Walking in Waterloo Region

[tomh009]

It's not coincidence. But don't confuse correlation with causation.

If you look at the sales data by model (a lot can be found with the right search phrases) you'll see that the sedan sales, from Taurus and Impala to Corolla and Jetta have been in a steady decline for a decade or so, which is why many of those are not being replaced. (Jetta and Corolla still exist as the cost-conscious sedans still have more demand than the large ones.)

That said, many of the smaller SUVs/crossovers are really just slightly taller hatchbacks/wagons with "tougher" styling. But it seems that this what most people (not including me, though) are looking for.

The causation is explicit, like, companies exist to make money, moving towards higher margin vehicles isn't an accident, or luck, it's the explicit intentional goal of every corporation.

The "steady decline" isn't consumer choice, it's an intentional strategy by the auto industry.

The model discontinuations are indeed an industry decision. But they are a consequence of consumer preferences: if not enough people buy Tauruses or Fusions, Ford is not going to spend the millions needed to design the next generation of cars. And the sales numbers dropped steadily, for vast majority of sedans, as people chose to buy SUVs or (mostly) crossovers instead.

Our car is a hatchback, not a crossover or an SUV. But I have followed automotive industry for the past two-plus decades, and the change in consumer preferences is real. Just as people switched from station wagons to minivans in the 80s/90s, and manufacturers discontinued wagons as their sales dried up. Small sports cars (from MGB to Miata) went out of style and new there are few left. Muscle car era ended, and there are few sold today. Sales didn't go to zero in any of these examples, but low enough that designing, building and selling such models no longer made economic sense for them. You can make money building less expensive cars, too, but building low-volume models is very expensive.

There are still companies that focus on low-cost cars (such as Dacia, for example) but even their sales are mostly crossovers now. Do you really think that most people today would prefer driving a sedan?