DEMAND CREATING SELLER'S MARKET.

Byline: Gregory J. Wilcox Daily News Staff Writer

With sales of sport utility vehicles booming, consumers won't find themselves in the driver's seat when it comes to negotiating deals.

The reason? It's a seller's market.

"Since we put the Explorer on the market in 1991 we've never put any incentive money in it and we've had a problem since day one of not being able to build enough to meet the demand," said Jim Bright, spokesman for Ford Motor Co.

Ford sold 395,227 Explorers last year, a 42 percent increase from 1994 and jumped to No. 3 on the list of the nation's top-selling vehicles.

So expect dealers to hold fairly firm on their prices.

And expect to pay from the mid-teens to upward of $50,000 for top-of-the-line, fully loaded models. But there are lots of choices all along the price scale. Domestic and foreign automakers offer more than 30 models of sport utility vehicles.

Miller Nissan in Van Nuys sells about 40 Pathfinders a month, said sales manager Eric Lewis.

A completely redesigned model will be available in several weeks and demand is already building.

"We're selling them even before they get here," he said.

The market is also undergoing an upscale change. For example, Lexus has a sport utility vehicle on the market and Mercedes-Benz will have one in showrooms next year.

Toyota's Landcrusier can top out at $50,000.

The Japanese automaker now offers three sport utility vehicles to cover just about all price points.

New to the domestic market this year is Toyota's RAV4, introduced in Japan and Europe in 1994.

Its name stands for recreational active vehicle with four-wheel drive and is priced for entry-level buyers.

Unlike some models from other manufacturers, the RAV4 (and the two-wheel drive RAV2) are based on a car platform, giving the ride more of a car-like quality, said John Hanson, spokesman at Toyota Motor Sales USA Inc. in Torrance.

"It's a tall, roomy little sport utility vehicle," he said.

Prices range from about $15,000 to more than $18,000.

Toyota introduced its third generation 4-Runner mid-priced sport utility.

Demand remains high, Hanson said.

"The dealers can sell every one of these things they get their hands on and in the case of the RAV4 I would imagine that this year there could be a shortage of these vehicles," he said.

And as far as some consumers are concerned, bigger is better.

Woodland Hills resident Cindy Farr has been driving a Jeep Grand Cherokee Laredo for the past three years. She and her husband Keith, sales manager at Team Chevrolet in Pasadena, use it to tow a boat.

Now they have two little girls and are shopping for a new nine passenger Chevy Suburban because they need the added room. There is just not enough space in the Jeep for strollers, toys and groceries, she said.

"As you can see, it doesn't hold that much," she said, opening the rear hatch to her Cherokee.

And while the sport utility market is growing, it comes at the expense of other industry segments, like mid- and full-size cars.