Arkansas SUV sales soar
By: Import User
Updated: January 7, 2009
New statistics released today from the United States Census Bureau show registrations of sport utility vehicles in Arkansas increased 74 percent from 1997 through 2002. The survey also shows that during the same time period the number of pickup trucks in Arkansas decreased four percent. The numbers were 127 thousand 800 in 1997 and 222 thousand 700 in 2002, an increase of 94 thousand 900. The statistics prove healthy for automobile dealerships across the state, whose owners say their SUV`s are good family vehicles.
However, environmentalists, like the state chapter of the Sierra Club, say the vehicles are big polluters. Jack Caldwell Junior of Conway, who heads the Arkansas Automobile Dealers` Association, said the SUV has replaced the family station wagon and attributes its popularity to its many uses. But Glen Hooks of Little Rock, a regional conservation organizer for the Sierra Club in Arkansas, said SUVs fail on both fuel economy and preventing pollution.
