Subcompact Sales Up 21.8 Percent This Year

According to AAA, the average gas price in the U.S. is now $3.07 per gallon, which is 85 cents more than last year's average. And while compact cars are not selling as well as many automakers anticipated with this rise in gasoline prices, the largest growing market in the U.S. is now the subcompact category.

Nissan is one of the leading companies to benefit from this shift in buyers, with their top-selling Nissan Versa in the subcompact class. They also offer buyer incentives averaging $900. In addition, the Toyota's Yaris, the Honda Fit and the Kia Spectra all have strong sales. The Fit is one of the most in demand subcompacts, only lasting an average of 22 days on a sales lot before being bought. But Honda's production rate of the popular car is suffering as they are made in Japan and imported.

American automakers are struggling to compete with these subcompacts, trying to figure out how to make a profit on subcompact cars that are too expensive to make domestically in terms of overall monetary gain. Chevy has solved this problem by making the Chevrolet Aveo through subsidiary Daewoo in South Korea.

To read more facts and figures about the rise in subcompact sales, check out this article in the Northwest Arkansas News.

Comments

[PeculiarPoPo]

Domestic auto manufacturers really need to build economical and reliable sub-compact vehicles to compete with the import models. Their market share is very small whereas they continue to focus on trucks and large SUV's. It's amazing that domestic vehicles are so far behind in the Hybrid and sub-compact models. American's love their big SUV's, so gas prices are not as scary as once thought.

[DylanDustinKatie]

I have actually noticed more and more smaller vehicles compared to the bigger cars and SUV's on the road. I think the up-edging gas prices are effecting some people's car-buying decisions more than studies show. Just because people don't buy their sub-compact car new doesn't mean the used sales are down. Only the new car sales are depicted in these studies. More and more dealerships in my area have used trucks and big cars on their lots and cannot keep economical cars in stock for very long.

[canes]

This might be the least-surprising news I've seen in a long time. High gas prices and oil uncertainties accompany a demand for fuel-efficient vehicles? What a shock. While there will always be a market for more traditional cars, I expect this trend to continue for quite a while.

[bjolly]

On the day that this article was posted, December 17th 2007, the average price of gas per gallon was over $3.16 nationally. I am unsure as to why your figure is so inaccurate, but for future reference, it would be sacagious to get your figures directly from the source you are citing. Also, I'm pretty sure every retard from New York to California knows the high gas prices are slowing the sales of SUVs. Such observsations are needless. Alomst as needless as the comparisons between SUVs and subcompacts. Why not spend your time making juxtaposing two automobile genres that actually matter, such as hybrids and subcompacts. That might help consumers gauge the current market trends and aid them in their choice.

[val]

Why are these cars "too expensive to make domestically?" With that kind of growth, how can car companies afford not to be a big part of that trend? You can't surrender an entire market to your overseas competition. I don't think this is going to be a short-term thing, so they'd better get on the ball.

[Alex767]

With everyone thinking it's unethical to buy anything else. The domestic car companies will have no choice but to jump on the sub-compact band wagon. If they don't jobs will be lost and in this economy thats something we can't afford.

[AlnT]

I'm happy with these numbers. The high these sales go up the better the mpg national average will go up and that is indeed something everyone can be happy about.

[Charlie Cool]

Although the reason for this spike is surely due to gas prices, I am very pleased to see the country start moving towards smaller, more eco-friendly cars. There are many successful brands of subcompact cars worldwide, that have not made their debut in the States yet, including the SMART car (in quantity), and the BMW 1-Series. Hopefully other companies will start bringing their subcompact cars to the states to meet demand soon, and broaden the range of quality within the size class.

[Dan Door]

The less SUV's being bought by the public, the better! It's refreshing to see a wave of smaller, more fuel efficient cars being sold in the land of the big (USA). Perhaps Congress's goal of reaching a national average of 35mpg by 2020 will be naturally moved up, leading us on a quicker path to catching up with the rest of the world. Ultimately, it would be nice if more manufacturers took notice of this surge and started to phase out the SUV era and help move us into the Compact era.

[Sue B.]

Having been a fan of subcompacts long before their increasing popularity due to the rise in fuel prices, I'm particularly disappointed in their ascending costs. Of course, as one commentator implied, Americans do have that love affair with the bigger is better philosophy, so the good news is that the pricing for subcompacts will, hopefully, sooner than later, level off, especially with added pressure from conservationist lobbies to consider manufacture of these fuel efficient vehicles in the states.

[Robert Wayne]

Currently, I drive a Dodge Dakota pickup truck, but when I start looking to buy a new vehicle, I'll definitely be looking for a subcompact that's good on gas. I'd prefer to buy something made by Chrysler, GM or Ford but if they insist on sticking to huge gas hog SUVs, I'll definitely buy something made in Japan. What's wrong with these domestic automakers? Common sense should tell them that with gasoline sky high nobody in their right mind will be looking to buy a gas hog.