Who Killed the SUV?

New GM Hummers sit on a car lot in Arkansas.

Photo: AP Photo/Danny Johnston)

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General Motors, the master of the mammoth Hummer, the sultan of the SUV, is scaling back.

With Americans choosing smaller, fuel-efficient cars as gas prices hover around $4 a gallon, GM announced Tuesday that it will stop making SUVs and pickup trucks at four North American factories by 2010, the New York Times reported. In a separate analysis, the Times noted that a fully loaded Ford F-250 pickup would cost a buyer $30,000 in fuel over five years of average use. Ford, too, has announced plans to scale back production of big cars and trucks.

GM, famously skewered in the 2006 documentary Who Killed the Electric Car?, is turning its attention to those small, efficient and innovative models that use less gasoline, or none at all. It may even shop its Hummer line to willing buyers.

If you are in the market for a new car, consult this list of the most fuel-efficient 2008 models. Or, if you're shopping for a used car, consult fueleconomy.gov, an Environmental Protection Agency-Department of Energy Website that lets you compare the fuel efficiency of vehicles.

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