Shifting down

If Spokane-area drivers detest the idea of $3-per gallon gas, they’re not trading in their rigs for a Toyota Prius or a smart four-cylinder Saturn.

While some drivers may have parked their fuel-gobbling cars and started taking a bus to work, new and used-car dealers say they see continued interest in two Northwest standbys — pickups and SUVs.

The one change is a growing preference for newer, more fuel-efficient pickups and SUVs, several area dealers said.

“Out here where we live, people need something to tow a motorcycle, or a boat or a snowmobile,” said Bill B.J. Honeycutt, owner of B J Motors in Spokane. That recreational vehicle lifestyle is paramount in the Northwest and rising fuel prices won’t change it, said Honeycutt.

Mike White, general manager at Parker Toyota in Coeur d’Alene, has noticed a recent decreased interest for heavier, eight-cylinder SUVs and heavy trucks.

“I think what’s happening is that there are a lot of people waiting and seeing what will happen next,” said White.

Dealers Auto Auction Northwest, which sells vehicles at a weekly auction at its showrooms on the West Plains, has seen a similar drift toward less-expensive vehicles.

“We’ve seen smaller vehicles in the four-wheel-drive SUV market have been very strong entire year,” said Greg Mahugh, general manager at Dealers Auto Auction Northwest.

Heavier and higher-mileage SUVS, like Ford Expeditions and Suburbans, have lost 20 to 40 percent of their auction value in the past year, said Mahugh.

Mahugh said Dealers Auto Auction Northwest — which offers vehicles on consignment after screening them for reliability — is selling as many vehicles this year as last. It averages about 1,400 vehicles per week at its auctions, which draw several hundred auto dealers from across the Northwest.

Mahugh is seeing more interest by dealers in lighter “crossover” SUVs like the Hyundai Santa Fe. Smaller pickups and reliable four-cylinder cars are attracting stronger dealer interest the past two months, said Mahugh.

Overall, he added, pickups and SUVS are down as a total percent of overall Dealers Auto Auction Northwest inventory, compared to last year. “But that drop is slight, not huge,” he said.

White, from Coeur d’Alene’s Parker Toyota, is part of that trend toward better fuel-efficiency.

White said he’s seen multiple-vehicle families trading in a heavier rig for a smaller SUV or a smaller passenger car, said White.

“The average household in this market has either a big SUV or a pickup, plus a car. Some of those people are replacing one of those (larger vehicles) with a better-mileage car,” White said. “Most of them realize they were using that vehicle more or less as a passenger car. So they may as well get one for that purpose.”

Wendle at Northtown Sales Manager Scott Poole said the dealership saw a burst of consumer interest in smaller vehicles when gas prices went to $3 a gallon in the region.

“Once the prices settled into the high $2s, they changed and we see people going back to normal,” said Poole.

Used-Jeep dealer Honeycutt has seen only a tiny shift among his clientele, which he says are the outdoors-minded people who need a sturdy rig to get them to a ski hill or a remote mountain cabin.

“We sell Jeeps 12 months a year. They keep selling,” he said. “People coming (to our lot) might be looking at six-cylinder (engines) instead of eight. But people are looking and buying,” said Honeycutt. “They (Jeeps on our lot) have not lost any value. Compared to a year ago, they’re up in value, not down.”