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GM doesn't even sell regular cars any more do they? All hatchbacks SUVs and trucks.
I was going to say something similar. Nobody sells small cars anymore. And if they do, they try as hard as they can to get you to buy something else. I'm currently trying to buy a Prius and I have one on hold, but it won't be available for months and when we went to various dealers, they just didn't have any to test drive and instead wanted us to test drive their SUVs. I've never wanted a large car. In fact, I would prefer if my next car was a small electric hatchback, but they just don't sell that here in the US.
I don't think that lack of availability means that the dealer doesn't want you to buy a Prius. I suspect that it's more that they want you to buy from them rather than someone else, and if they don't have Priuses available, they'll try and sell you what they do have...shrugs
For the Prius, my understanding is that during the COVID-19 pandemic, a large backlog built up at automakers due to the disruption to production. Manufacturers don't want to hugely-overbuild production capacity just to throw it away when the backlog is resolved, so the backlog persisted through 2023 and is still apparently present for some cars. According to this, this apparently includes the Prius:
https://caredge.com/guides/factory-order-wait-times-2024#Toyota_Factory_Order_Wait_Times
The thing that @JohnDClay@sh.itjust.works mentioned was something that surprised me when I discovered it too -- consumer preference has shifted from sedans to hatchbacks. But you can still get sedans...just that not all companies are making them.
GM tried killing the Bolt, a small and, cheap hatchback, and replacing it with the Equinox EV, a much more expensive SUV. They did not make any for 2024 because they were planning on ending production but we're met with tons of backlash for killing one of their most popular vehicles so they will be moving it to the Optium platform. I doubt they will lower the price of it despite them moving to Optium because it will allow cheaper production.
I get that larger vehicles offer higher margins but smaller commuter vehicles are still very necessary and wanted. The Bolt's sales figures show that pretty clearly.
Automakers aren’t encouraged to create more efficient small vehicles. The US emissions system is based on the vehicle’s footprint rather than its total output. Therefore, it’s more “climate friendly” in marketing to make an underpowered larger vehicle.
https://www.reuters.com/article/idUSKBN21D1KK/
The US also imposes a tariff on import of light trucks -- which I understand large vehicles like crossovers are also classified as -- due to a 1960s dispute over US chicken exports to Europe that was never resolved, making those more-profitable for domestic manufacture, since the market is less-competitive.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicken_tax
I suppose that if European chicken protectionism ended, American auto protectionism also might, and so would the misincentive to sell as many light trucks as possible.
Another fun quirk that I expect -- though haven't looked into -- derives from this: American towing requirements have long been much higher than those in Europe. One needs a considerably larger vehicle to tow a given trailer legally. That effectively means that if one wants to tow things in the US, one effectively needs to pay the "chicken tax" to domestic automakers.
Malibu die off too? Cadillac still has sedans.
They are indeed killing the Malibu.
Guess I'll be riding out my impala fleet (2 currently) til it dies, don't exactly have cadillac money.