ORIGINAL: lear4406
Simple. so many folks drove SUV dinosaurs and they had such poor gas mileage and as RLSH says gas was cheap. So naturally V-8 rear wheel drive cars were on the horizon and americans wanting the horsepower. Next step was to give the boomers what they longed for, a chance to relive their youth and cruise around in a car that fits their memory and is comfortable to boot. Woof and their you are. And here is where we sit today. Enjoy... its going to be short lived[X(]
Along with this, the demand for these dinosaurs caused the manufacturers to invest more money into their V8 lines which you can credit for inspiring the companies to want to maximize the return on their R&D for these engines which is why we have more muscle cars now.