Ford/GM to discontinue several car models

[giantsfan2016]

Ford and GM are both discontinuing several sedan models do to slumping sales due to an increase in demand for SUVs and Pickup trucks. Ford will discontinue both the Taurus and Fiesta Models. GM will discontinue both the Chevy Sonic and Chevy Impala.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/cars/2018/04/04/gm-chevrolet-sonic-ford-fiesta-taurus-impala/485483002/

https://cleantechnica.com/2018/04/06/chevy-sonic-chevy-impala-ford-fiesta-ford-taurus-to-be-discontinued-is-the-future-of-us-auto-sales-all-suvs-pickups/

https://jalopnik.com/the-chevy-sonic-impala-ford-fiesta-and-taurus-may-all-1824688329

http://autoweek.com/article/car-news/report-ford-taurus-fiesta-chevy-sonic-impala-put-out-pasture

http://www.foxnews.com/auto/2018/04/06/ford-taurus-and-chevy-impala-might-die-and-can-thank-suvs.html

[Zayre88]

The large and mid-size sedans are quickly vanishing... Impala has been here for decades but will go away...

It makes sense because the market for these large sedans is shrinking fast. Even the smaller Malibu and Fusion don't sell as much as they use to.

[BillyGr]

The large and mid-size sedans are quickly vanishing... Impala has been here for decades but will go away...

Actually, the current version has only been around since the 2000 model year.  Prior to that they hadn't had a model with that name for some time (basically since 1985, but with a minor release in 1995-96).

[MikeinBuffalo]

Ford killed the Taurus before...I bet it will be back someday.

[giantsfan2016]

If I were in the position to buy a vehicle, I would buy a Honda Civic or Accord if I wanted a sedan. My Mom has a 2010 Civic and the stereo is fantastic. My friend has a 2006 Civic and it has a fantastic stereo as well. My old 95 Pontiac Sunfire also had a good stereo. Prior to the Civic my Mom had a Malibu and the stereo was horrible. - Every single AM station had interference from the 50,000 watt station to the local 2,500 watt station. And if it was only a semi-local station - forget picking that up at all.  Now granted the vast majority of my listening is done on FM now that the two AMs I listen to regularly - La Mega (Spanish Top 40) and Kool Radio (Oldies) have added FM repeaters, I still on occasion listen to AM radio - usually when the Yankees are playing. 97.9 WUCS, the local FM station that carries the games has a weak signal and generally doesn't come in well in my area - even on the car radio, so I tune to the games and listen through station on 660 AM out of NYC.

[retailisking]

Ford killed the Taurus before...I bet it will be back someday.

I doubt it. The market for mass-produced large sedans has pretty much imploded.

[JimSawhill]

Ford killed the Taurus before...I bet it will be back someday.

I doubt it. The market for mass-produced large sedans has pretty much imploded.

Ford will make some cars for Lincoln, but Ford mostly will be making trucks and SUVs. Looking at the Ranger for my new car...

[shore72]

The big danger: in my lifetime there are repeated examples of an unexpected fuel crisis. Right now gas prices locally have slowly crept up to $3. Any number of events could occur that would double that. Suddenly a sensible 35mpg sedan starts looking a little better. And, who can predict future trends? No automaker knows what the customer of 2028 will really want. If you don't have a model in production, starting from scratch can mean several years & perhaps billions of dollars.

I do agree, though, that the market for Taurus/Impala-sized sedans (I have trouble calling them "full-size"-guess I've been around too long!) has shrunken considerably. I was reading today of how GM sold over 1.5 million full-size Chevrolets in 1965, but of course there are so many more choices today. It's mostly an older demographic that looks to them for a daily driver, and even they have mostly switched up to SUV's of some sort. I think of my aunt, now in her 70's, who drove a long line of Oldsmobiles, Grand Marquis and Buick Roadmasters before making the switch to Tahoes. At work, the company once used sedans but now most of us use minivans. Our competitors mostly use small suv's or Fusion/Malibu type sedans. The one place I see long lines of Ford Tauruses lined up, ready for delivery, are the back lot of a local dealer that does a lot of fleet business. There you'll find dozens of them ready for delivery to police departments, though they are nearly matched in number by Police Interceptor Explorers and perhaps outnumbered by the Chargers that the dealer also sells.

[TheFugitive]

Last weekend I took a trip out of state to a wedding and it struck me how few
sedans are actually on the road these days.  Virtually everything is a crossover or bigger.

For the customer looking for a low-cost sedan the Koreans are currently dominating that market
(with the Chinese soon to enter).

[BillyGr]

The big danger: in my lifetime there are repeated examples of an unexpected fuel crisis. Right now gas prices locally have slowly crept up to $3. Any number of events could occur that would double that. Suddenly a sensible 35mpg sedan starts looking a little better. And, who can predict future trends? No automaker knows what the customer of 2028 will really want. If you don't have a model in production, starting from scratch can mean several years & perhaps billions of dollars.

Except that they wouldn't be starting from scratch - the major companies have branches in other parts of the world which will still sell cars (since many countries don't have the space for so many large vehicles).

So, should the demand increase it wouldn't take much to pull one of those models plans and add it to an existing plant to produce it (with any minor modifications that would be needed for the US), or at least it shouldn't be that hard to do.