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Chevrolet Cruze and Sonic, Honda Fit, Nissan Versa, Dodge Dart.
These are just five of the names sparking big interest in today’s American small-car market.
There are others – including Ford Focus and Fiesta; Fiat 500; Hyundai Accent and Elantra; Chevrolet Spark; Toyota Corolla, Matrix and Yaris; Kia Soul and Rio, Honda Civic, Scion iQ and VW Jetta – also for around or under $16,000.
It’s a growing army of small, smaller and smallest vehicles, some new models, some familiar, rolling
along our streets and other roadways as market forces, such as gas prices, an aging car population, weak economy and crowded highways converge to make them more desirable to American drivers.
(Little did my wife and I think when we purchased our Corolla that we would be on the cutting edge.)
Others have begun to notice what could be a tectonic shift in the marketplace, and one that some might suggest is decades overdue considering environmental concerns and long-term gas prices alone.
The Wall Street Journal’s Corporate Intelligence column reported that “Americans are ditching their big SUVs and buying small cars.” Others reported the same trend: Small vehicles led the month’s good performance, now making up 23% of new vehicle sales,” aggregator NewsFeed Researcher posted in its online news digest Oct. 3 in reporting about monthly industry results for September.
“Green Car Reports: The ultimate guide to cleaner, greener driving” even wondered in an Oct. 4 headline, “Do Americans Finally Love Small Cars? Sales Data Says Yes.”
The buying shift to smaller cars is not the result of panic over gas prices that “drove consumers to small cars and hybrids in 2008 (and the late 1970s),” reported Corporate Intelligence. “Instead, consumers appear to be quietly factoring gasoline prices of close to $4 a gallon into their buying calculations, and reassessing just how much car they need to crawl to work on congested freeways.”
So, are you finally ready to ditch your large SUV, pickup or car for a small car such as those listed above? If you are, discover how to get a great auto loan by visiting RoadLoans.com.
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