Posted on 09/15/2018 2:41:55 PM PDT by jjotto
[excerpted]...passenger car market share dropped to 30.6 percent in the month of August as a tide of crossovers, trucks, and SUVs continued swamping the automotive landscape. Few automakers can say their traditional passenger cars are making headway against the current...
...The Ford Taurus is not among this crowd of holdouts. Scheduled for death and talked about only by fleet managers, its sales dropped 16.8 percent over the first eight months of 2018. Its Lincoln Continental stablemate? Down 29.2 percent.
At General Motors, where sales reporting is a quarterly phenomenon, Chevrolet Impala sales fell 11.7 percent at the end of the second quarter of 2018, with flagship CT6 down 9.3 percent.
You know which direction the Buick LaCrosse headed, don’t you? Correct. Down 9.7 percent in Q2 2018.
Only the loved-by-livery Cadillac XTS served as a bright spot, but it’s not a happy story. The XTS, which saw year-to-date sales rise 16.2 percent in the second quarter, is, like the Taurus, scheduled for execution. Its continued popularity does not change its fate...
...So, to recap: Because of GM’s out-of-date sales reporting, we can only be sure of five large sedans that brought in more buyers this year than the same period in 2017 — one German [Mercedes S-class], one Korean [Kia cadenza], and three Japanese [Toyota Avalon, Lexus LS, Acura RLX]. With the possible exception of the S-Class, all of these cars could go away tomorrow without too much financial hardship suffered by their builders. The numbers simply aren’t there.
I don’t plan on driving one of those big box pos. I’ll stick to my passé coupes.
If you want a Lincoln. You want a LINCOLN, not something that looks like and is the size of a Hyundai. Same with a Cadillac. For the stuff we carry, it is our pre-2012 Lincoln or a mini-van. The manufacturers have t built a real full-sized sedan since the ending of the Panther platform by Ford. And the used Grand Marquis/Crown Victoria/Lincoln Towncar command a premium.
All the Ford Taurus’s you see these days are police cars. They’ve modded the rear suspension so much they have a pronounced bugwalk. You can spot them a mile away so that’s fine with me.
My Uncle has a country place, that no one knows about.
These cars are getting very, very big. And I fear that anyone venturing out in their MG will one day get pancaked because the owners of the new cars didn’t check the onboard video screens before merging.
What is “large” about any of those vehicles? 35 years ago they were called compacts. No bust on you jjotto, but if I want a large sedan, I’ll rebuild an ‘82 Caprice Classic...with a Big Block V8.
I’ve moved back into full-size goodness (Learned on the 86 Monte Carlo, went down to things like Civic hatchs and the like, and then back up to my Suburban)
The Suburban I own, a 2003, is actually smaller than many SUVs. The Toyota highlander is enormous... But all in the wrong dimensions.
My trunk and usable interior space is cavernous compared to these newer fullsize SUVs. Even the new Suburban has very little interior space I’ve found.
But the backseats are where it’s at. Child safety seats have driven the rear space requirements up to dimensions that are hard to find IN MY HOUSE.
I don’t think the sales figures represent any “Voice of the Customer” as much as they represent the influence of marketing, advertising and indoctrination.
And add CAFE standards to the list.
The standards of comparison in large lux sedans are the MB S-class and Lexus LS. They’re about the size of the old Chevys, although they may not look it.
What I call ‘parade cars’ like that can be rebuilt and kept mint for less than the price of the big new ones, and they’re every bit as much status symbols.
Think how many new tv shows and movies have cherry older cars in them.
BTW, bench seats were available in a number of models until a few years ago and they just didn’t sell. I don’t get that either.
It’s going to be a very dull automotive landscape with nothing but SUV’s as far as the eye can see. The herd will shift direction right about the time sedans aren’t available anymore, just wait.
I’ve always favored a Box-on-Wheels (Station Wagon) over Sedans.
Go try to find one of those with a turbo engine to provide Altitude Performance Compensation, a manual transmission, and AWD.
My parents traded in their old sedan for a new one. They had a tow package put in because they have an old utility trailer that he uses to haul brush to the dump and other light jobs.
They had it about a month when the trunk refused to open. They took it into the shop where the dealer spent about a week fiddling with it before fixing it.
A couple of months later the same thing happened. Turns out the wiring in the car is not capable of handling the lights on the trailer. And that blows something internally and the trunk will not open.
Their old car (same model just ten years older) handled it fine.
Now they borrow our truck if they need to use the trailer.
I hate the large center consoles in most new vehicles.
I need some lateral legroom in addition to the fore-and-aft compliance.
“The Suburban I own, a 2003, is actually smaller than many SUVs. The Toyota highlander is enormous... “
Really????
2003 Surburban
L 219.3
W 78.9
WB 130
2018 Highlander
L 192.5
W 75.8
WB 109.8
I never really understood the Red Barchetta story.
I think Geddy Lee had one, but wrote this song that doesn’t make any sense about driving one. I mean “Turbos spinning” and something about the brakes failing or something. Which might happen - I know my old Italians lost their brakes after about 100 feet of braking due to fade and glazing.
My god, to think we survived that era of driving. The last one I had was my 77 Cosworth Vega which tricked a lot of people, including me into believing that because it accelerated like a modern sport car that would stop like one.
It does not.
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