4 wheeling getting more popular?

[skidplate98]

This is kinda on the same note as the Montero Sport's Days are numbered post.

It's very interesting that as 4 wheeling is getting more popular. The car and truck/SUV manufactures seem to be heading away from the truck platform. Now I know that 4 wheelers have always been in the minority. But in the next 10 years or so will you be able to even buy a true truck/SUV at all? Everything will have IFS and IRS and be as low as a car and only have AWD. Do you think it will go that far? Even JEEP started making a IFS vehicle. Will the after market product companies want to keep up with trying to make a car in to a true 4x4 that you can take off road?
I figure when I want to buy a new 4x4 in about 10 years or so for 4 wheeling. I will have to buy a something form the 80s or 90s. But that would mean I would be buying a 4x4 that was 20 to 30 years old.

I guess only time will tell.

Skid

[Eonknight]

It is true that most manufacturers are moving in the hybrid direction. That is what sells. People like to know they can tackle rough conditions with relative ease, but let's face it: who is going to take their $45k + SUV out in the rocks and mud and get it all "Rocky mountain pinstriped"? (Although, if I were rich, I'd buy a Porsche Cayenne Turbo (±$100k) and get it all dinged and "pinstriped" and scratched, then drive around town showing all those rich old farts what these things can really do, or claim they can do! ;D ;D) However, I think there will always be some models for the hardcore 4wheelers, at the very least from the Big three. Don't forget, Jeep gave the Liberty an IFS because the late Cherokee was almost never used off-road by their buyers and the hardcore 4wheelers already have a potent ride in the CJ/YJ/TJ. Don't forget most, if not all hardcore trucks are made for the North-American market. Do you think an Expedition or Navigator would sell at all in Japan, or even Europe? The only other markets who might be interested in such vehicles can't afford them (Russia, India, China, most African countries). Do not despair, my friend! Our time hasn't come yet to disapear!

[Stod]

The auto/truck business is just like economics, etc. Everything is cyclical. Human's move in cycles. Dr. Stod's Rule #25: "Humans Do It Every Ten Years - plus or minus a few years here and there"

Look at autos, U.S/worldwide economies, fads/trends, etc. Hell, even Subaru is bringing back the Brat (albiet, under a different name- Baja). About the only thing that doesn't run within Dr. Stod's 10-year rule is sex...unless of course, you're married!

True off-roaders will be back in production in a few years (6-8 by my prediction), trust me.

Cheers,
Stod