
Detroit executives are killing off slow-selling cars in favor of SUVs - GavinAnderegg
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2018-01-16/why-the-american-sedan-is-marked-for-death
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mikestew
Are American auto makers once again going to be behind the curve when gas
prices shoot up again? I assume someone in the executive suite has an ace up
their sleeve this time. The canary in the coal mine will be GM bringing back
Hummer. :-)

I dunno, “the market is going SUV and not looking back” makes me think they
are once again being short-sighted. If nothing else, it means we won’t be
getting much in the way of innovation from the U. S. makers.

~~~
bsder
> I dunno, “the market is going SUV and not looking back” makes me think they
> are once again being short-sighted. If nothing else, it means we won’t be
> getting much in the way of innovation from the U. S. makers.

I suspect this time its more of a "Young people aren't buying cars, so extract
more money out of the older folks for a bit until we hit the wall."

Ridesharing has taken a big toll on all the car manufacturers.

~~~
kesselvon
I wouldn't say ridesharing. Young people are broke and they aren't going to
buy new cars when a car payment is the equivalent of their student loans

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schwank
I grew up in Detroit, and my whole family worked in the industry. My parents
met working at GM, but now they refuse to buy GM after how former employees
were screwed during the Old/New GM transition. Add in the ignition switch
debacle and they are untrustworthy.

Now add in the fact that many don't want to buy SUVs (my grandmother can't get
into a SUV) and this is yet another silly short term play that will hurt them
in the long run when fuel prices increase. My 2016 gasoline VW Golf wagon gets
almost 40mpg highway - show me a SUV that can do that.

But hey, I can always continue to buy European cars, and I will. As much as I
would love Detroit to succeed, they just can't see more than 2 years in the
future.

~~~
petre
VW also expects 40% of their car sales to be SUVs.

[https://www.reuters.com/article/us](https://www.reuters.com/article/us)

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jsjohnst
> President Donald Trump’s vow to relax fuel economy rules could add momentum
> to the SUV and truck boom and invite General Motors Co. and Ford Motor Co.
> to pull the plug on some passenger cars.

Is there anything this administration won’t ruin for future generations?

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gnicholas
Note: they're not talking about the death of sedans in America—they're just
talking about the death of _sedans made by American car companies_. To the
extent that the most popular sedans (Accord, Camry) are made by foreign car
companies, this trend is somewhat less important.

~~~
kylehotchkiss
Sedans in general all look sooo similar. For the person not too deeply
interested in cars, how will their lives be different if they chose a focus,
civic, or corolla?

It seems like car safety standards, which aren't a bad thing, have just led to
an uninspiring and very similar collection of sedans here. Would be refreshing
to see a 4-door car that is interesting without being a muscle car or a sports
car.

~~~
AmVess
A Corolla or Civic will generally be more reliable than a Focus, and have
greater resale value. Compare a used Focus and Civic in the same model year,
condition, mileage, trim level, and price. The Civic sells for $3k more than
the Focus.

~~~
technofiend
Exactly: these cars don't sell because they're unreliable; both the Ford Focus
and Fiesta are on Consumer Reports worst car list of 2017. Unfortunately there
are a few American SUVs on that list as well. So caveat emptor.

~~~
tbihl
Ironically, they've probably ended up there for their persistently terrible
automatic transmissions. Silly mistake for an American company to be making...

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zumu
I wonder if there's more brand loyalty to American auto manufacturers in
cities/states where the roads are not well maintained. Thus their base
naturally shifts towards SUVs as the ride quality of sedans comparatively
degrades.

