History repeats itself, as corporations learnt nothing from the Carpocalypse 

"El Relámpago(LZone) - Humanity First!" (lightningzone) 04/04/2018 at 13:20 • Filed to: None

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According to The Wall Street Journal , the Sonic will be killed off due to shrinking demand for passenger cars and low profit margins on smaller vehicles. American automakers would much rather divert resources to building more crossovers, SUVs and pickups, which are not only in higher demand than small cars, but are also more profit heavy.

It’s not just small cars that may be on the chopping block. GM is also looking at killing off the Chevrolet Impala, another comparably slow-selling product with smaller profit margins than something like the Chevrolet Traverse.

GM isn’t alone. Ford won’t bring the new Fiesta to the United States once the current model is discontinued within the next year, and is also allegedly planning to end production of the Taurus sedan. The Fusion may also go the way of the DoDo Bird, but executives have yet to make a decision.

The Trump Administration’s plan to roll back certain fuel economy standards in the United States may give GM and Ford even more reason to focus on larger vehicles. Previously, American automakers found themselves in a tough situation if gas prices spiked and customers were left with little choice in regards fuel-efficient cars. Now that’s less of a worry, so they can truly focus on profitable products like the Chevrolet Silverado and Ford F-150.

The Sonic, offered in both hatchback and sedan bodystyles, is built at GM’s Orion Assembly plant in Michigan. The site also builds the Chevrolet Bolt EV, but the electric hatch is barely a drop in the GM sales bucket, so it seems as though jobs there may still be in jeopardy.

Tapas > El Relámpago(LZone) - Humanity First! 04/04/2018 at 13:26

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Man, that’s messed up.

This makes me feel like car manufacturers are like greedy, petulant children.

HammerheadFistpunch > El Relámpago(LZone) - Humanity First! 04/04/2018 at 13:27

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While I totally get that its short sighted to drop fuel efficient options in fat years, its hard to ride out the trends in anticipation of lean years. Sooner or later you have to shift production to meet demand even if you know you’ll have to do it again soon.

Pro Tip - Buy fuel efficient cars now, Buy fuel hungry cars later.

victor > El Relámpago(LZone) - Humanity First! 04/04/2018 at 13:35

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The carpocolypse had one thing against it, which was that the SUVs were really inefficient. Crossovers these days have a huge range from small ones to large, and with many of them significantly more fuel efficient than even passenger cars 10 years ago.

That said, I’m all for pushing higher fuel efficiency standards. If the US doesn’t, Europe and others certainly will. That will put the US at a long term competitive disadvantage.

random001 > El Relámpago(LZone) - Humanity First! 04/04/2018 at 13:35

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Well, this could be ok. I mean, the Sonic isn’t really that good at 28/37 mpg. Why is it bad to kill them? How do you know there’s not something coming to replace it with better fuel economy? Or hybrid? Honestly, crossovers (lifted cars) can get good mileage ratings now, so build those and sell them.

Milky > El Relámpago(LZone) - Humanity First! 04/04/2018 at 13:35

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I just hope that Ford and other companies are smart enough to make cars like the new Fiesta easily certifiable in the U.S. if something does happen.

Though, I really really doubt thats true.

ttyymmnn > El Relámpago(LZone) - Humanity First! 04/04/2018 at 13:41

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Rule No. 1: Make a product that people want to buy. Businesses are out to make a buck, and will do whatever they need to do to sell cars. Not only do governments have short memories, consumers do, too.

vondon302 > El Relámpago(LZone) - Humanity First! 04/04/2018 at 13:44

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Well at least they learned that they need to make a profit.

09GT - now boosted > Tapas 04/04/2018 at 13:56

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Customers aren’t buying small cars (even the Accord production has been cut). Manufacturers are in business to make money. Manufacturers kill off small cars. Not too hard to comprehend.

Now, GM (and FCA) might not be in a position to quickly bring small cars back (like Ford and the Japanese, who have more of a global presence), but that is a strategic blunder not a tactical one.

Spoon II > victor 04/04/2018 at 14:02

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That’s the best way to look at it. Fuel efficiency should be concentrated on because no other country is going to stop improving it in their vehicles.

Junkrat aka Rick Sanchez: Fury Road Edition > HammerheadFistpunch 04/04/2018 at 14:05

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Here Here!!! That’s usually my MO. People give cars away under thise circumstances.

Snailkite > El Relámpago(LZone) - Humanity First! 04/04/2018 at 14:10

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They simply don’t need to exist when larger cars can achieve the same or similar fuel economy.

BahamaTodd > El Relámpago(LZone) - Humanity First! 04/04/2018 at 14:22

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Wonder if we’ll even get the new Focus

KingT- 60% of the time, it works every time > BahamaTodd 04/04/2018 at 15:01

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I had to chuckle at this “teaser” knowing that the car’s full unmasked pic is circling around on car blogs

punkgoose17 > El Relámpago(LZone) - Humanity First! 04/04/2018 at 15:01

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Well this seems like good news for Honda, Hyundai, Mazda, Subaru, and Toyota who still make good sub-compact, compact, mid-size, and full-sized sedans. They will all have a larger market share now.

camarov6rs > random001 04/04/2018 at 15:39

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I really like the sonic when it came out it was a really good option now it is lagging a bit against updated rivals and doesnt offer enough benefits over a subcompact crossover to make it. To me it was a good chassis in search of a better engine.

HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles > KingT- 60% of the time, it works every time 04/04/2018 at 15:59

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I still believe that photo was actually produced by Ford for the media attention.

HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles > Milky 04/04/2018 at 16:02

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Yea what happened to the global market idea making all cars available in all markets?

HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles > El Relámpago(LZone) - Humanity First! 04/04/2018 at 16:03

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The only real loss is th Fiesta. And Fiesta ST. We need racing series that matter, and use real road cars back so companies will make cool cars again.

ZHP Sparky, the 5th > El Relámpago(LZone) - Humanity First! 04/04/2018 at 16:07

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I think what you are implying – and many are missing in their responses – is that crossovers sell today not because humanity suddenly experienced a collective epiphany, but that car companies marketed the shit out of those things, and now as a result they’re selling and making good margins on them. If instead, car companies had the proper incentives to make legitimately good fuel efficient small cars and marketed them for their virtues, customers will trend towards them. Humans are extremely malleable. Just look at how commonplace AWD has become in the last 5 years. That’s not because of some horrible trend in weather conditions making it necessary, but because we’ve all been conditioned to believe we NEED it.

Car manufacturers will absolutely do what will make them the most profit. And a CUV that is the same as a compact car but with more plastic bits will sell at a much higher margin, so they do it. Doing away with fuel economy goals is simply rewarding them in this behavior.

Also – HP wars. A Camry doesn’t need close to 300HP. But speed and power is sexy, so that is what they focus on and market even if it’s a fucking Traverse. And we eat it all up. When’s the last time you saw any kind of ad for the current generation Chevy Spark? It’s a seriously decent little car – but nobody even knows it exists, or that it could work for them. And then we’re all shocked that nobody bought one.

We have a Crosstrek, but also leased a Chevy Spark EV (which doesn’t exist with the current generation) to be my commuter car simply because it was the cheapest option we could find. We thought it’d be a huge compromise of a car – but you know what, outside of my commute 99% of our evening/weekend runabouts happen in the Spark as well simply because it is significantly cheaper to operate and parking is a breeze anywhere.

Tapas > 09GT - now boosted 04/05/2018 at 01:31

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That’s too bad.

I know they’re in the business to make money. Wish there was such a thing as a loss leader in the car world lol

LongbowMkII > Junkrat aka Rick Sanchez: Fury Road Edition 04/06/2018 at 15:17

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10k raptors? hell yeah

MasterMario - Keeper of the V8s > HammerheadFistpunch 04/06/2018 at 15:49

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I kind of want to find a Fiesta SFE as a daily...I’ll have my tank as backup if that’s ever too small