It’s Time To Bring Back Small Cars

It is time to bring back small cars. American consumers have been on the big truck and SUV bandwagon for so long that it has become a given. Unfortunately, those big trucks don’t come cheap and they are expensive to operate.  Doesn’t it make sense to rethink how we use vehicles, and find joy in different ways?

Troubling Sales Data

I saw troubling sales data from Edmunds this week. As the average new vehicle approaches $50,000, buyers need to finance their vehicles longer (22% are opting for 84 month terms) and have monthly payments exceeding $1,000.  That’s crazy to think about.

Those data points are for the average vehicle.  If you look at the cost of large trucks and SUVs, the story gets more troubling.  I can understand if you have to haul people or cargo, but many buyers don’t have that need.  It’s OK to drive what you want, yet it makes more sense to get what you need and have fun with it.

If you take a look at most of the articles on this site, they are devoted to making any vehicle more fun to own through personalizations.  I also have a history of fun vehicles that were also cheap to buy and own.  The fun reality is that you can do fun things with less expensive vehicles.

Bring Back Small Affordable Cars

I lived through the 1970s and 1980s when we had fuel shortages, new emissions standards and higher interest rates.  These factors created the small car segment and elevated the Japanese imports.  Were these small cars boring and lacking soul?  Certainly the base models lacked excitement, however, almost every one of them also had a sport version that had appearance upgrades and handling packages.

Today’s new vehicle market has very few small, affordable cars.  In fact, most manufacturers don’t even offer a passenger car–only trucks.  

Take a look at the more popular small cars from the 1970s.  Imagine a modern version of them (like the AI version of a Chevrolet Chevette at the top of this article) that offered an affordable price, great fuel economy, handling and engine performance.  You could even achieve the goals set for electric vehicles without the hassles of electric range and high battery cost.

Final Thoughts

I realize that small cars are not for everyone, but they can solve many of the issues facing buyers today.  More importantly, small cars don’t need to be boring or cheap feeling.  They can be engineered to be fun, and can be personalized to be unique.  Most manufacturers have found ways to draw lots of power from small displacement engines.  Teamed up with a manual transmission and you have a fun car.

It’s time to rethink our automotive purchases.  It’s time to bring back small cars.