I’m not. Gas prices are low and have been for a long time and are stable. Also, the public is not homogenous. Most US citizens are fully employed and job loss is not imminent. We certainly do have huge unemployment, but that is mostly in service businesses that depend on customer visits to make money. My purchasing decisions are not affected by high unemployment levels. I have a job, and I get busier there as time goes on.
I’m fortunate to work in a business that is fairly recession proof and I’m willing to help those less fortunate by providing a federal safety net to them. That will and should cost me more money. That’s also known as higher taxes. I don’t like higher taxes, but I have to pay for what I think are important measures for American society.
We like minivans because they are the most efficient vehicle class for hauling people and charge. Our children are grown and out of the house, but we still like having the minivan better than a SUV. Our daughter bought a 2020 Pilot and it can’t touch our 2019 Odyssey for cargo and people carrying.
Auto manufacturers did nothing of the sort. They created product that was eagerly accepted by the public. So the public bought more. Then soccer moms got tired of driving kid caravans to moved to SUVs. First big ones, then midsize then lttle ones like the RAV4 or CRV. Manufacturers build them because people buy them, not the other way round.
I’ll edit my previous comment after having a chance to refresh my memory, as reported in Car and Driver this month. They don’t give figures for male buyers but reported female buyers accounted for 16% of truck buyers and the most popular was the F-150. On the other end of the spectrum was compact SUV buyers with 51% female, and compact car with 47%. So depending on how many genders one considers, I at least would believe male buyers for trucks are around 84%. Also interesting that the most popular compact luxury car was the Tesla Model 3 of which female buyers make up 37%. No dipstick for checking the oil.
Again this is C&D so who knows what they based this all on. Of interest though which was contrary to what seems many people think is the people that lease cars. The statement was made that you need a high credit score and good income because they are concerned with having a good supply of well cared for cars a few years old. So from this it appears the people that lease (about 33%), are “older and more affluent”, are not the folks that can’t afford to buy otherwise, or are one paycheck away from insolvency, This was interesting anyway. Just what C&D said anyway.
Edit: Just another thought that I wonder how the electric Hummer fits into this? Seems like they might have missed the target market.
Several of my friends have been surprised to find that my Camry’s cargo room in the trunk holds considerably more than the cargo areas of their SUVs unless they lay down the seat backs of their rear seats. Those include RAV4, CRV, Equinox, Highlander, Pilot, and Compass.
Yes, they can carry taller items than fit in my trunk but for loading groceries, I can easily load far more in my trunk.
There are advantages and disadvantages to any type of vehicle. It’s nice that various sizes and types are available to pick from to suit the varying needs and preferences of everybody.
Yup, sedans are becoming decidedly underappreciated nowadays
Unless you’re literally a soccer mom and/or coach who routinely carries a bunch of kids and the equipment, a sedan will do just fine
But if you’re going on a trip with the kids and the 2 labradors, a minivan or suv is more appropriate
No reason to drive a big suv every day, if it’s just one person commuting to/from work.
I’m glad that new sedans are still available to purchase . . . but I wonder how long that will continue to be the case. As was mentioned earlier, tastes change.
Still hard to beat a wagon. We used to carry the duck boat on top carriers. Then my dad bought the 58 Chevy wagon. We just shoved the boat in the back. Couldn’t close the tailgate but a lot easier to load and unload. Given the monsters out there today though, it was not a huge car.
Years ago a retired couple bought a nice travel trailer to visit grand kids, etc and pulled it with the wife’s station wagon but decided they needed something more powerful to pull the load so they traded in grandpa’s old faded pickup for a new top of the line model and weren’t happy with the results. The Ford wagon had a trailer towing package and a 460 V8 while the new pickup had a 302 without the towing package. Sometimes looks can be deceiving.
I can relate to this. I have a mid-1990s Oldsmobile Cutlass convertible and when the top is down and I am stopped at an intersection with large vehicles on both sides of me, all I see are walls of steel. Feels like I am at the bottom of an elevator shaft. On rural roads with fewer lanes and less traffic, it is a nice car to drive and take in the scenery.
The death of those big block full size sedans helped to shift drivers to pickup trucks. In the middle of the country, boat and travel trailer owners found themselves unable to tow anything with the smaller, weaker, FWD Buick LeSabre sold in the 80s up. So they bought GMC Suburbans and later pickups with back seats.
@Mustangman. I preferred the rear wheel drive for towing. I had a Ford Aerostar with rear wheel drive and the 4.0 liter V6. I helped my son and others move as it could manage a tandem axle U-Haul trailer. I haven’t even considered towing with the front wheel drive minivans I have owned after the Aerostat
I think Ford did the Aerostar and GM the Astro for just that reason. Minivans could not handle we boat ramps very well and tongue weights are a problem, too.
@Mustangman. GM and Ford really let me down in discontinuing the Astro and Aerostar. Since I really need a minivan, I had to buy a front wheel drive unit construction minivan. I much prefer a rear wheel drive vehicle that rides on a frame.
Downsized conventional rwd or 4wd van engineered by GMs truck group. So mini in name only. Unibody though.
The fwd U body minivans were car based chassis engineered by GMs car group. But actually listed as a truck with the EPA. More like a Chevy Celebrity sedan than a 1/2 pickup.
Yep! It’s bad enough in my Lexus, but I almost feel like I’m going to war when I drive my MR2. Especially since I live in an area that has a lot of lifted brodozer trucks. It’s not uncommon to be sitting at a stop light and look over to notice that a truck’s wheel is higher than the roofline of my car.