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Is the US really downsizing?

2014 Cadillac CTS USA March 20132014 Cadillac CTS: the right size?

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One thing you notice when you visit the U.S is the size of the cars on the roads. America is known for its big and bold vehicles and if you live there you would want to buy a car that doesn’t get overlooked on the highway. From the large cars that are associated with executives such as the BMW 5 and 7 series, Audi A6 and A8 models and the Cadillac XTS, to of course the SUV, CUVs and pick up trucks, bigger has always certainly been better. But recent figures from the U.S suggest that this may be a changing trend, with small car sales on the rise at the start of 2013.

The February unit sales for the U.S provided by Motor Intelligence show that the number of ‘small’ car purchases is up by 5% on February 2012 statistics. Additionally, the figures show a significant drop in the purchases of large autos, with an 80% decrease on cars such as the high end BMW, Audi, and Cadillacs. So is the U.S really downsizing when it comes to purchasing new and used cars?

Well, not exactly. For sure the decrease in large car sales since last February is a real eye opener, but despite small car sales increasing, this is really a sign that that people are downsizing in class rather than size. It appears that the decreases in large car sales may have spilled over to the light duty truck segment with sales increases in pickup, cross-over, and SUVs segments right across the board. This could simply be the affect of downgrading in difficult economic times in order to save money, but you can bet your bottom dollar that it will take more than a depression for America to compromise size!

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This Post Has One Comment
  1. I just returned from spending a couple weeks in Southern California. In the last few years the amount of small cars on the roads and particularly in the cities as increased. The reason… the highest gas prices in the country and the prices are all over the spectrum. Anywhere from 4.07 to 5.13, couldn’t believe the range but mainly 4.30.
    Also I noticed a lot of hybrids,particularly Toyota Prisus’ but not a lot of F150’s. As for luxury makes more ‘C’ class instead of ‘E’ and the same with BMW more 1 and 3’s instead of 5 series.
    As for sub compacts like Fiesta’s they are not going to be big sellers like they are across Europe.All because the ‘Cheese Cake Factory’ diners can’t it into them.

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