Cars eat SUV's and pickups

Sales of the smallest, cheapest cars, which generally use the least fuel, are booming as overall industry sales are falling, according Autodata.

The reality is that Americans continue to buy more trucks than cars, despite fuel prices setting daily records. But … cars are creeping back toward half the sales mix. Their share was 47.2% last month, up a few tenths from the past two years.

One buyer who's taken the vow is Jason Francis of Corona, Calif. "The big dinosaurs are going away," says Francis, 38, a real estate agent who traded in both his big pickup and the family SUV during the past year.

Francis says he was spending $160 a week on gas for his Dodge Ram 1500 quad-cab pickup and Ford Expedition SUV. He traded the pickup last year for a Toyota Scion xB compact car. His wife let go of the Expedition this month for Ford Taurus X, a crossover based on the Taurus sedan. usatoday/business