The SUV's (especially the higher end ones) were bought more by Republican tax cheaters than they were by middle class families, due to an obscure tax loophole intended to help family farmers buy tractors and trucks for their businesses. The tax break is for vehicles of a certain weight. Ordinary passenger cars wouldn't make the cut. But these behemoth SUV's did.
Now that there are legitimate tax breaks for hybrids (not to mention the ridiculous price of gas) that scenario has changed a little, but the foreign owned mfg's got one Hell of a head start in the hybrid game. Of course GM chicken-shitted themselves out of the opportunity to dominate the green car market when they pulled the plug (literally) on their pre-Chimp era electric car.
