In the minority among SUV owners, Reisman uses his in the rugged outdoors, pulling a boat trailer and volunteering with the Forest Service, and aims to make up for it by rationing his overall energy use. "I don't think of the H2 as an everyday car," he says. "I'm using this resource for what it was intended." Similarly, his other automotive indulgence, a Ferrari, usually sits in his garage.
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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.
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Because Reisman runs an insulation contracting business out of his home, he doesn't burn fossil fuels commuting. When he goes to the gym, it's usually on his mountain bike. The end result, he figures, is that he probably consumes less fuel each month than the compact-car drivers who shoot him nasty looks when he ventures out in his 6,400-pound Hummer.
Not long ago, "the H2 was a very cool thing," he says. "You'd get a lot of thumbs up." The change in attitude toward the massive means of transportation may have had something to do with the war in Iraq, gas prices and "What Would Jesus Drive?" bumper stickers. Or with the TV time purchased by Americans for More Fuel Efficient Cars, a group established by Hollywood notables that two years ago launched scathing spots accusing SUV owners of indirectly financing terrorists.
The TV campaign drew a storm of criticism, especially after vandals torched a Hummer dealership in West Covina, destroying 20 vehicles. But today, one of the group's founders, environmental activist Laurie David, wife of "Seinfeld" producer and comedian Larry David, is feeling "totally vindicated." SUV sales are crumbling like those imitation rock piles upon which the vehicles sometimes are posed at dealerships, like specimens in a natural history museum. Nationwide, full-size SUVs are capturing the smallest share of the market since 1996, according to a recent study by the Power Information Network, and the number of large SUVs sold fell 44% between December 2003 and April 2005, according to www.edmunds.com, which tracks automotive trends.
"When you think about the millions that Detroit spent trying to convince American families that these are the best vehicles to drive, it's a pretty amazing turnabout," says David, a believer in peer pressure. "When this SUV thing started, a lot of my friends had them, so my thing was to get them to reject them. Now, when we have a dinner party, the street outside our house looks like a hybrid dealership."
