Detroit executives are killing off slow-selling cars in favor of SUVs | Hacker News Reader

Detroit executives are killing off slow-selling cars in favor of SUVs

bloomberg.com

20 pointsGavinAnderegg24 comments

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.

> 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.

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

Between younger folks and older folks are new parents.

They tend to buy SUVs.

> I assume someone in the executive suite has an ace up their sleeve this time.

One trick is that you can make a big, powerful vehicle that's much lighter and more fuel efficient than you could in the past: http://autoweek.com/article/car-news/aluminum-and-ford-f-150

> Are American auto makers once again going to be behind the curve when gas prices shoot up again?

They don't believe so. The article discusses this -- "Today’s (SUVs and Crossovers) get mileage close to the equivalent cars."

“The fuel economy trade-off is not nearly as much of a trade-off as it used to be,” Raj Nair, head of Ford’s North American operations, said. (snip) Even if gas prices soar (snip) consumers are more likely now to switch to a smaller, more fuel efficient SUV, than abandon their beloved bigger rigs, Schuster said.

Ford still has its European division to keep pace on smaller cars. GM disbanded theirs a year or so ago.

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.

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

https://www.reuters.com/article/us

> 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?

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.

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.

The cars all look the same (like lozenges) these days because of fuel efficiency requirements. The lozenge is the slipperiest.

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.

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.

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

It seems like car safety standards have led

Don't forget about aerodynamics.

I was also surprised to see no mention of hatchbacks ("hot hatch" if you're so inclined). They're filling a really important sedan-like role that crossovers and SUVs are too bulky to achieve.

What do you consider a hatchback? The Subaru Outback, for example, I believe is considered a crossover today, as is the Subaru Crosstrek, but both are arguably also hatchbacks.

I would agree. For subaru, the Impreza wagon would qualify. Audi A3 hatch, VW golf/GTI/R, hyundai veloster, ford fiesta, arguably the newer civics, etc.

The Outback has always been a ruggedised version of the Legacy Tourers, so it's not a pure crossover.

I think it's because hatchbacks just aren't that popular in the US. Or at least I don't see remotely as many hatchbacks in the US as I do in Europe.

Depends on where you look. The Bay Area is full of hatchbacks. And even when I was living in TX, I had two friends who had a Honda Fit when I bought mine, and Fiat 500 is pretty popular over there (even if F150 is still king).

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.

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