Jan, Toyota’s innocuous ad spokesperson, poses our question of the day (QOTD) to picture yourself in a new Toyota. We’re asking, what new vehicle of any make would you picture yourself in? Assuming, of course, dealers still exist.
We cover dozens of brands from around the world and many hundreds of vehicles. Which would you consider buying? Are you in the market now, or will you be at any time this year?
There is no shortage of trucks and SUVs given their popularity and utility. There are also fewer subcompacts and sedans, and as we’ve noted, powertrain options have narrowed. Unless you’ve not been in the market for a new car in some time, this shouldn’t come as a surprise. Reducing the number of variations makes it easier and more profitable to manufacture any vehicle. Compare that to Coca-Cola thinning out the number of brands and flavors they offer, and you begin to see it’s not only automakers who have reduced your choices.
Some versions disappear almost overnight. Honda dropped the Civic Coupe last year, without fanfare or much advance warning. With Coupe sales diving from 16 to six percent, and the Hatchback growing 24 percent, it was evident which model would be sticking around. U.S. automakers have largely abandoned sedans, while overseas they’ve said ‘not so fast’, and just renamed theirs as gran coupes.
Our QOTD is based on what you like as much as it is what you can afford. Kelley Blue Book reported that the average price for a vehicle in 2020 was $37,876, up $975 from 2019. In January 2021, KBB said the average was $40,857, more than five percent higher than last year. We see which way this is going, and we definitely feel the pain too. At this rate, when car lots are full of electric vehicles, what do you think the last cars or trucks with internal combustion engines will cost?
[Images: Toyota, Lexus, Mini, Honda]
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