Skip to main content

Is America warming up to wagons?

Throughout the automobile history of almost 125 years, every major manufacturer has at some point in time produced a Station Wagon or Estate version of its most successful sedans. Some European manufacturers have launched a few models as estate only versions. Like other models, they have seen success and failures. In America however, wagons have never been able to enjoy the same success which other body types have seen.

In Europe wagons are one of the most popular body types for family or personal transportation. They offer the comfort and driving pleasure of a car and can carry enormous amount of cargo. To me, this is one of the most sensible forms of family transportation. In the world's largest automobile market however, they account for less than 1% of total sales. The reason for this was pretty clear till the economy and oil prices started hitting us hard. Cheap oil for decades and the American culture of "make e'm big" meant that if you need a car with more space, you buy a SUV. SUV's kept growing in size and soon became the strategy of the big three. How else do you explain the Explorer, Expedition, Excursion, Tahoe, Suburban, Yukon, Durango, Aspen etc. I recollect a few wagons being launched in the States in the past two decades as compared to the vast numbers of models for other body types. The general population could never realize the practicality of a station wagon and the manufacturers kept flooding their minds with newer and bigger SUVs.

Since the past couple of years though, the perception of estates in states seems to be changing. The Jetta TDI wagon has gained good popularity. Though this can be attributed more towards its TDI engine (I will cover diesel cars in my next post), it has at least done the job of getting a foot in the door. The most bold attempt has come from from GM. The Cadillac CTS wagon comes across as a practical sports car with loads of luggage space. The CTS-V wagon however will satisfy the souls of a few power hungry and wallet heavy folks. I am doubtful how many would buy a wagon which has in excess of 500 horsepower and use it for trips to the grocery store but I do commend GM for taking this step nonetheless. Hyundai America seems keen to bring the Sonata Wagon (known as the i40 internationally). That along with the Elantra touring would give Hyundai a product leadership in this segment. Acura is also trying to create a space for itself in this tiny segment by bringing in the TSX Wagon. 

I am very hopeful that the public perception on estates would change soon and we will see more of such cars entering the market. I am sure I will buy one some day. As of today, my favorite is a BMW 5 series wagon or the 528i Gran Turismo.




Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

I owed this to Honda

Back in 2011, I wrote a blog about Honda . More specifically, I wrote about my disappointment with Honda. I felt Honda had lost its charm both on the design and performance sides and started producing boring cars, especially in the US. Towards the end of that post, I wrote about my anticipation for the 2012 Civic considering the last generation (2006 model) was such a great car. Well, to put it mildly, Honda continued down the disappointing path. The 2012 model was a bigger disappointment than I had anticipated and led me to wonder what will it take to awaken the people running this iconic brand. Well, it seems the all-around criticism for such an endeared (and mainstream) model did the trick and Honda majorly revised the Civic for the 2013 year. Major revisions within one model year are rare, if not unheard of and almost always are forced due to the costs. Since then, Honda has done a great job with "almost" every model in its lineup. The 2013 Honda Accord was refreshi...
Post a Comment
Read more

The big three - My take on the US auto makers

I have been closely following the big three car makers for the past many years. Though I was the least surprised on Chrysler's filing bankruptcy, the somewhat contradictory positions of the bigger two leads me to believe that to undo the shortcomings of the past, just good products are not enough. A better management plays a bigger role in a company's survival and recovery. Let me try to explain - Chrysler - Though the former name Daimler Chrysler leads one to think that the company would have had the strongest products line in the US, it seems Chrysler hardly benefited in any model launch since the marriage. Except for the Pacifica , I find it hard to find any other model which showed traits of German Engineering. In the past few years, the only cars worth remembering from this manufacturer are the Chrysler 300C and Dodge charger. Honestly, when I look at the older models like the 300, Concorde, Intrepid I wonder what happened to the design gurus at Chryslser th...
Post a Comment
Read more