SHOPSMART AUTOS – CUSTOMER INFORMATION – AUGUST 6, 2021
NOT DEAD YET – THE CASE FOR SEDANS (PT. 5) Like Nissan, Honda believes the key to attracting younger buyers is with affordable and fuel-efficient sedans. “More than half of first-time new-vehicle buyers buy a car, not an SUV, minivan, or pickup,” Arcangeli, Jr. continued. “Why would we turn our back on those customers which represent the future of our brand? You can understand why we remain committed to cars as an indispensable part of our strategy to attract and retain the next-generation of customers.” “Yet the Detroit Three have decided to throw in the towel on sedans, basically,” Howard added. “They just have.” One potential concern are the gaps now left in Detroit’s car lines. For example, a Fiesta owner looking to trade up will no longer have the Focus or Fusion. Unless they want a Mustang, they won’t have a car option. Although the Malibu remains for now, Chevy’s nixing of the Cruze leaves Spark and Sonic drivers without their next step up. When examining the product offerings of manufacturers like Honda and Toyota, or BMW and Mercedes-Benz, the next steps upward for car buyers are more clear. “The danger for the Detroit Three is that they abandon the lower end of the market and are unable to lure in the very large populations of millennials and Gen Z,” Krebs said. “It would be an uphill battle to then attract buyers who have purchased other brands early in their new-car buying phase.” Despite evidence sedans still hold favor with consumers, it’s full steam ahead for Ford who sparked the entire conversation to begin with. And their position is not without merit. According to Ford, truck and SUVs totaled 83 percent of the automaker’s second quarter sales, four percentage points higher than a year ago. Total pickup sales were up seven percent during the second quarter, the blue oval’s best overall performance since 2004. Second quarter also saw the transaction price for an F-Series hit $47,500 per truck, $1,200 higher than a year ago. “When you consider that we normally get stronger seasonality for trucks in the second half of the year, and with full availability of the Ranger, we are well on our way to selling one million pickup trucks in the United States.” said Mark LaNeve, Ford Vice President, U.S. Marketing, Sales and Service, during the company’s Q2 Sales and Revenue Call. “That’s a number incidentally we haven’t eclipsed since 2005, so it’s a significant number and one our team is really looking forward to running at.” It’s a similar story with Ford’s SUV business, according to LaNeve. “We continue to see strong sales momentum with all of our newest SUV models,” he explained. “Collectively, Expedition, EcoSport, and Edge made strong sales gains in the second quarter with over 76,000 of those three models sold; up about 14 percent compared to a year ago when you combine the three.” Ford is banking on their newly redesigned Explorer and an all-new Escape to keep them in front of the competition. “We will see inventory in sales continue to accelerate in the months to come on Explorer, and then later in the year with Escape,” LaNeve said.Tags: 2019 Subaru Forester Touring, 2020 BMW iX3, 2020 Chevrolet Suburban, 2020 dodge charger, 2020 EQC, 2020 Ford Super Duty, 2020 Honda Pilot, 2020 Kia Optima, 2020 Mercedes Benz, 2020 Nissan Versa, 2020 Subaru WRX STI, Audi SUV, BMW, Brandon K. Hardison, Chevrolet Car, Chevrolet Sonic, Dodge charger, electric vehicles, honda, Honda Pilot, Hyundai SUV, Mercedes Benz, Nissan Rogue, SUV, upcoming car, Volkswagen, Volkswagen Tiguan SEL Premium R-Line, Volvo Car
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