjured him up for a sport utility vehicle commercial. And the Lexus RX 400h, plugged by the company as "the world's first luxury gas-electric hybrid SUV," would seem to be the model to bait the 25-year-old. Its estimated city/highway fuel efficiency is 29 miles per gallon, nearly twice what many conventional four-wheel-drives manage. Green-dreaming drivers are biting. As conventional gasoline-powered SUVs collect dust on Southern California car lots, the RX 400h is a comparatively brisk seller at $49,000, brisk enough that there isn't one for MacFarlane to see. He must make do with a glossy brochure and a sales pitch.
