I think very highly of Mark Draughn.  I’ve said it before and I will no doubt say it again; He is a very smart guy.  But there is one thing he’s done, and has made flagrantly public, that confounds me.  Last February, Mark bought a RAV4.  What was he thinking?

The RAV4 what they’re calling a “crossover” vehicle—part SUV, part something else. Toyota likes to say it can’t be categorized, but I’d call it a fast and nimble car-like SUV. It’s like my old Camry, but jacked up off the ground just a bit.

This vehicle has been around for at least a decade, long before anybody called anything on wheels a “crossover”.  That’s just the latest marketing term to get people to buy things that used to be called SUVs now that SUVs are going have gone out of fashion.

I looked at the RAV4 years ago when it first came out as a car for my wife.  It was more a tin can on wheels than a trustworthy vehicle at the time.  It was then marketed as a small SUV.  I felt like I could crush it with my hands.  There was something that made me feel that it wasn’t ready to go off road.  Or on road, for that matter.  We got a Jeep instead.  My wife hated that Jeep.

But the sorry truth that I was a slave to SUV fashion came at the beginning of the trend.  There was something alluring about having a rough, tough SUV that could handle anything.  I had a strange romantic illusion that I would be touring Africa in an old, beat up Land Rover Defender.  I blew it.  That was out first and only SUV.  As soon as the lease was over, we got a Saab.

Now I realize that Mark is from Chicago, and that it takes a little longer for trends to work their way from the coast to the middle of America, but this SUV craze has been around for at least 20 years now.  It should have made it there a while back, and be gone already.  So why didn’t Mark get the memo?

Last summer, gas was selling at $2.35 a gallon.  People were outraged.  It was big news.  Today, it’s around $4.05 at the moment, and may hit $12 a gallon by mid-afternoon.  It could happen.  We’ve had an inkling that gas was getting more costly for a while, and even “crossovers” need gas.

So I’m constrained to ask again, what was he thinking?

I keep telling myself it wasn’t foolish of my wife and I to buy our first SUV this year because the high prices are only temporary.

Mark says the RAV4 is the most fun to drive vehicle he’s ever owned.  I would urge him to try an Austin Healey.  If not that, I can provide a list of about 5o that might change his view.  Maybe Mark has been a dedicated K-car buyer for years.  That would explain a lot.

Ford Motor Company announced that they are suspending production of pick-ups and SUVs.

Less than a month after reporting a surprising first-quarter profit, Ford said Thursday that it would drastically scale back production and step up cost-cutting efforts in response to a sharp drop in sales of pickups and sport utility vehicles.

Ford is now forecasting that industry demand for cars and light trucks will be 14.7 million to 15.1 million vehicles — the lowest point in more than a decade.

The biggest losers in the market are the big pickups and S.U.V.’s that Ford and its domestic rivals, General Motors and Chrysler, rely on for much of their profits.

If Mark hurries down to his Ford dealer this morning, maybe he can snag the last Explorer on the lot.  If he thinks it’s fun gassing up the ol’ RAV4, he’s going to have a blast pumping gas into an Explorer.  Plus, it could be the last gas-guzzling SUV produced in the United States of America, and fetch him a nice premium from a collector on eBay someday.  If could happen.