A decade or so ago, Honda guessed wrong. It styled the next version of the Pilot, its mainline SUV, after the audacious Hummer H2, at the time one of the hottest vehicles on the road.
Whoops. When the bulky, square-jawed Pilot finally hit the market a few years later, in the spring of 2008, gas prices were soaring toward $4 per gallon for the first time ever. Then the stock market imploded, followed by mounting layoffs and a grueling recession. The Hummer symbolized conspicuous consumption during its heyday in the early 2000s. But by 2008, crass excess was firmly out of favor and Hummer sales tanked. General Motors (GM), which marketed the Hummer, killed it after going through bankruptcy in 2009.
Honda was stuck with the boxy Pilot, however, and soon discovered it had a hard sell on its hands. Since the Pilot evoked the Hummer, car buyers assumed gas mileage was terrible, even though it was comparable to that of other SUVs. Buyers seeking a smooth ride also figured the Pilot would be rough like a truck -- since that’s what it looked like -- which forced Honda to promote the SUV's finer qualities. “No one else went as far in that direction,” says Karl Brauer of car-research site KBB.com. “It was probably the worst idea Honda could have had.”
Honda has finally modernized its flagship SUV, with a new Pilot just arriving in showrooms. And there’s little resemblance between offspring and parent. There’s nary a right angle anywhere on the 2016 Pilot, which Car and Driver describes as “sleek” and “commendably svelte.” During a weekend I spent test-driving the new Pilot, friends and neighbors gathered round with surprising enthusiasm to check out a vehicle they could now safely add to their list of suitable minivan substitutes.
A cultural shift
With the Pilot now tapered, tame and conventional, the rugged SUV is officially relegated to niche status and perhaps even the endangered list. This is more of a cultural moment than might be apparent at first. The sport-utility vehicle became a mainstream thing when Jeep began to market the 4-door Cherokee to regular families in the 1980s. It became a full-blown craze in the 1990s, with Ford (F) and GM producing hits such as the Ford Explorer and Chevy Blazer by strapping station wagon-style cabins onto pickup truck chassis. Every other big automaker jumped on the trend, with sales of SUVs eventually rivaling those of traditional sedans—and huge profit margins temporarily rescuing the otherwise troubled Detroit automakers.
The rise of the SUV mirrored the peak of American consumerism. Equipped with four-wheel drive, it could ford a stream, conquer a trail and make heroic runs to the hospital when somebody needed attention during a blizzard. Industry data showed that fewer than 5% of SUV owners ever took their vehicles off-road, but that didn’t matter. Americans wanted the capability, just in case. Automakers caught on and began to focus their marketing campaigns on people who wanted to see themselves as a “rugged individualist,” even if they spent most of their time locked in the dreary routines of suburban commuters.
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The Hummer H2, derived from the military vehicle Arnold Schwarzenegger had converted to a street-legal ride in the 1990s, was a sensation when it debuted in 2002. Critics blasted its pointless girth and wasteful consumption, yet GM sold 33,000 of them in 2005, the behemoth’s most popular year. Funny thing, though: That was also the peak year for the worst housing bubble in more than a century, fueled by a huge debt binge and near-criminal shenanigans in the lending market. Like the iconic McMansion, the Hummer and other gargantuan SUVs turned out to be more product than Americans could actually afford.
After the wipeout in car and home sales that accompanied the 2008 recession, humbled consumers became more pragmatic. They gravitated toward more modest SUVs, built on car platforms, that can’t necessarily climb Mt. Overcompensation but can navigate confidently in bad weather. Plus, they’re pleasant to drive. Now dubbed “crossovers,” these people-movers have become some of the bestselling vehicles in the business: the Toyota Highlander, Nissan Pathfinder, Chevy Traverse, GMC Acadia, Hyundai Santa Fe, Kia Sorento. If there was once a muscular, bad-mannered forebear, there is now a genteel progeny designed to get the job done efficiently without having to prove anything along the way.
There are still a few SUVs born to be wild, such as much of the Jeep lineup, specialty makes like Land Rover and pricey modifications available for some mainstream SUVs. But look how automakers sell SUVs today: On the Explorer’s web site, Ford emphasizes how “civilized” the vehicle is, while highlighting a thrifty, efficient engine, technology that helps you squeeze into tight parking spaces, and a feature that makes it easier to open the tailgate with a baby in your arms. Honda, likewise, boasts that the new Pilot holds as many passengers as a minivan, features cozy captain’s chairs for kids and can fit a large purse in the center console between the front seats. Oh yeah, there are some trees and gravel in the background in a few of the pictures.
We’re probably better consumers these days, more likely to shop for what we need and less likely to splurge on frills. Good for us. But our sense of adventure has gone AWOL, and marketers know it. Maybe they knew it would happen all along.
Rick Newman’s latest book is Liberty for All: A Manifesto for Reclaiming Financial and Political Freedom. Follow him on Twitter: @rickjnewman.
