January Sales Snapshot: Selected Small Hatchbacks

Edward Niedermeyer
by Edward Niedermeyer

As we’ve noted before, there are lots of ways to skin a segment. Here’s one of them. Notice that four of the top five sellers here are also available as sedans, the Honda Fit being the only exception. Interestingly, compact hatches tend to carry a premium over their sedan variants.

Edward Niedermeyer
Edward Niedermeyer

More by Edward Niedermeyer

Comments
Join the conversation
6 of 8 comments
  • Carguy622 Carguy622 on Feb 08, 2010

    I admit it. I used to despise hatchbacks. I thought they were cheap and crude. I think I was just following the "stereotypical" hatchback nonsense. Now that I've seen all the things I can't do with my sedan, a hatch or wagon is a serious thought for my next vehicle purchase. Also, I've always loved wagons, but never hatches. I can't figure it out.

    • Pete Zaitcev Pete Zaitcev on Feb 08, 2010

      In a sedan, you cannot get smacked by a cartoon of eggs that goes flying out of your cargo net.

  • Sinistermisterman Sinistermisterman on Feb 08, 2010

    Never have understood why in North America a hatch costs more than a sedan? More steel goes into a sedan so you'd think it'd be the one that costs more? Nope. In Europe it's the hatch version which are cheapest... Can anyone actually tell me which one costs less to build? And talking of 'cost to build', how much money are Hyundai making on the Accent? I mean to build a car, ship it across the Pacific and then sell it for less than $10k is simply amazing.

    • Carlisimo Carlisimo on Feb 08, 2010

      In theory they might be more expensive because it’s harder to design a window in a hatch than in a piece of the chassis, a hatch’s hinges have to carry more weight, and a leaking or squeaky hatch are bigger and more common problems than if it happens to a trunk. But that’s not important. In the US, hatches are more expensive because companies are trying to improve their image. 20 years ago hatches were usually the cheapest variants of cars you could buy, and so they developed a reputation for being cheap, having cheap owners, and generally being uncool. But if they’re more expensive than sedan versions, then the opposite happens – they’re fancy, upmarket, and cool! Mazda started it by making the Mazda3s hatch-only (the –s is above the –i) and it worked, so everyone else is doing it too. Maybe after a decade or two they’ll decide the damage has been fixed, and they’ll sell them both equally.

  • Billy Bobb 2 Billy Bobb 2 on Feb 08, 2010

    We love our 2008 SX4. Zero defects. Great in the snow this week.

  • Russycle Russycle on Feb 09, 2010

    Interesting that sales of Versa are up with the introduction of the Cube, and same for Rio with the Soul. World's cheapest halo cars? The Fit was the "it" car in this segment last year, now I think Soul and Rio have filled that role, leading to Fit's decline. The fact that the Fit bears a passing resemblance to the Aveo probably isn't helping. Crunched the numbers just for fun, totals for the segment are 31,253 for Jan 2010 vs. 26,858 last year, an increase of 16.4 percent.

Next