USA TODAY: Small Cars Are Detroit's Only Answer

Hill did you even read the article or have you been listening to Ford or GM. Here is the next line that you clipped.

GM has put out the high content cruze and volt, breaking with the past of just throwing out a cheap as possible car. Ford years ago shifted and introduced the higher content euro speced fiesta and focus. Ford also introduced the c-max at comdex including 5 seat hybrid and phev configuration as well as 7 seat gasoline configuration. This is C class based on the smaller focus chasis. Ford guidance is they expect the C class cars to outsell the larger cars like the fusion and camry in the near future as the new cafe standards come into play. Toyota with their guidance said they expected the prius to start outselling the camry when these things happen. So guidence from the 3 biggest auto makers in the united states all are saying the same thing.

If california's carb has their way, regulations will kill cars larger than the fussion/camry and diesel will be outlawed. I like the new cafe standards of 35.5, and subsidies for phev and bev. Making the regulations stronger leaves the unintended consequences of larger new cars being outlawed. This will mean we have a large fleet of old poluting cars on the road.

What was your point?

 

Not to mention the new "small car" Buick Verano, which is essentially an upscale Chevy Cruze. Somebody likely forget to tell GM not to make a car that might directly compete with the BMW 1-series or even 3-series and cost $10K less.

 

Thanks for the laugh.

 

Real men drive trucks, this article is an affront to America and its culture. And if your kids] college education savings are going out your exhaust pipe, that's just the price of being a real man, America @*#( yeah!

 

Hmm...I drive a subcompact...Honda Fit..and I think what we have seen is that there is a market for a subcompact...if you make it "nice". For too many years the subcompact from whatever automaker, was always the cheapest offering the automaker offered...both in price but also usually in build quality and the quality of the components...

I think the success of The Fit...has shown that people will pay a premium if you offer them a subcompact that isn't a piece of garbage....

So you are seeing an increase in the price of the subcompact, but in the case of Fiesta and new ones coming down the pike...also an increase in quality and available ammenities.

Make small nice enough...and you can sell it larger.

 

The problem IMO has nothing whatsoever to do with this conventional wisdom about Americans "wanting" tanks vs smaller vehicles. Americans "want" what they are told to want. What they are told to want is the product of think tanks and bean counters paid for by the manufacturers. From what I have gleaned over the decades, the REAL problem is not that Americans don't "want" smaller cars, it is that the newer post-1950s "American way" is about advertising, shell games and moving paper- NOT breeding solid companies that provide decent, innovative and competitive products.

 

I'm not sure what a "marketing chick" is, but in the bad old days GM, Ford, and Chyrsler lost money on their small cars. Of course they tried to move people to their larger ones, and used emotional arguments. Because of the way CAFE was written, this meant SUVs under the truck definition. I learned in school about the "voluntary" quotas for japaneese small cars that raised prices for the small cars americans wanted to buy. Ford has not used this maketing for a long time. Chrysler hasn't used it since pre-merger. GM did, and then went bankrupt. I can not get mad at the USA today, its a rag in a dying industry. I only read it, when they slip it under my door in the hotel or when someone links to it. So sure, the paper doesn't have the best analysists and is whining about the good ol' days like 2007 when GM said everyone should have an escalade. Now that GM is pushing the cruze and volt the crotchety old reporters are mad. Hell their heros were shown to be bankrupt.

The cover of the first businessweek of the year had plug in cars. The article was mainly about the leaf and volt with a side mention of the future phv prius. Conclusions were these things will have a market, but it will be a small percentage for awhile. The regulators have made conversions hard, and it is better if these things are built in. Most of the business press is enthusiastic about PHEV and BEV cars. USA today is swimming against the current.

ha. I have 2 friends that bought them because they were inexpensive and could hold a lot of stuff. The fit is big compared to the old civic hatchback. Car and driver even said it was fun to drive. Sure you could get a yaris but its not much less.

GM the company that said america wants tanks, along with the govenator that talked it into making the the hummer, are bankrupt or out of office. The government regulations make it hard to for new companies to compete, and built monstrosities that are too big to fail. The 2016 cafe standards and reinvestment acts under bush and obama are the first public policy that promotes efficient small cars. Before that the politicians made small cars more expense.

 

+1. The Fit is about the same size as the first generation Accord and has considerably more power.

 

I've sat inside the first-generation Honda Accord sedan. That model feels cramped even compared to my 1998 Honda Civic HX CVT coupe! And that Accord only had a 72 bhp engine, compared to the 115 bhp on my Civic.

 

Yep, if I can buy it then I can waste it.

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I didn't read the USA Today article, but noticed the subhead (regarding smaller cars): "But the case against them is strong."

(!!)

Next, Henry Ford will arise from his grave and reprise his speech to Congress, asserting that Americans buy their cars by the pound.

This is one case where government regulation is clearly a positive. That, combined with foreign competition, seem to be the only ways to get the American automotive industry to innovate. Why this is, I don't know.

 

Perhaps Chrysler will steal a march on their US-based competitors by importing/rebadging Fiat's excellent range of smaller cars? We're getting Chrysler-branded Lancias in the UK later this year, apparently.

 

what range of cars? pos, all of them.

 

There are rumors that we may see a new range of Dodge-badged small cars based off the next-generation Grand Punto platform in USA in a few years--and will likely be assembled in the USA.