WSJ: SUVs Take Center Stage in Frankfurt - Automakers Focus on Growing Segment Once Considered Only 'American'

Big auto makers are using this week's Frankfurt auto show to launch a new generation of sport utility vehicles aimed at consumers from Shanghai to San Jose who are paying premium prices to ride tall.

Sport utility vehicles started out as a distinctively American automotive idea, starting with World War II Jeeps and evolving into the hulking, gas guzzling trucks that dominated U.S. highways during the late 1990s. During the past decade, SUVs evolved from modified pickup trucks into modified cars, but many kept the boxy, utilitarian profiles of the originals.

Now, auto makers are experimenting with the formula again, looking to cash in with SUVs that are small, sleekly aerodynamic and, in most cases, more profitable than the sedans that share their mechanical underpinnings.

The only common denominator defining the new generation of SUVs is "you sit up high, in a command seating position, that makes you feel superior," says Ford Motor Co. F -0.06% group vice president of design J Mayswhose company led the 1990s SUV boom in the U.S. with its comparatively large Explorer and Expedition models.
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GermanNut - 9/11/2013 8:30:48 PM

-1 Boost

"Audi is highlighting its Q3 compact SUV as part of a revamped family of compact A3 models including a sedan, hatchback, plug-in and convertible.

"It's 100% acceptable to take an SUV to places where affluent people go," says Scott Keogh, head of Audi's U.S. operations. "That's the big leap that happened" since the late 1990s, when most luxury brands still focused almost exclusively on sedans, coupes and station wagons.

Audi expects to sell almost 40,000 of its Q5 midsize SUVs in the U.S. this year, Mr. Keogh says. A new generation of that model will be built in Mexico starting in 2016, and Audi will add the Q3 to its U.S. lineup next year. Audi has already launched a Chinese-built version of its compact Q3 SUV."

Audi's Q3 should be a HUGE seller in the U.S. market considering how closely it resembles Audi's Q5 in exterior appearance, driving experience and interior design. The Audi Q5 is on pace to be the brand's best selling model in 2013, surpassing the Audi A4 Sedan.

Car4Life - 9/12/2013 7:21:28 AM

+1 Boost

I have a feeling benz is going to nail it with this GLA especially amongst young professionals and spoiled college kids

cidflekken - 9/12/2013 12:48:16 PM

+3 Boost

So, Nuttie, you post an article about an industry trend, just to highlight the section where Audi is mentioned?

scenicbyway12 - 9/12/2013 1:11:35 PM

+1 Boost

"SUVs Take Center Stage in Frankfurt"

You mean cross-over's.

SUV go off-road
Crossover pick up dry cleaning.