What's the Future of Small Cars in the U.S.?

[Thirty-Nine]

http://www.subcompactculture.com/2016/11/sales-whats-future-of-small-cars-in-us.html

With lower gas prices, it seems like there hasn't been as much enthusiasm about small cars lately. No groundbreaking new cars, no no hot hatches (e.g. Fiesta ST, Abarth .. where's our turbo Yaris?). Maybe I've just had scope creep since I've been working on my Jeep a lot, but it just doesn't seem like there's been much small car buzz recently.

[IllusionX]

I read GM is struggling with small calls and lays off 2800

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[Thirty-Nine]

I read GM is struggling with small calls and lays off 2800

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More room for truck production, likely. FCA is doing the same thing. Heck, they're killing the Dart off.

[justanotherdrunk]

me me me/ entitled thinking ... so many people buying ridiculous/ giant/ expensive vehicles

cheap gas now ... it wont last

free money (low interest rates) ... it wont last

huge numbers of people living beyond their means ... the debtor lifestyle

what about the focus rs ... its pretty cool!

[bronsin]

1990 civic got 35 mpg.

What's a 2016 civic get? Bet it's not 35.

[Hershey]

People are going with 6 year loans to get lower monthly payments to get large vehicles . Meanwhile the book value goes down and end up upside down when time to trade , making for a larger loan for next vehicle . Remember when owners of large vehicles were setting them on fire to get out of the loan . Amazing how consumers have short memories .

[kevinj93]

Looks like we're starting to go the same way here in Australia.

For the last three years, the top selling vehicle here was the Corolla, but it looks like it's about to loose that spot to the Toyota Hilux.with the Ford Ranger in second place.

[tmontague]

Big cars to fuel big egos, its no surprised with our consumer driven never ending desire type society.

Eventually it will level out, people living well beyond their means is the new norm and many don't like being told that is what they are exactly doing

[IllusionX]

Well, I'm looking into a large SUV (7 seater) as a next vehicle. It's either that, or a mini van. We refuse to drive a mini van.

Maybe when the kids are a little older, gonna opt for a large sedan.

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[tmontague]

Our "mini van" was the Vibe we bought, also didn't want a mini van and the Vibe is surprisingly spacious. Next "big" vehicle will be a Subie outback

[IllusionX]

Our "mini van" was the Vibe we bought, also didn't want a mini van and the Vibe is surprisingly spacious. Next "big" vehicle will be a Subie outback
That wouldn't work with 3 young kids. I need something that can fit 3 car seats.

A Mazda 5 is doing the job (for now), but we really need more storage space. I have just enough to put the stroller now.

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[tmontague]

No kidding, you'd need a pretty big vehicle for 3 car seats

[hhcchen]

there are recent news about the new Nissan micra and Honda wr-v... if you count them as groundbreaking new cars...
oh, and Toyota c-hr...

[Thirty-Nine]

1990 civic got 35 mpg.

What's a 2016 civic get? Bet it's not 35.

31 cit, 42 highway, 35 combined.

Comparing a 1990 Civic and a 2017 Civic is hardly apples to apples. The only thing similar is the name.

Chevy Sprint got upwards of 50 mpg back in the day. It was also a deathtrap, uncomfortable, and tinny. However, it does prove two things:

- People would buy "poverty spec" cars back then.
- With fewer safety/comfort/performance amenities, you could get better fuel economy.

[joell]

Reading something about small cars: "Small cars help automakers meet corporate average fuel economy standards (CAFE), thus allowing them to sell more highly profitable, but less fuel efficient large cars."
So, manufacturers will still build or import small cars, even if the margins of profit are slim or sell at loss.
Small cars made for the US market are more equipped (especially in safety) than the ones sold here in my country and more cheap. Economic conditions and the roads are different too, but they need to profit so they will build what people buys. : (

[bronsin]

Comparing a 1990 Civic and a 2017 Civic is hardly apples to apples. The only thing similar is the name.
.

Sure it is. The public wants big cars and the manufacturers oblige by making every model larger and larger with ever larger more powerful engines as time goes by. Burning more and more gas and costing us more and more to by our cars.

Crazy.

[tmontague]

Keep in mind Toyota's mpg figures are fairly easily surpassed in the real world. Most others are highly over estimated and in the real world you achieve much lower numbers

[ern-diz]

Isn't there something to be said about safety, too? I never give much thought to how well I'll be able to walk away from an accident in my Yaris, but when I do, I think about how much better my chances are in a big truck.

Hard to fault folks for needing extra family space, or just wanting to feel a little more protected.

[tarkus]

Next "big" vehicle will be a Subie outback I'm not hearing or seeing good things with Subie reliability. I would have thought you would be happier saying with a Toyota, like maybe the Rav4?

My 'big' family car is a 2006 Camry. It has over 250,000 km on it and runs flawlessly, not even using any oil. You could also easily fit three child seats in the back if you wanted.


there are recent news about the new Nissan micra and Honda wr-v...
The Micra has been around many years in Europe, and this one in North America looks pretty much the same as the one in Europe. Reviews say that it's noisy at highway speed. [emoji107]


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[Thirty-Nine]

If Nissan would bring the Micra to the U.S., it'd likely be my next car. However, the Yaris, nearly 10 years old now, just keeps going and going. Plus it's only got 86,000 on it.

[tarkus]

You don't have the Micra in the US? I've started seeing them around in Canada. Like I said, the reviews give it a poor rating for highway driving. I would never buy one. The Yaris is such a fun drive, and rock solid reliable too.

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[joell]

If Nissan would bring the Micra to the U.S., it'd likely be my next car. However, the Yaris, nearly 10 years old now, just keeps going and going. Plus it's only got 86,000 on it.

They will need to offer something different than the 3 cylinder engines that Nissan anounced, probably the classic 1.6 from the Versa Note, because people complain about power.It seems like a nice car, made to change the model (like the thrid gen Yaris!) from the cute round design to something more aggresive with french touches from the Renault Clio.
It is planned to be assembled en Mexico like the next Kia Rio, that also is in process of a design change next year.

[Thirty-Nine]

They will need to offer something different than the 3 cylinder engines that Nissan anounced, probably the classic 1.6 from the Versa Note, because people complain about power.It seems like a nice car, made to change the model (like the thrid gen Yaris!) from the cute round design to something more aggresive with french touches from the Renault Clio.
It is planned to be assembled en Mexico like the next Kia Rio, that also is in process of a design change next year.

In Canada, the Micra gets the 1.6 from the Versa.

[kimona]

The basic 2016 (Canadian) Nissan Micra comes standard with the 1.6L and 5-speed transmission, 60/40 split folding rear seats, no A/C, no power package, but some surprisingly nice interior features... all for only CDN $9988. Yikes, that's only about US $7400!

I drove a 2015 Micra when I was in Montreal a couple of months ago, and it was a really decent and rather peppy little car. Yes, it has had some bad press about noise levels at highway speeds, but so too has the Yaris.

http://www.nissan.ca/en/cars/micra?next=header.vehicles.postcard.vlp.image

[tarkus]

You know you want to move to Canada! 😀

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[kimona]

You know you want to move to Canada! ��

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I'm actually a Canadian citizen and still own my house in Montreal... where we've always loved small cars!

[thebarber]

My echo is loud on the highway, too

Micra is nice...same features as my stripper Yaris

@illusion, you CAN fit 3 rear facing seats in a gen1 vibe/matrix...just can't buy Costco graco seats. We ran sunshine kids britax seats (iirc). Theyre narrow and safer. And a longer-than-normal life. You don't need a van or SUV or pickup

[NYC-SE]

You know you want to move to Canada! ��

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After last week about half of US wants to too.

[scratchpaddy]

Chevy Sprint got upwards of 50 mpg back in the day. It was also a deathtrap, uncomfortable, and tinny. However, it does prove two things:

- People would buy "poverty spec" cars back then.
- With fewer safety/comfort/performance amenities, you could get better fuel economy.There's still an enthusiast community around the old Suzuki Swift (The Sprint, and Geo Metro that followed, were rebadged Swifts). A guy I know has a small collection, one turbo 3-cylinder and two twincam 1.3L 4-cylinders.

https://photos.smugmug.com/Cars/Geo-Metro/i-nzcQCvV/0/L/2016-5%20007-L.jpg (https://photos.smugmug.com/Cars/Geo-Metro/i-nzcQCvV/0/O/2016-5%20007-O.jpg)

These cars only weighed 1600 pounds, and man, they can haul. This guy drives around with this sticker in his back window, and this is in Arizona. He's got guts.

https://photos.smugmug.com/Cars/Scottsdale-Pavilions/i-c8tBv3p/0/L/2016-1%20077-L.jpg (https://photos.smugmug.com/Cars/Scottsdale-Pavilions/i-c8tBv3p/0/O/2016-1%20077-O.jpg)

Yes, big trucks have the mass advantage in a crash, but we've come a long way from the tin cans of the previous century. Even Smart Cars take huge impacts amazingly well.

If I needed a lot of space, I'd wish for a wagon, but buy a minivan because no one sells wagons in this country. Contrary to apparently everyone, I feel less secure when sitting up high on the road. I like it down low.