Twilight of the sedans.

andys120

It's no secret that the traditional trunk-back four door sedan is fading in popularity as sales of pickups, SUVs and crossovers boom. In December the best selling vehicle in the US without a pickup bed was the Nissan Rogue followed by it's rivals the CR-V and the RAV4. They were followed by Camrys Corollas and Civics

I don't expect the sedan to disappear but I think the traditional FWD vanilla sedan will see a sharp decline in market shares and I think sedans of the future will be sportier, more stylish and driven by all four wheels. Have you noticed that for the last couple of years Toyota's ads
for the Corolla and Camry have emphasized sportiness and fun. I thought 'Yota was losing it because those were traditionally bought be folks craving practicality and reliability.

Then it occurred to me that they were perhaps noting the upsurge in popularity of SUVs, CUVs and pickups and looking forward to the day when few would regard sedans as practical
(compared to utes and p-ups) but might consider a sedan for performance and style.

I realize that I'm supposing a lot but anyone with eyes can see that the makeup of the automotive fleet is changing dramatically and the makers will have to adapt to it. I'm sure you'll feel free to tell me if you agree or not.

Full disclosure: I own a four-door sedan and have never owned a utility or pickup although I've had an AWD Audi A4 Avant/wagon.

PF_Flyer

Forgot hatchbacks! A hatch is just a vertical trunk lid... sort of

andys120

PF_Flyer said:

Forgot hatchbacks! A hatch is just a vertical trunk lid... sort of

Hatchbacks are only a tiny part of the automobile fleet in the USA, unless you count SUVs and crossover utes, all of which invariably have a "vertical trunk lid"

Michaell

Just found this thread ... I'll chime in with my thoughts.

As I've bought cars in the past, I've always thought about the utility of the vehicle. Occasionally, I'll try to go against conventional wisdom on what style of car I want.

3 years ago, I was fixated on a hatchback. Sat in and test drove a few different makes and models (Focus, Mazda 3, Elantra GT). Ended up leasing the Elantra as I liked the feature set and pricing the most.

Once that lease was up, I was in the market for another value vehicle - but, I didn't want another hatch. Figuring that sedans were on the wane, I ended up with a VW Jetta.

The other vehicles in my household are a MINI Countryman and a Subaru Outback.

Mr_Shiftright

It's all smoke and mirrors....these "CUVs" are just a resurgence of the American station wagon that is well-known to every American who grew up in the 60s and 70s in the suburbs.

Michaell

Mr_Shiftright said:

It's all smoke and mirrors....these "CUVs" are just a resurgence of the American station wagon that is well-known to every American who grew up in the 60s and 70s in the suburbs.

My folks had a station wagon when I was a kid.

VW Squareback.

andys120

Mr_Shiftright said:

It's all smoke and mirrors....these "CUVs" are just a resurgence of the American station wagon that is well-known to every American who grew up in the 60s and 70s in the suburbs.

Oh very much so, They might ride a little higher and have all four wheels driven but they are station wagons, as much as a 1959 Country Squire. If you lump in all the wagon-like vehicles together, they now outnumber sedans which was not true in the past. That's odd considering that family sizes are now a lot smaller.

texases

In Dallas many CUVs are FWD, like mine. Great headroom, visibility, and versatility, with a small mpg hit.

berri

They might ride a little higher and have all four wheels driven but they are station wagons, as much as a 1959 Country Squire

How many years down the road before the fake wood trim reappears???

PF_Flyer

berri said:

They might ride a little higher and have all four wheels driven but they are station wagons, as much as a 1959 Country Squire

How many years down the road before the fake wood trim reappears???

Yea, everything old is new again as they say. How about wood trim and FINS?

andys120

We've had plenty of wagons that tried to look like SUVs (Subaru Outback/Forester, Audi Allroad, Mercedes GLK/GLA), now we have a SUV that looks like a sedan, the new Tesla Model X>