Sure, SUVs Are Back--But They're Not Your Father's SUVs

Bad news for green-car fans: SUVs are back, and sales are stronger than ever.

Good news: They're not the same old SUVs.

Don't resign yourself to a hermetically-sealed, solar-powered bunker to avoid the pollution from all those sport utilities just yet.

The new SUVs and crossovers are significantly different from the ones that first rose to prominence 25 years ago.

As Bloomberg reports, SUV sales are going gangbusters right now.

Jeep sold 41 percent more cars last month than it did in June. The Chevy Tahoe number increased by over a half. The diminutive Buick Encore soared 80 percent.

While parts of the Jeep range, and certainly the Tahoe, are designed along the lines of 'old-school' SUVs with large engines and bodies mounted on separate frames, all are significantly more economical than their forebears.

And the Encore is one of a growing range of vehicles in a class that hardly existed 15 years ago: the compact crossover.

MORE: Ten Compact Crossovers With Great Gas Mileage

Okay, Honda's CR-V, Toyota's RAV4, and the Subaru Forester have been around since the mid-1990s.

But the last few years have seen an explosion of smaller SUV-styled vehicles that get closer on fuel efficiency to regular sedans and hatchbacks than any previous SUV.

The best compact crossovers are rated at more than 30 mpg combined, and some offer highway mileage in the mid-30s. That's not so far behind the latest generation of regular compact vehicles.

That buyers can now have SUV style with regular-car economy is clearly proving popular: IHS Automotive figures show that SUVs and crossovers made up 36.5 percent of vehicle sales this year through May.