Gas Guzzlers A Hit In China

High, wide and fuel-hungry, the gleaming black Cadillac Escalade on display at the Beijing auto show is an unlikely car for an era of record oil prices.

But while sport utility vehicle sales in the U.S. are tumbling, automakers are finding that for China’s newly prosperous car buyers, bigger is still better.

“The Chinese consumer is still back on the curve of satisfying their basic need for transportation,” said John Parker, Ford Motor Co.’s executive vice president for Asia, “rather than looking at being green.”

SF Chronicle