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The continuing increase in the cost of gasoline led to a pair of contrasting features on ABC and NBC. NBC opted for cute, sending Kevin Tibbles on a test drive of DaimlerChrysler's fuel efficient SmartCar. "On the street," the eight-foot-long two-seater is "a head-turner." After nine years of sales in Europe, the "glorified golf cart" is about to be imported for sale and already 13,000 potential American customers have put down their $99 deposits. At the other end of the spectrum, ABC's Dean Reynolds inquired into why, despite higher fuel costs, sales of the "biggest, most gas guzzling, luxury" Sports Utility Vehicles are increasing. He found an answer in an ABC News poll that uncovered "stark differences between haves and have nots." While a majority of low income earners (54% in under $35K/yr households) regards the price of gasoline as "a serious hardship," most of those in the upper middle class (55% in over $75K/yr households) find it "no hardship at all." So the Suburban skews upscale.
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