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<\/p>\n<\/div>Detroit carmakers and their foreign counterparts are taking different roads when it comes to small cars.<\/p>\n
Ford is parking its sedan lineup, including the entry-level Fiesta and Focus compacts, as the carmaker follows the market-shift to SUVs. Only the Mustang and a Focus-based crossover will remain. Fiat Chrysler killed its mid-size Chrysler 200 and compact Dodge Dart two years ago. And Chevrolet is expected to thin its compact offerings from three to two by dismissing the Sonic subcompact.<\/p>\n
Their Asian and German competitors, in contrast, see small cars as ways to introduce younger buyers to the brands. They are doubling down on compact passenger cars while also expanding their SUV lineups. The dueling strategies are not just apparent in product but also in plant location as Asian makers invest in U.S. plants that build sedans.<\/p>\n
Take Subaru, for example.<\/p>\n
Following Subaru\u2019s strategy of jacking up a compact car (the Impreza) and calling it a crossover (the Crosstrek), Ford next year will introduce the Focus Active crossover that\u2019s based on the discontinued Focus compact. But while Ford will import the Active from China and discontinue Focus production here, Subaru has moved production of its all-new Impreza compact to Indiana to free up production capacity in Japan to build the Crosstrek. Honda also builds it all-new compact Civic in the Hoosier state.<\/p>\n
\u201cCompacts are gateway cars to our brand,\u201d says Peter Tenn, Subaru\u2019s planning manager for passenger cars. \u201cWe want to keep people for life. We want to get people early in the buying process who might eventually buy SUVs like our new three-row Ascent. We take a long-term view that we want to sell folks on our total portfolio.\u201d<\/p>\n
New for the 2017 model year, the Impreza joins the Civic, Toyota Corolla, Hyundai Elantra and Volkswagen Jetta as clean-sheet new products for the U.S. market. Their introduction hasn\u2019t slowed investment in SUVs where Toyota (RAV4), Nissan (Rogue) and Honda (CR-V) are the three best-selling SUVs in America.<\/p>\n
Ford\u2019s canceled Focus was introduced for the European market in April but will not be sold here. When it debuts next year, the Focus Active will chase the Crosstrek \u2014 new this year \u2014 and VW Golf Alltrack in the compact crossover market.<\/p>\n
Ford\u2019s absence from the small-car segment puts a Japanese stranglehold on a 2.6 million-vehicle market it first entered 40 years ago with small sedans such as the Civic and Corolla. The only remaining mainstream entry-level compact sedans offered by U.S. brands are the Chevrolet Cruze and Spark.<\/p>\n
\u201cDetroit automakers have never really had their heart in small cars,\u201d says Auto Trends Consulting\u2019s Joe Phillippi, a veteran Wall Street auto analyst. \u201cThey only had to focus on them after the 1973 oil crisis. Compact cars get swept over by the enormous profits they make on big trucks and SUVs.\u201d<\/p>\n
When Ford\u2019s Focus exits the Michigan Assembly Plant later this year, Japanese manufacturers will dominate mainstream small-car production in the U.S. (Chevy\u2019s Cruze and Hyundai\u2019s Elantra are the two exceptions.)<\/p>\n
\u201cHonda has a philosophy of building cars in the markets we serve,\u201d says Morel. \u201cWe build a lot of our cars across all segments in North America, and we intend to continue that. The proportion of Honda products made in the U.S. for the U.S is very, very high. Honda is second only to Ford in using domestically sourced parts \u2014 65 percent of vehicles sold in the U.S. were also made here.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Civic is the best-selling retail car in America with 377,286 sold here in 2017. Honda built 146,580 of those Civics at its plant in Greensburg, Indiana, employing 2,500 workers. Subaru produced 117,000 Imprezas last year in Lafayette, Indiana, employing 5,600.<\/p>\n
Though it is exiting the sedan market, Ford says it is still committed to affordable vehicles.<\/p>\n