Bye, Bye, Sedans. We Never Liked You Anyway.

 

The death of the sedan is like that person you didn't like at work who leaves the company. You respected their ability but you're ambivalent about their leaving. 

 

 

Need proof the sedan is slowly disappearing? In a booming new vehicle market, one that projects to be the biggest since 2005, sales of the Toyota Camry are down just under 15% August 2014 to August of this year. The Honda Accord actually outsold the Camry in August but year to year sales are down 20%. Those are big numbers. The Nissan Altima is the only one of the top three that held steady gaining just .5% this month over August 2014.

 

These lower sales numbers aren't an anomaly either. For the year sales of the Accord are down nearly 15% and the Camry is down nearly 5. Altima sales up just over 1%; why is Altima up? Incentives? Rebates? It's not like the Nissan Altima does anything any better than Camry or Accord and styling is subjective. I'd be hard pressed to believe that anyone could tell the difference between the three cars at ten feet. No one is pounding their chest because of a 1% bump up anyway but being up in a down market is something to take note of.

 

 

So, if this year is so big, where are the sales coming from?

 

From the sale of trucks, SUV's and CUV's. The Ford F-Series sales are up nearly 5% and the Chevrolet Silverado is up 12%. The Nissan Rogue, a cross over, is up 29%, the Ford Explorer  is up 22%. The Ford Edge, which I'm not sure is a CUV or minivan is up 36%.  At this rate, in the next 10 years we won't see a sedan in the top 5 on a list of best selling vehicles.

 

The popularity of pickup trucks still escapes me but I get what SUV's and CUVs have to offer; practicality and style. When you can combine both you've got a winner. CUV's are quite car like in how they ride and handle too. Factor that with being practical and looking good and you have the hottest vehicle segment in the market today. What's killing sedan sales? CUV's.

 

With CUV's offering literally everything you could ever ask for, why would anyone buy a sedan these days?

 

When my wife and I replace our Tahoe someday, no doubt we'll replace it with some sort of super cool, hip CUV. Maybe even a hybrid. Meanwhile for myself, I'm thinking this tomato soup tinged Mustang when it's time. You like? As for sedans, well. Forget the ambivalence; we never liked them anyway.