(FORTUNE Magazine) – Sport-utility vehicles like Chrysler's Jeep Cherokee and Ford Motor's Explorer are becoming increasingly popular among younger parents who don't want the dowdy image of a station wagon or the respectability of a minivan. Many of these light trucks are sold with four-wheel drive and are just as good at transporting kids to soccer practice as climbing mountains. Says George Peterson, president of AutoPacific, a marketing consulting firm in Santa Ana, California: ''When a woman doesn't want to get marked as a suburban housewife, she'd rather have a sport-utility vehicle than a minivan.'' Automotive News estimates that sport utilities will account for 7.9% of all sales in the U.S. this year, up from 4.8% in 1986. That means dollars for Detroit, which has 83.7% of the growing market (see chart), vs. 78.7% last year. Security analyst John Casesa of Wertheim Schroder believes Ford and Chrysler make up to $6,000 on an Explorer or Jeep Cherokee. The Explorer has the current 1992 lead, with 123,677 sold through May, vs. ( 59,224 for Cherokees. Biggest challenger from Japan: the Isuzu Rodeo, with 15,525 sold. General Motors' Chevrolet S10 Blazers (sales 52,414) have not kept pace in this tough market and GM has announced a $2,000 customer rebate on the vehicles. One buyer who switched from a Blazer is Mike Ruskin, 40, a contractor in Marietta, Georgia. He lugs his equipment and family around in his 1992 Explorer. Not that every owner heads up a rocky trail. Says AutoPacific's Peterson: ''While these are the most hard-core vehicles that can be purchased, 70% are probably never used off-road at all.''

CHART: NOT AVAILABLE CREDIT: FORTUNE CHART/SOURCE: AUTOMOTIVE NEWS CAPTION: U.S. MARKET SHARE FOR SPORT-UTILITY VEHICLES