Why Americans are loving SUVs again

The American love affair with trucks and SUVs hit a fever pitch in 2015.

A record 69 percent of all the cash that buyers plunked down for new vehicles went toward “light trucks” last year, government data show. The category includes not only popular models like the Ford F series pickups, but also minivans and sport-utility vehicles such as the Honda CR-V.

Seven years ago, sales of light trucks accounted for a smaller 54 percent of all the money spent on new vehicles. A spike in gasoline prices in 2008 to record highs briefly curbed demand for gas guzzlers, spurring buyers to seek smaller cars with better gas mileage.

The ongoing shift toward larger vehicles resumed after the end of the Great Recession and it sped up in 2015 after gasoline prices plunged to the lowest levels since 2009. The amount of money consumers spend on light trucks last year jumped 11 percent.

By contrast, revenue derived from the sale of new cars fell almost 9 percent last year, according to annual figures compiled by the Commerce Department.

Car sales in dollar terms have dropped two straight years, but automakers don’t mind. Sales of light trucks are easily more profitable.

Altogether, Americans purchased a record 17.5 million new vehicles in 2015. Some 9.7 million light trucks were purchased, a 13 percent jump from the prior year.

Aside from cheaper gas, zero-interest-rate loans also encouraged many buyers to trade in aging vehicles that they had held onto in the aftermath of the Great Recession.

Some critics contend the no-rate loans are attracting too many riskier borrowers. Default rates have risen slightly, but they are still close to record lows set last summer.

Total spending on new vehicles climbed 4.1 percent last year, Commerce said.