Sedans Head for the Big Body Shop in the Sky
(FORTUNE Magazine) – Say goodbye to another cherished American institution: the four-door sedan. Once one of the most durable automotive concepts, it reached its apogee in the 1950s, when your parents, or maybe your grandparents, trudged around in a six-passenger Chevy Bel Air or Ford Fairlane. But for more than a decade, four-doors, particularly the made-by-Detroit variety, have lost ground to sport-utility vehicles, vans, and pickups. Now they appear to be near extinction. Exhibit A: January's auto show in Detroit. You had to look hard to find any conventional four-doors on display. Instead, automakers touted their new crossover vehicles, which combine the passenger-carrying capability of a sedan with the roominess of a minivan and the go-anywhere ability of a sport-utility vehicle. "Five-door hatchbacks have always been popular in Europe, and there is a generation in the U.S. that has grown up with SUVs," says Martin Inglis, who runs Ford's North American operations. "Now people want some of the same ingredients--a high roof, higher seats with a more upright position, and more rear legroom--in other vehicles." Future crossovers will come in all shapes, sizes, and prices. Toyota, which pioneered the crossover with the Lexus RX300, showed off an economy model, the Matrix. The glittery Matrix (above right), which is built on the same platform as the proletarian Corolla, will be available next year with four-wheel drive and a rear seat that folds into a flat floor. Toyota claims it combines the affordability of an economy car, the function of an SUV, and, perhaps optimistically, the style and performance of a sports car. Meanwhile, Cadillac's Vizon, due out in 2003, looks as if it could do double duty as a lunar explorer. It bristles with high-tech features like a power rear liftgate and power rear load floor that slides up or out. Cadillac calls it a "luxury activity vehicle," and the emphasis is clearly on luxury: Nobody will use the Vizon to haul bales of peat moss. Automakers are eyeing the emergence of crossovers with a mixture of anticipation and dread. They are eager to develop unique new designs that command higher margins than commodity-priced sedans, but they fear moving too quickly. "We are redefining the traditional sedan, but how fast is it going to happen?" asks Ron Zarrella, head of GM's North American operations. "What should we do with the next generation Chevy Cavalier? Should it look like the [conventional] cars it competes with, such as the Honda Civic, or should it be something different?" Domestic four-doors, meanwhile, are getting hard to find. Oldsmobile's demise means that three more sedans are earmarked for extinction and some Buick models could be next. Ford has replaced its four-door Contour with the crossover Escape, while the rumored death of Mercury would rub out two more sedans. American consumers are still buying sedans; they are just turning to foreign automakers. Toyota and Honda sell hundreds of thousands of Camrys and Accords each year. Mercedes-Benz's and BMW's sought-after high-end sedans sell for $80,000 and more. Meanwhile, a crossover backlash has already begun. "Sedans are very efficient: They handle better, are less inclined to roll over, and get 30 miles to the gallon," says John Wolkonowicz, strategy consultant with Detroit's Bulin Group. "Try doing that in a crossover vehicle." True enough, but with manufacturers' new product plans set four years in advance, the Detroit show signals that saving the American sedan will be about as easy as raising the dead. |
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