With all the histrionics about rising gas prices coming out of Washington these days, SUVs must be an endangered species in our nation's capital, right? Well, not exactly. At Capitol Cadillac, just inside the Beltway, SUVs are flying off the lot. Last week, former White House chief of staff Andy Card dropped by to pick up a new SRX, Caddy's midsize SUV, says dealer Daniel Jobe. But Jobe's hottest seller, by far, is the newly redesigned chrome-encrusted Cadillac Escalade, an incredible hulk that gets 13mpg in the city. "My biggest problem is not gas prices," says Jobe, "it's getting enough of these trucks."

One in four new models today comes equipped with a gas-thirsty V-8 engine—which is unchanged from last summer, before gas prices spiked, according to new data from J.D. Power. And some of the best-selling rides on the road today are GM's trio of beefy new SUVs—the Chevy Tahoe, the GMC Yukon and that blingy 'Slade, which saw its sales surge 127 percent last month. Meanwhile, last year's "it" car, the hybrid, is becoming a harder sell. Sure, dealers are still selling out of the Prius, but sales of the Honda Accord hybrid plunged 69 percent last month and Ford had to resort to a zero percent financing deal to jump-start its Escape hybrid. For all their megawatt buzz, hybrids still account for just 1 percent of U.S. auto sales and are outsold by SUVs 23-1. "Not a lot of people are jumping up to pay $3,000 extra for a hybrid," says Memphis Toyota dealer Kent Ritchey. "For $3,000, you can buy a lot of gas."

"The new data from the latest AutoVIBES study provides insight into consumers’ future buying intentions," said Rick Wainschel, vice president of marketing research and brand communications for Kelley Blue Book. "Extreme shifts in segment consideration levels reveal just how profound the impact of recent increases in gas prices is on consumers and their vehicle purchase behaviors. This information will be an important bellwether of the long-term effect of this issue on new-vehicle shoppers."

These preliminary April 2006 AutoVIBES data also show an increase in awareness of alternative fuel vehicles. Sixty-six percent of consumers are aware of E85 (a mixture of 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent gasoline), and 59 percent are aware of flex-fuel vehicles (those that can run on either regular gasoline or E85). The April awareness levels for both E85 and flex-fuel vehicles jumped a significant number of points over the previous month (E85 and flex-fuel awareness levels were at 60 percent and 55 percent in March 2006, respectively).

"With gas prices on the rise and continuing to climb, consumers are more aware of and interested in highly fuel-efficient cars now than they have been in the last 25 years," said Jack R. Nerad, executive editorial director and executive market analyst for Kelley Blue Book and kbb.com. "We expect to see increased consumer interest for some of the recently-introduced fuel-efficient sub-compact vehicles such as the Toyota Yaris, Nissan Versa and Honda Fit, in addition to hybrid, flex-fuel and compact models."

Consideration for compact sedans is at an all-time high at 19 percent, up four points from the previous month.

Hybrid vehicle consideration also reached an all-time high in April at 14 percent, which is more than double the percentage of consumers that were considering hybrids last month. (Six percent considered hybrids in March 2006).

In contrast, consideration for mid-size SUVs is at an all-time low at 19 percent, and full-size pickup consideration also is down considerably at 11 percent, a 5 point drop from the previous month.

The Associated Press has photographed Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert (R-IL) ditching his brightly colored hydrogen automobile in favor of a gas-guzzling black SUV after exiting a news conference and photo opportunity at a Washington, DC gas station.

After the conference, which addressed high gas prices, Hastert and other Congressmen had been carted away in fuel saving and alternatively powered automobiles. Just blocks away from the scene, Hastert was photographed ditching his in favor of his usual official car.

For security purposes, congressional leaders' official cars are required to be armored, limiting their choices in those respects mostly to vans or SUVs. Time magazine reported in December that House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi has searched unsuccessfully for a suitably armored hybrid.

The researchers looked at accidents involving nearly 4,000 children under age 16 between 2000 and 2003, and found child injury rates of about 1.7 percent in both cars and SUVs. The study examined only 1998 or newer cars and SUVs with second-generation air bags.

On average, the SUVs weighed 1,300 pounds more than the cars studied. The study found that the extra weight of SUVs enhanced safety, reducing the risk of injury by more than a third.

But that was offset by findings that SUVs were more than twice as likely as cars to roll over in crashes.

Children in rollovers were three times more likely to be seriously injured than those in non-rollover accidents, according to the study.

Although sales of truck-based SUVs are down from their peak of nearly 3 million units in 2000, "the total SUV market keeps growing," said Ford's George Pipas.

The growth of SUV sales is coming from so-called "crossovers" or CUVs, which are car-based vehicles. In fact, Pipas predicted that crossover sales would surpass SUV sales in 2006, nearly three or four years earlier than previous projections.

Currently, about 2.45 million traditional SUVs have been sold through 2005 versus sales of 2.24 million CUVs, and the sales figures for those segments will flip next year, Pipas forecasted.

Mazda has just announced that it will be bringing several never-before seen vehicles to crown its display at the 2006 North American International Auto Show which takes place this coming January. Aside from showing updates to the Mazda6 and the all-new MX-5 roadster, it will be bringing a pair of economy-sized concepts and a unique design study. Mazda will also be debuting its all-new CX-7 crossover utility vehicle.

The Kabura Concept is the third and final vehicle in Mazdas global design trilogy. This three-part series is a showcase of the many cultural influences that surround each of its design studios. Named after the Japanese term used for the first arrow into battle, the Kabura was styled and built at Mazdas design center in California. It follows the European-designed Sassou subcompact and the Japanese-designed Senku concept.

Based off of the MX-5s floorpan and powertrain, the Kabura is a lightweight, rear-wheel drive sports car designed to emphasize the pleasures of driving, without sacrificing versatility. Mazda has already proven this point twice over with its current generation of sports cars - the astonishingly practical four-door RX-8 and the latest MX-5 with its impressively sized trunk. Fans of Mazda no doubt look forward to seeing what surprises are in store with the Kabura.

An August survey by AutoExtra.com found that three out of four driving-age students own cars, half of which were purchased by parents. Of the 500 parents polled in the survey, 82 percent said they bought used cars and most of them cost under $10,000.

Fall is a prime time for teens' first car purchases, especially this year, as July's record high auto sales led to a surplus of cars from trade-ins, which means there's more selection and lower prices on used car lots. But while they were looking for less expensive cars for their children, 90 percent of parents polled in AutoExtra.com's survey cited safety and reliability as their biggest concerns.

As a general rule, safety-conscious parents tend to focus on car size, said Jonathan Adkins, communications director for the Governors Highway Safety Association. Adkins said parents often buy SUVs because they think bigger is better. But only the newest models of SUVs have electronic stability control to prevent rollovers and many parents can only afford the used models.

"It's kind of hard to be arguing to conserve gasoline when you're driving around in a Ford Expedition that guzzles it down at a 6- to 8-mile per gallon clip," Bush said last month.

"You need to practice what you preach," Richardson said.

In the Ford case, NHTSA has received more than 550 complaints of engine fires from the cruise control switch. There have been allegations of three deaths in cases cited in news reports or lawsuits in Iowa, Georgia and Arkansas.

The affected vehicles include: 1994-2002 model F-150s, 1997-2002 Expeditions, 1998-2002 Navigators and 1994-1996 Broncos equipped with factory-installed speed control.

"We have a solution that fixes the problem and we're confident that this is going to be the right remedy," said Ford spokeswoman Kristen Kinley.

Ford said its inquiry found that brake fluid could leak through the cruise control's deactivation switch into the system's electrical components, leading to potential corrosion. The corrosion could lead to a buildup of electrical current which could cause overheating and a fire.

"Gasoline prices are not killing the market, just putting a bit of a drag on it," Schnorbus said. "The sales surge we saw in June and July was caused by incentives overpowering high gasoline prices."

Schnorbus noted that the increase in incentives in June and July created a sales jump similar to what the industry experienced in 2004 when automakers boosted incentives.

"The incentives are different and it's slightly earlier than last year, but it has created a similar boost in sales," Schnorbus said. "Once the 2005 models are gone, sales will return to a more temperate pace."

One vehicle segment that had been struggling in a flourishing market is full-size SUVs, but Schnorbus noted that it has received a large boost from the employee programs. Still, full-size SUV sales are down 12 percent on a year-to-date basis and the segment’s market share has slipped to 3.57 percent from 4.14 percent in 2004. In addition, premium luxury SUV sales are down 7.92 percent compared to a year ago, while the other SUV segments—entry, midsize and entry luxury—are all experiencing year-over-year sales growth.

"The SUV market is not going to disappear as a result of high gasoline prices," Schnorbus said. “In fact, it will grow over the five-year forecast horizon."

The Arnage Drophead Coupé, based on the 2005 Arnage sedan, is the successor to the hugely successful Bentley Azure convertible. It is powered by a 450-horsepower, 6.75-liter twin-turbocharged V8 engine. The first of the four-seater convertibles will be ready for delivery in spring 2006. Bentley chairman Dr Franz-Josef Paefgen described the car as "the most sensationally beautiful convertible."