IRVINE, Calif. -

As summer heats up and high fuel prices have eased, it seems gas sippers are on the way out and consumers are turning their eyes towards vehicles for “heavy-duty” activities.

According to  Kelley Blue Book’s Hot User-Car Report, commercial or utility-oriented vehicles make up the top five segments with the greatest change in traffic share on Kbb.com.

“Based on current economic and shopping trends, dealerships that focus on commercial vehicles could experience an increase in foot traffic in the coming
weeks,” officials explained.

“Also, those dealerships that have a backlog of large utility vehicles can look forward to an opportunity to shed some inventory,” they added.

Specifically, the van segment topped the list, jumping 13.2 percent month-over-month this past June.

Following close behind was the full-size pickup segment, which increased by 9 percent during the last month.

For Kbb.com, shoppers in this segment showed the most interest in the heavy-duty 2008 Chevrolet Silverado.

But the company noted that Ford and Ram also had models with substantial increases.

In fact, according to the July addition of the NADA Guidelines report, the Ford F-150 was the top researched model for this past month. This unit also topped the list during the same period last year.

In the No. 2 position was the Chevrolet Silverado 1500.

Moving on to the recreational utility segment, Kbb.com noted that the full-size sport utility segment drove most of the growth here.

And increased interest in the 2008 Chevrolet Tahoe also played a part, rising by 24.1 percent this month.

The Tahoe is “the sole representative of full-size sport utility vehicles in the top 10 model gainers,” according to the report.

NADAguides.com consumer site trends also showed that the Chevy Tahoe came in 12th for most-researched vehicles in June.