16th Jul 2022, 19:05

All sedans and hatchbacks are waning in popularity in the US. Where have Ford’s traditional cars gone? Why is Volkswagen pulling its Golf from this market? Why don’t manufacturers here offer sedans between the compact and midsize categories anymore, if they sell any sedans at all?

This has nothing to do with competition between ‘domestic’ and ‘import’ brands (if those terms even mean anything anymore). It has everything to do with the ascendancy of the crossover utility vehicle, where a manufacturer can take an extant car, jack it up an inch, add plastic cladding to the fenders, somehow find a tow rating where none existed before, and charge a ridiculous markup for the effort. Profit margins fatten, while customers are exuberant to buy something that they believe makes them look hip and adventurous. All agree that the emperor is clothed.