httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PjY5f4zdk-I

Suzuki, the Japanese car company that produced the ubiquitous Geo Metro back in the day, is all about their new “Live Large. Drive Small” campaign. Even though Suzuki makes a small SUV called the Grand Vitara, the company is mostly know internationally for cars like the Swift (Metro in the US) and its Japanese Kei cars.

Now, the real question is whether this gimmick is true to life or just a marketing tactic based on what Suzuki wishes was true. Having been at the LA Auto Show all day, I can tell you first hand that neither on roads nor in the showroom is the SUV dead. While many more of the SUVs featured this time around were hybrids or E85-capable vehicles, there was no shortage of them.

In fact, some of the SUVs the car companies are labeling a “new style” of SUV were on hand and still under-performing as far as fuel economy goes. A friend of mine has the pleasure of test driving a Ford Flex as part of the EcoDrivingUSA program, but was only able to manage 14.1 mpg with it. Not to trash the Flex in particular, but I don’t think we can throw the towel in on the SUV just yet?

What’re your thoughts? Will we ever be free of the SUV or will they just get lower in numbers and greener?

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If you haven’t noticed, people aren’t exactly keen on driving trucks and SUVs these days. This isn’t just affecting commuters, but also city governments, businesses, and truckers. Just last month the F150 finally fell from it’s position as the best-selling vehicle in the US, and now it’s come out the Ford is delaying the release of the iconic truck.

Originally, production of the 2009 F150, a highly anticipated redesign, was supposed to begin production this month. According to Edmunds, however, that production schedule has now been pushed back two months until August and September. This is amid news from Ford that the company will be scaling back its production of trucks and SUVs while working on a more fuel efficient vehicle lineup.

Ford will be rereleasing it’s Fiesta subcompact, to be built in Mexico, in 2010. Ford also plans to update its popular compact car, the Focus, so that it is common with the European model. The 2011 Focus will not only be redesigned, but should get much better mileage as the company looks to compete with the Honda Civic and Toyota Corolla.

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