https://www.visualcapitalist.com/best-selling-car-in-america-every-year-since-1978/ 1995 was the last year an American auto manufacturer had a best selling model until they finally discontinued selling sedans entirely. The Ford Taurus was credited for saving Ford from bankruptcy already then. The top 3 selling vehicles today in America are pick up trucks from the Big 3, products that are essentially limited to the US market. https://www.core77.com/posts/82125/...-Market-Competition-Heats-Up-While-Sedans-Die
The new Ford Ranger has topped the VFACTS ute sales charts for the first quarter of 2023, sitting more than 1000 units ahead of its arch Toyota HiLux rival. The Isuzu D-Max followed the two segment leaders in third position, ahead of of the Mitsubishi Triton and Mazda BT-50. Chinese manufacturers GWM and LDV made the top 10, sitting within only a few hundred sales ahead of each other. Volkswagen is gearing up for its next-generation Amarok to launch later this year in Australia, which may change its standing come the end of June 2023. Australian ute (4×4 and 4×2 combined) sales, Q1 2023 Australia call pickup trucks 'Utes' (utility vehicles). Pronounciation: yoots
So your beef is American companies are listening to the American market and producing vehicles that are proven winners but you disapprove of?
That's what you think? I think American companies stopped making sedans because their labor costs were too high and their products not up to par with the competition.
those are the facts. You think people are buying 100k pickups because there's no other competitive options like a sensible sedan? https://www.jato.com/more-suvs-more-trucks-and-less-cars-the-shift-continues-in-the-usa/ https://www.cnbc.com/2023/01/07/americas-top-10-bestselling-cars-of-2022-tesla-makes-the-cut.html https://www.edmunds.com/most-popular-cars/
It's a darn shame too because the Fusion (Mondeo in Europe) is a really nice car. Ride quality of an older Caddy for less money.
I think quite often people buy pick ups and SUVs because of savvy marketing from the Big 3 using the same image used for decades to sell cigarettes. For every contractor who needs a truck for work there are probably half a dozen who never put anything in the bed of their truck. Jack it up, you rebel you!
Plausible that this "chicken/egg" situation started from OEMs telling us what to buy (if the margins justify it) but having grown up and owned some, I find it improbable. A few factors come to mind: 1. Americans are increasingly taller and fatter; a high riding position with easy ingress w/o needing to bend much is just more comfortable. An increasingly aging populations will opt in for these. 2. Infrastructure's gone down the pit. Trucks just take pot holes more comfortably. 3. Increased cost of living and home ownership; A lot of DIY to avoid contracting or leasing costs and buying/selling of used large items and/or moving around for a cheaper rental. 4. American families are increasingly smaller; You'll fit a whole family in a crew cab. 5. Americans by and large move a lot for better jobs; refer to 3. 6. Improved fuel economy means you can get a ford maverick that gets 40 mpg. 7. Improved "carness" of trucks means you don't sacrifice much in terms of comfort, safety, features, amenities, or handling. 8. Speculative: Increasingly sold on the "influencer/social media" explorer lifestyle of going out there on an adventure. 9. Speculative: Increased migration to suburban or more rural housing where a truck is best suited for unexpected road conditions/floods/etc...
Now let's see factors to buy an EV: 1. Greener transportation, although not nearly as much as advocates like others to believe and nowhere near enough, currently, to make a difference. 2. "Latest greatest" to one up the neighbor. 3. Young, hipster thing. 4. Not much else. Factors not to buy, currently, take all day to list them all.