ATLANTA - If the roughneck Jeep Wagoneer of the early '60s was the father of the modern sport-utility vehicle, then the new luxury SUVs roaring into the market are its haughty and extravagant offspring. <br>
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Chunky and rugged on the outside, they boast the smooth ride and interior appointments of finer European luxury sedans. <br>
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Models by such vaunted makers as Mercedes-Benz and BMW are being snapped up by executives, status seekers and upper-income soccer moms unwilling to settle for a minivan or the same garden variety SUV as the folks next door. <br>
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With sticker prices starting at around $35,000, they're not for everybody. <br>
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But the burgeoning demand for SUVs with classic nameplates has drawn entries from most luxury carmakers, with new models due later this year from Volvo and Porsche, the latter a brand more commonly associated with 0-to-60 than cargo space and leg room. <br>
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James Thome, a vice president with WebMD Incorporated in Atlanta, says he came from a ``Mercedes family,'' so the Mercedes-Benz ML320 was a logical choice when he went SUV shopping two years ago. <br>
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The thirty-three-year-old Thome says he and his wife liked Mercedes' reputation for reliability and comfort, plus enough room to load up their two dogs for an extended road trip. And, he says, ``It's a little bit of the mystique of a Mercedes. It's a little bit about having that hood ornament.'' <br>
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Csaba Csere, editor-in-chief of Car and Driver magazine, says SUVs became a boon for luxury carmakers over the past two or three years, with some of them now outselling venerable sedans in their line.
