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Japanese sedans are dead too. It'll just take a bit longer. Sedans simply do not offer enough utility or fun per dollar to stay relevant. In France, where I'm

Japanese sedans are dead too. It'll just take a bit longer. Sedans simply do not offer enough utility or fun per dollar to stay relevant. In France, where I'm from, sedans have been utterly dead from as long as I can remember. People just buy hatchbacks instead. Sedans stayed alive in the USA thanks to wider roads, larger parking spots, and a persistent notion that hatchbacks are tiny cheap econoboxes that you wouldn't want to be seen in (which, to be fair, is often the case, even though there are very good hatchbacks like the VW Golf). CUVs and SUVs have overcome this stigma and are set to accomplish what hatchbacks failed to do in the US market: kill sedans. I expect very few people to go back to buying sedans after having owned CUVs or SUVs, unless it's a somewhat niche sedan like a BMW M3, Mercedes S-Class, Tesla Model 3, etc.

decebalus1 8y ago
> Japanese sedans are dead too. It'll just take a bit longer. > Sedans simply do not offer enough utility or fun per dollar to stay relevant. In France, where I'm from, sedans have been utterly dead from as long as I can remember. People just buy hatchbacks instead. That's one side of the story and France is just a fraction of the market for sedans. The road configurations, parking styles, etc.. probably favors hatchbacks but that's not the case in Canada (for example) and that definitely doesn't mean that sedans will be dead. Where I'm from, it's the same as France for reasons related to utility and fuel consumption but even so, people who wanted 'fun' went for the German large sedan or for the Japanese small but souped-up sedan.
- peferron 8y ago
  I agree that France is not very representative of the general automobile market, but in Canada for example I would expect most households to start buying a CUV or SUV as their first car (possibly with AWD). The point is that a classic three-box four-door sedan is not super practical as your only car, and I believe that's true for almost all markets. Americans still bought sedans because the alternatives (wagons, minivans, hatchbacks) were seen as uncool, but CUVs and SUVs don't have this problem at all. So, yes, sedans will still exist but with a fraction of their previous market share, and in this sense sedans will be "dead" (since that's how the article uses the word).
gok 8y ago
I don't think they're excluding hatchbacks/wagons/fastbacks from "sedans" in this article. They really just mean not-trucks/SUVs.
jedieaston 8y ago
I don’t know, things like the Accord/Civic and Corolla/Camry are very popular in the US. Very low TCO, and they are easy to get used (and cheap if you go 10-15 years old). SUVs require more gas and are more expensive than sedans that do what people need.
hakfoo 8y ago
Replacing sedans with wagons or hatchbacks would be reasonable, if it existed across the product line. But most of the midsize and larger wagons are unavailable. If I have five adults/teenagers to fit, there is no hatchback/wagon option that seats them comfortably. I can either spend $30k on a minivan, $30k on a larger SUV, or $22k on an Accord/Optima/Camry size sedan. If they'd box the back of that sedan and sold it as a wagon, I'd buy it. This also assumes that ride height is not an anti-feature. if you've got elderly or disabled passengers, they aren't hiking themselves into an SUV.

decebalus1 8y ago

> Japanese sedans are dead too. It'll just take a bit longer. > Sedans simply do not offer enough utility or fun per dollar to stay relevant. In France, where I'm from, sedans have been utterly dead from as long as I can remember. People just buy hatchbacks instead. That's one side of the story and France is just a fraction of the market for sedans. The road configurations, parking styles, etc.. probably favors hatchbacks but that's not the case in Canada (for example) and that definitely doesn't mean that sedans will be dead. Where I'm from, it's the same as France for reasons related to utility and fuel consumption but even so, people who wanted 'fun' went for the German large sedan or for the Japanese small but souped-up sedan.

peferron 8y ago
I agree that France is not very representative of the general automobile market, but in Canada for example I would expect most households to start buying a CUV or SUV as their first car (possibly with AWD). The point is that a classic three-box four-door sedan is not super practical as your only car, and I believe that's true for almost all markets. Americans still bought sedans because the alternatives (wagons, minivans, hatchbacks) were seen as uncool, but CUVs and SUVs don't have this problem at all. So, yes, sedans will still exist but with a fraction of their previous market share, and in this sense sedans will be "dead" (since that's how the article uses the word).

gok 8y ago

I don't think they're excluding hatchbacks/wagons/fastbacks from "sedans" in this article. They really just mean not-trucks/SUVs.

jedieaston 8y ago

I don’t know, things like the Accord/Civic and Corolla/Camry are very popular in the US. Very low TCO, and they are easy to get used (and cheap if you go 10-15 years old). SUVs require more gas and are more expensive than sedans that do what people need.

hakfoo 8y ago

Replacing sedans with wagons or hatchbacks would be reasonable, if it existed across the product line. But most of the midsize and larger wagons are unavailable. If I have five adults/teenagers to fit, there is no hatchback/wagon option that seats them comfortably. I can either spend $30k on a minivan, $30k on a larger SUV, or $22k on an Accord/Optima/Camry size sedan. If they'd box the back of that sedan and sold it as a wagon, I'd buy it. This also assumes that ride height is not an anti-feature. if you've got elderly or disabled passengers, they aren't hiking themselves into an SUV.