Tuesday, December 7, 2010

Ford Fiesta, other mini cars, observe slow sales

Automakers rapidly turned to small cars when gas hit $4 a gallon in 2008. Folks in all places downsized, trading in giant SUVs for traditional compacts and the newest subcompacts, like the Toyota Yaris. The trend prompted Ford to carry its best global small car to the U.S., the Ford Fiesta, while it looked to beef up its compact, the Focus, to be a more premium offering. This trend of subcompact and bigger compact is being seen across the industry.

The Fiesta has been on sale for a few months with a complete inventory on most lots. Though, the Fiesta isn't setting the sales world on fire, and the rest of the segment isn't, either.

The Fiesta was the fourth-best-seller in the subcompact segment at 3,473 units, behind value leaders similar to the Nissan Versa (6,724) and Hyundai Accent (4,052) and the well-established Honda Fit (4,052). Even Chevy's much-forgotten Aveo sold merely a few hundred fewer units (3,262) than the Fiesta with a fewer available inventory.

The compact class is considering new models getting larger as the subcompacts take up their former position on show floors as the entry-level models.

In what could be consider its initial full month of sales, Chevy's new Cruze sold 8,066 units, which is a good number. The much-maligned Cobalt it substitutes sold 5,112 units during November last year, likely at much lower transaction prices.

Volkswagen's new Jetta helped overall Jetta sedan sales climb to 8,955, a 49% boost over last year.

Hyundai's new Elantra presently went on sale in the final days of November, totaling 192 units, while the 2010 still managed an impressive 8,439 units.

A sale of the Mazda3 increases 9.3% to 6,474 while Mazda's all-new Mazda2 sold 462 units in its first full month on sale.

Don't cry for Ford, though, since its soon-to-be replaced Focus saw sales jump 27.8% to 13,030.

The outlook for new compact cars similar to the Cruze, Jetta and upcoming Focus seems positive, while compact SUVs and midsize sales stay steady. The only cars that appear to be floundering are the smallest ones out there.


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