Some Americans will drive trucks, no matter cost

By Andrea Hopkins

LAWRENCEBURG, Indiana (Reuters) - Seven women pile out of a massive white Chevrolet Suburban and unload the vacuums, mops and buckets of their trade. Gasoline may cost $4 a gallon, but the Chevy's driver and business owner Leesa Baldwin has no intention of downsizing to a smaller vehicle.

"I love my Suburban. I don't like paying for the gas, but it simplifies my life," said Baldwin, who bought the used 7,000-pound SUV two years ago for her cleaning business and hasn't looked back.

As many Americans abandon SUVs and light trucks for more fuel-efficient vehicles, analysts and automakers alike are scrambling to gauge how low ownership will go -- and just who will remain die-hard drivers of SUVs, pickups and minivans.

"There's always going to be a certain market for these vehicles -- large families, people towing boats or horses. They have a purpose, and only recently became a substitute for passenger vehicles," said Samantha Gross, an analyst at Cambridge Energy Research Associates.

Baldwin represents one core constituency of truck and SUV users -- business owners who cannot do without the cargo space, seating capacity or strength of a big vehicle.

The petite mother of three uses seven workers to clean homes and offices of some 70 clients. She's tried using two cars to transport workers and gear, but it didn't work. One carload might come later and do less work. The second driver had to be paid extra. Workers bickered more.

Plus, the big Chevy with its three rows of seating and wide barn doors at the back loads and unloads easily -- a feature that allows the workers, three vacuum cleaners and assorted gear to disperse with military precision at hourly intervals.

Baldwin puts about half a tank of gas in the vehicle every week -- it cost $71 last time around -- and drives about 40 miles a day shuttling between work sites.

"Buying it was the best thing I ever did," Baldwin said.

SUSTAINED PAIN

Most Americans drove cars until just a few years ago, and only shifted recently to so-called "light trucks" -- which include pickups, with an open truck bed behind the passenger cab; sport-utility vehicles, with an enclosed bed or cargo space; and minivans.

In 1980, just 2 million light trucks were sold annually, about 20 percent of new vehicle sales. By 1990, light trucks made up about a third of sales, and by 2001 they'd overtaken cars as the preferred ride of U.S. buyers.

Light truck sales hit a peak at 61 percent of new vehicle sales in July 2005, representing an annual sales rate of more than 12 million vehicles.

But sky-rocketing oil prices have brought demand to a screeching halt. Light truck sales dropped to less than 48 percent of new vehicle sales in April and 44 percent in May -- the first time they were below 50 percent since 2001. At that pace, only 6 million will be sold in 2008.

In June, sales of domestic and imported light trucks were down 19.4 percent from the same month of last year, the automakers said on Tuesday.