Are passenger cars dead?
The sky is the limit…when you’re sitting in an SUVCOMMENT
Holden recently announced that it would no longer be selling the Astra wagon or sedan. This is because of GMs decision to axe slow-selling passenger cars.
Other companies are adopting a similar strategy such as Ford, who will add five SUVs over the next two years, but soon pull the plug on all passenger cars except the Focus and Mustang. Adios Fiesta!
Simply put, multi-national car-makers are no longer interested in passenger cars and are instead moving across into their taller counterparts – SUVs.
This comes as no surprise to anyone familiar with current sales trends, as the SUV segments continue to grow. Nay, boom! A once thriving segment, large family car sales like the Falcon and Commodore are either dead or dying. Sales of large passenger cars without prestige badges are dead Down Under.
Where to now?
Lightly put: Go big or go home.
According to the latest sales statistics, the passenger car segment is rapidly on the decline with SUVs outselling their smaller friends by almost 60,000 units year on year in this country.
Like the rest of the world, the Australian market is trending towards SUVs as sales continue to diminish for traditional passenger cars; hatchbacks, sedans and the like.
Why people are so infatuated with big bulky cars is beyond me. I hear insipid arguments about easy entry and exit, higher hip points, better vision and more cargo space. But I can’t help but feels it’s simply a case of keeping up with the Joneses.
It’s an industry thing
Luxury car manufacturers who have always focused on the sleek, low-slung styling of their performance models are now coming out with SUV models. It’s horrifying.
The Lamborghini Urus is a stunning piece of engineering, but who okayed the design? Respectfully, an SUV with the Lambo badge is sacrilege in my eyes. I mean if you are not sitting a few inches from the road in a low-slung machine, are you even in a sports car?
BMW has come forward recently too and said that they have set themselves up with an SUV-focused range to prepare for this trend. I find this alarming and upsetting.
Bring back the regular coupes!
What do I buy?
As a buyer in her early 20s looking at a new car – because my 2009 Suzuki Swift doesn’t have the torque I’m yearning for– I’m concerned by how many SUVs there are to choose from and how few passenger cars are available to me.
As soon as I walk into a car showroom, the salespeople usher me towards the SUVs. I really don’t want one, to be frank.
There are plenty of reasons to buy an SUV, as listed above, but there are also reasons not to. It’s hard to know which way to go.
For the same price as an entry-level Mazda3 hatch or sedan, the alternatives are broad, including small and even medium SUVs. The packaging becomes even more tempting and the ‘bang for your buck’ proposition is clearly too good to pass up for the majority of new car buyers.
I have always wanted a hot hatch (with my wallet taking the ‘hot’ option away) but it seems that my choices are dwindling. The higher ride height and softer suspension of an SUV would definitely make my drive more comfortable and the extra space would have the same effect for my friends. But I feel as though SUVs are too adult. I’m still young and carefree. I don’t do school runs, I do Maccas runs.
I want a small and zippy car and I don’t want my options to be taken away from me!
Tantrum aside, any vehicle not on stilts is in the firing line at the moment and if I’m being honest, it’s making me quite nervous.
Holden has rationalised its Astra range… what’s next? Are Tim Tams going to get replaced by Scotch Fingers?
Over my dead body.
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