American small cars, that is. There was an article a few weeks back about some of the small Ford models that were being introduced - in Mexico. It got me to thinking (always a scary proposition) about the state - both current and historic - of American small cars. Not small cars wearing American badges - I'd be forced to recount the horror of the 1980s Pontiac LeMans - but actual American cars that were small.
Now, we've always loved our big cars. From the lead sleds of the '50s to the muscle cars of the '60s to the ginormous land yachts of the '70s, we've always had cars much larger than our European or Asian counterparts. American automotive history is littered with pathetic attempts at small American cars - Falcon, Nova, Pacer, Omni, Pinto, Chevette, K-Car, Vega... None of the American small cars were successful, most likely because auto manufacturers knew, deep down, that Americans wouldn't buy them.
Oh sure, there are a few hardy souls more interested in good gas mileage than having seating for seventeen, but they were buying Datsuns, Hondas, and Toyotas anyways. The folks buying American cars wanted big, sturdy, heavy-assed land yachts with eight cylinder motors and single digit gas mileage. Oh, sure, we had gas lines in the '70s. Granted, the emissions debacle and the removal of lead from gasoline wreaked havoc on the scene. The Caprice retired, the last of the big Chevys; the Crown Vic was eased out; Chrysler - who made such marvelous aircraft carriers as the Imperial, New Yorker, and the - has only the Charger, a mid-size car at best and a micro-sub-compact compared to the boats of a generation ago.
Now take a look at this list: Car Rankings: Affordable Small Cars - there are exactly three American cars on this list: Ford Fiesta (made by Ford - in Spain, Germany, China, and Mexico) and Chevy's Cruze and Aveo (both made by the Korean Daewoo). Chrysler doesn't even have an entry - possibly because the only even vaguely small Chrysler is the pitiful PT Cruiser. Of the three American cars on the list, two are rebadged Korean models and one is made overseas - none are made here in the USA (now, granted, how many American cars are???)
It's time we closed the small car gap. Gasoline is expensive and only getting more so. It would be nice to have an American answer to the Nissan Versa, Honda Fit, or Toyota Yaris - small, economical cars that will last more than three years (remember the pathetic Geo Metro?) Ford is shifting its manufacturing some to make smaller cars - most likely more Focuses (Foci?) and Fusions. Chrysler is still stumbling around trying to decide if it wants to let Fiat (FIAT!!!) call the shots. GM is too busy hoping that being Government Motors will save them...
Wouldn't it be a kick in the teeth if the company that rolled out the Pinto were the only American car company to offer an American small car?
That is all.
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Well...technically there's four "American" cars on that list; Hyundai's 2011 Elantra - at least the US-spec version - is built in Montgomery, AL.
Although most of the Elantra's parts are imported, so I guess that's a wash. On the other hand, there isn't a single car built in this country that doesn't have at least some imported parts. (And does Chrysler still count as a "domestic" automaker after Obama forced them into a shotgun marriage with Fiat...?)
I'm currently mulling buying a new car, and given the increasing cost of gas it will probably have to be a compact. Right now it looks to me like a choice between the Elantra and the new 2012 Ford Focus. All else being equal: I'd rather have a hatchback, and the new Elantra isn't yet available in a hatch. On the other hand, the Focus runs at least $1500 higher than a comparably-equipped Elantra...and in hatchback form, the price differential is more like $2000-$2500. And Hyundai has a better warranty, to boot.
So...there might well be a little Alabama-accented Korean compact in my future...
--Wes S.
Actually, the PT Cruiser is long gone. The current small model is the Dodge Caliber/Jeep Compass/Jeep Patriot (all mechanically the same). I've got the Patriot (2010), so far, so good.
Part of the problem is that when people in the USA buy one of these sub-compact cars, they expect a very low price. To get that price, the manufacturers have to pay a very low wage (lower than they can get away with in the USA). So, they get made overseas.
Also,you would be surprised at the percentages of where cars are made. I just bought a Honda Element. 60% (or 80%, I can't remember which) was made in the USA. The only major component made outside the USA is the engine (it's an Accord engine made in Japan).
Ahem. The Chevy Cruze is made in Lordstown, Ohio, but is also made in another half a dozen countries around the globe.
To tell you the truth, except for some small Boutique Manufacturers like Tesla, I don't think Auto Manufacturing has been a single country process for decades in the U.S. (Corvette excluded). True Story time: When I got Shore Duty in 1981, I searched for a small ecobox to ride around in. Bought a "American Made" Dodge Omni. It had a Volkswagen Engine( Germany) Japanese Radio, and was Assembled in Mexico, all of which occurred during the time Chrysler Chairman Lee Iacocca was whining about how we all needed to "Buy American".
So I'd just find a good car from an established Company with a Large Dealer Network and go for it. It's probably 75% Chicom anyway!
I have 'heard' (this is the internet after all), that most of the small cars would not meet US safety standards. If this is true, it instantly explains why we have no small cars on the market.
It is not so much that they will not meet US standards as that adding everything to meet US standards negates many of the reasons for buying them (cheap and very fuel efficient). Any car imported for resale in the USA has to meet these requirements.
An example is the Mini Cooper (as produced by BMW). In Europe they are about $5000 cheaper and get about 10 MPG more than the US version.
That pathetic Geo Metro gets about 45 MPG. They sell for more now than Blue Book value if you can find someone that will part with theirs *.
*Some Bondo, duct tape and bailing twine required.
Gerry
The answer to why america's idea of a small car is the cammery or accord is quite simple.
Size matters.
Take a graph of the height/weight of the average male in the countries arround the world. Now look all the way over at the end of the graph that's way out out side the norm. That would be America.
We are on average taller, wider, and overall just biger.
Add to that the fact we built most of our roads as car/truck roads to go fast rather than just paving over cow paths* to allow people to travel from point A to point B.
* not valid in all locations, i.e. boston
Just for the record,I worked for GM in the late 80's,early 90's,and learned a TON about the car's prior.One reason for the pinto and vega problem's is that they were rushed into production,not a lot of testing. The bosses wanted a car for the oil embargo issue.Mopar hooked up with mitsubishi,while ford and gm went on they're own. Look at the early chevy luv pickup..a rebadged Isuzu. The K car was rushed out as mopar needed sales.Granted,we'd all love a cheap car that gets 30+ mpg,but will you give up power brake's, automatic tranny, AC, power steering? A sandrail with a body and a 1500 cc engine will get you that,and will be just as safe,if not safer! Imagine an indy car with an econo engine in it! a neat ride, so safe it can roll over at 200 MPH, and a little motor! Hard to get the groceries home,but a neat ride!
Define American here. Honda has a higher percentage of American-made vehicles than the 'American' companies, and these are actually made here, not merely assembled--I work at a Honda engine plant where iron and aluminum come in as ingots and get turned into engines, driveshafts, brake rotors, etc. to be sent down the road a few miles to the assembly plant.
Well, Chrysler having belonged to Germans got America its first truly interesting van in decades (the Sprinter)...maybe belonging to Fiat will mean that we can get a (probably-renamed) 500 in the US. Even the Top Gear guys like the Fiat 500...and nobody ever accused them of being enviro-weenies or lacking a sense of quality.
That seems to be what Chrysler is for...to get bought out by foreign car companies so as to get those companies' products marketed in the US.
But hey...I drive a mid-sized "German" sedan made primarily in Mexico, and I love it. So what do I know?
I've always loved the Fiesta, and would pay a reasonable price to find a good-condition 79 or 80.
Ford has been in the Fiesta business ever since, just not on this side of the Atlantic. I think it's neat to see the 'ga-ga' advertising going on now as if the Fiesta were something new, when in fact it is only new here, and then only after a 30+ year hiatus.
I can't imagine any American traveling just about anywhere in the world in the past 40 years without eyeing a few of the local rides and whispering "if only...", even for quite a few of the reliable, spartan econo-boxes.
Well, maybe not drool over a Trabant, but heck, if I could find one for $100.00, or less than a Yugo (but I repeat myself) I'd garage one of those, too.
Oh, I love my earth-f***er F250, but also have always hankered for a little 'sh**box' to toy around with. Good mileage is a plus, but there's a fun quotient to driving a tiny rig, too.
The lack of Big Three compact cars probably also has something to do with the fact that for the last twenty-odd years, the Big Three focused on bigger cars (and trucks) because the Japanese companies weren't making anything like that, and bigger vehicles delivered bigger profit margins. I believe GM continues doing that because GM's current management, like its old management, is too effing stupid to figure out that the world has changed, and gas mileage matters to more and more people now. Ford management, being slightly sharper of wit than your average box of rocks (and with access to all of Mazda's know-how for building nice small cars) is offering decent compact cars.
Myself, now, last time I went a'lookin' for new wheels, I literally could not buy American, because no American manufacturer makes what I was looking for: a car (not an SUV) with a decent size cargo deck (not a trunk) that also gets decent gas mileage. A small station wagon or the equivalent. I looked at VWs. And Subarus. And Toyotas. And Hondas. And Nissans. But I couldn't look at any Big Three models, because there aren't any.
(Well, the fact that after the bailouts I will never ever ever buy a car made by either GM or Chrysler was probably involved, too.)
I drove a Dodge Neon in college and grad school. Never once in 6 years did it not start when I turned the key- 130,000 mi, 42mpg.
My wife's old focus is still buzzing around my neighborhood with its' new owner- last I checked, it had 310,000mi on it. Ford's certainly doing something right.
A number of other commenters have pointed out that there are no really no American manufacturers any longer. Nor are there really any Japanese manufacturers and even a lot of German companies have factories in the US.
The Escort was a decent small car, but it was a "world car" and much of it was at least engineered in Europe.
It's likely that even a Ford small car will be designed elsewhere and maybe even built in a different elsewhere.
PS. I wouldn't buy a Hyundai on a bet. It seems that they need that long warranty to get anyone to buy their crap buckets.
I think that the mid 60's Novas are awesome. And the Plymouth Duster was a nice car also. I would consider both of them to be "small" cars for the time.
In my neck of the woods east of Seattle, my friendly local Chrysler/Jeep/Dodge already has a cute little row of Fiat 500s, humorously positioned next to a couple of Dodge Ram 3500 Earthfuckers. It looks like with a ramp, you could load the Fiat into the back of the Dodge and use it as an escape pod.
I drive a Scion tC even though I am an OFWG. I couldn't tell you where it was made, and I don't really care. It is a hatchback coupe with a peppy engine (not a sports car but good acceleration and great handling.) If you drop the back seats you have enough cargo space for 25 bankers boxes. Leave the seats up and smaller adults are comfortable in the back seats.
I thought of your post on small cars when I stumbled upon this:
http://rockrivertimes.com/2010/12/15/chevy-makes-way-for-michigan-built-sonic-subcompact/
The Aveo's getting tossed and replaced with the Detroit-made Chevy Sonic.
FWIW.
tweaker
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