Smaller SUVs driving auto sales

Pickups aren't the only vehicles driving this year's auto sales growth.

Compact crossovers — like the Ford Escape, Honda CR-V and Toyota RAV4 — grew at a faster rate than the overall industry through the first three months of 2013...

..."It's a real sweet spot in the marketplace," said R.L. Polk & Co. analyst Tom Libby in a telephone interview. "It's the right combination of functionality and size and gas mileage."

Sales of small SUVs totaled about 450,000 during the first quarter of this year and made up 12.1 percent of all new-car sales, according to Kelley Blue Book. That's up from 11.2 percent during the same period last year. And the crossovers have nearly doubled their market share from 2007, when they claimed 6.7 percent of the market.