Why suv is expensive

They generally burn more gas than a similar car. You should expect to find better discounts on cars, too. Compact cars sit longer on dealer lots compared with SUVs, and require more incentives to entice buyers, Robert Karwel explained, citing J. Power data. If you are looking for the absolute best value in a new vehicle, look to sedans and hatchbacks while you still can. If SUVs become much more popular, they could kill off mainstream cars altogether.

Comparing cars and SUVs can be a bit of an apples-to-oranges situation. On which criteria do you compare them, exactly? Interior space, price, performance, cargo capacity, standard equipment? It depends where your priorities lie. Both are front-wheel drive. The Civic has a bigger, more powerful engine and uses less fuel.

Here is how the sticker price of SUVs compares with cars in the same class. In each case, the sport ute is significantly more expensive. Stay on top of all our Drive stories. We have a Drive newsletter covering car reviews, innovative new cars and the ups and downs of everyday driving. Sign up today. Follow us on Twitter: globedrive Opens in a new window. Report an error. Mid-size luxury crossover SUV.

Porsche Cayenne. Large SUV. Toyota Land Cruiser. Find out more. Our SUV tyre range. Road control for SUV made to last. View this tyre. Safety for SUV made to last in all weathers.

Road control made to last in winter. Michelin Primacy 4 Passenger Car. As much as it might seem counterintuitive, low sales are helping fuel higher prices. The used car market is significantly larger than the new car market: About 40 million used cars were sold in , compared to about 17 million new vehicles.

But as one auto industry expert described it to me, they operate in tandem. Caldwell explains that stock in the used market comes from customers trading in old cars for new ones or turning over leased vehicles, as well as from other sources, like rental car companies casting off the tired fleet for fresh models.

But as the pandemic heated up, elements of that makeshift supply chain were impacted by more traditional disruptions in the new car supply chain: locked-down plants and skeleton crews. Currently, a global shortage of semiconductor computer chips has stalled the manufacturing process. Automakers are struggling with tens of billions of dollars in losses, according to NPR , and workers are facing temporary layoffs or hourly cuts.

After the financial crisis, the federal government tried to spur the auto industry by passing legislation that would incentivize car-buying. The industry is currently experiencing a V-shaped recovery, Caldwell said, even without auto-specific initiatives. Certain kinds of cars and certain kinds of customers are keeping the new car market afloat: Aaron Bragman of Cars.

And those buyers are in luck: Interest rates are unusually low, taking some of the shock off of the high price tag. But new and used car dealerships tend to have both different kinds of stock and different demographics of buyers. Pricey SUVs may reign on the lot, but the lack of smaller, cheaper cars forces younger, lower-income buyers out of the new car market.

Demand for used vehicles has risen so much that dealers are reportedly running ads and calling up car owners, according to the New York Times. There are also, they say, buyers who are looking to avoid public transit and ride-sharing in light of the coronavirus. Anecdotally, it certainly seems as though there has been an increase in first-time car buyers — with trend pieces about New Yorkers buying cars popping up from the New York Times to the Wall Street Journal — but industry insiders are not solely crediting these consumers with the increase in demand.

Car lease periods are constantly ending, with many renters considering either a lease extension or a purchase. This increased demand, coupled with the still-recovering supply chain, means that even while sales are down, demand and supply remain tight, allowing prices to stay high and not waver.