’Twas the season for sport-utes

Under the present circumstances, the title might sound optimistic. But as with their Asian utility vehicle counterparts, more sport utility vehicles rolled off the showroom floor this year compared to last year – a difficult achievement considering passenger car sales remained depressed this year despite the appearance of all-new models from no less than heavyweights Honda, Toyota and Nissan.

But in hard times, versatility is often rewarded, and this is where SUVs shine. They (or at least most of them) have the passenger-carrying capacity of vans, the easy-to-drive characteristics of cars and, of course, the go-anywhere capability that only a ruggedly built vehicle like an SUV can provide — never mind that most of them are constrained to rear-wheel-drive only.

Another factor in their bullish sales is the sheer diversity of choice. Small, medium, large, American, Japanese, Korean, German, diesel, gasoline, manual, automatic — it’s all there.

Leading the sales race is the evergreen Mitsubishi Pajero, which has sold 1,982 units in the first 11 months of the year — a good 532 units ahead of yet another perennial sales leader (in its class), the Honda CR-V, which sold 1,450 units in the same period.

Two large SUVs are right behind, with the popular Ford Expedition and Nissan Patrol tallying numbers of 1,209 and 1,042 units, respectively. Fifth most saleable model was the Isuzu Trooper, which found itself in the garages of 847 buyers. The Trooper’s 3.0-liter 16-valve common-rail direct-injection DOHC diesel engine is easily one of the most advanced powerplants in the world.

One sport-ute that could have sold much more than its reported 764 units sold is the Toyota RAV 4. Demand far outstripped supply of this CBU imported mini-SUV; with units already pre-sold even before they sailed off for the port of Manila.

The players from General Motors and its subsidiaries come next, led by the Suzuki Grand Vitara with 195 units sold. It’s followed by the regular Vitara (169), the largest-of-the-genre Chevrolet Suburban (102), and the unique crossover (car cum SUV), the full-time all-wheel-drive Subaru Forester, which garnered 74 sales since its launch last April. Another Suzuki, the smallest-of-them-all 1300-cc Samurai, sold 72 units.

Other notable models are the veteran Nissan Terrano (64 units), the Toyota Prado (55), the Korean-made Musso of Commercial Motors (50), the now-turbodiesel-powered Kia Sportage (29).

High-end luxury models from BMW (the launched-in-September X5), Toyota (Land Cruiser), and Mercedes-Benz (the recently launched ML270) logged sales of 11, 11, and 5, respectively. Expect substantially more X5s to hit the roads next year as the high-end SUV from Bavaria makes its presence more felt.

Among the players that were present last year, those that enjoyed higher sales this year compared to last year are the Pajero, Trooper, RAV 4, Grand Vitara, Patrol, Suburban and Musso.

But if 2001 is a relatively good year for both SUV lovers and manufacturers, 2002 should even be more so – what with the anticipated appearance of the compact Ford Escape, the one size-smaller-than-Suburban Chevy Tahoe and much-awaited all-new Honda CR-V. Get your hiking boots and Eddie Bauer gear ready!