People who tool around in hulking, big-ol sport utility vehicles have been getting dissed a lot lately, but no one has raked them over the coals like the people who sold them the SUVs in the first place. The multbillion-dollar auto industry does extensive research into its customers, and lately that research has focused quite a bit on the people who buy SUVs.



Investigative reporter Keith Bradsher of the New York Times has looked into the SUV phenomenon for years. He's read marketing reports meant only to be seen within the industry; he's interviewed marketing executives from the car companies and from outside research firms. The industry has come to some unflattering conclusions about the people who buy SUVs. As summarized by Bradsher:



"They tend to be people who are insecure and vain. They are frequently nervous about their marriages and uncomfortable about parenthood. They often lack confidence in their driving skills. Above all, they are apt to be self-centered and self-absorbed, with little interest in their neighbors and communitites...



"They are more restless, more sybaric, and less social than most Americans are. They tend to like fine restaurants a lot more than off-road driving, seldom go to church and have limited interest in doing volunteer work to help others."



One of General Motors' top engineers spoke of the difference between minivanners and SUVers: "SUV owners want to be more like, 'I'm in control of the people around me.'" He went on:



"With the sport utility buyers, it's more of an image thing. Sport utility buyers tend to be more like, 'I wonder how people view me,' and are more willing to trade off flexibility or funtionality to get that."



The executive VP for North American auto operations at Honda revealed: "The people who buy SUVs are in many cases buying the outside first and then the inside. They are buying the image of the SUV first, and then the functionality."



Jim Bulin, a former Ford strategist who started his own marketing firm, told Bradsher: "It's about not letting anything get in your way and, in the extreme, about intimidating others to get out of your way." Daniel A. Gorell, who also used to market for Ford and now has his own firm, says simply that SUV drivers are "less giving, less oriented towards others."



Defenders of SUVs have attacked Bradsher for reporting these things, but they always forget the crucial point: Bradsher isn't the one slamming the SUV owners - it's the auto industry itself.