About 53 percent of luxury S.U.V. owners who have traded in their models in the months since November did not purchase another luxury S.U.V., according to the Power Information Network, a branch of the consumer-marketing company J. D. Power & Associates.
Of that group, two-fifths went back to cars, while others bought smaller or less-expensive S.U.V.'s and some purchased pickup trucks. Ron Pinelli, the president of Autodata, said, "Cool has a short shelf life."
To be sure, luxury sport utilities are not going away, and Cadillac, Lincoln and Mercedes-Benz all have new high-ticket models coming out the next few months. But the waiting lists that many dealers came to expect for the industry's plushest vehicles — which typically start at $35,000 — have largely evaporated, along with their buzz.
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