Chart Of The Day: Compact Cars In October And Year-To-Date (Bonus Edition!)
With October’s compact segment numbers reflecting the midsized segment’s return to the Toyota-Honda duopoly, the year-to-date graph shows that 2011 saw the rise of a new contender in the compact class: Chevy’s Cruze. With “ virtually zero” 2012 Civics at Honda’s dealers (allegedly) due to Earthquake aftermath and Thai flooding, it’s beginning to look like Civic could be kicked out of the new triumvirate, leaving Cruze and Corolla to fight it out to the finish. To celebrate the drama, we’ve included a special bonus graph showing the “Big Six” compact horserace from January through October, to go along with the YTD graph. Enjoy!
More by Edward Niedermeyer
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It would be interesting to see how the urban/suburban divide shapes up for the Focus. My bet is that it's got better penetration in areas with higher density and narrower streets. I can see the resistance to paying for a premium for a small car in the burbs where lanes are a mile wide and there are cheaper alternatives. However, my feeling is that no matter how much we want them, it's just not the economy for a premium small car... at least not as the bedrock of a product line. They took a volume product and pushed the price up... hopefully increasing their margins along the way... but they could end up contracting their volume. End result could be the same revenue on a smaller base... that's not just a good thing for a volume producer. It's what Audi did when they headed for the hills during the sea-change from Audi 90/100 to the A4/A6 era. It only makes sense if you can't meet volume... Ford can't do that. They have to be a volume player, their infrastructure is based on volume. I think Honda had it right in the 90's before a number of things gimped it up... build a volume Civic and then produce the upscale Integra cousin on the same platform. What Ford has done is to basically replace the their 'Civic' line with an 'Integra' line... potentially not working. Yes, you could argue that buyers could opt for the less spec'd version, but I think what is happening is showing the worth of having differentiated premium and volume name plates... it's not to enhance your high end offerings, it's to maintain the base of the lower end.
I've had enough of an education in statistics to understand that I represent a very small sample against the large population of satisfied Honda owners. A few $800 ignition jobs notwithstanding, I had pretty good luck with Hondas though not as good as everyone else I know, including the friend who is on the third transmission in his Odyssey but has "never had a problem with it." But my poorly explained point remains. The Valiant was probably one of the most reliable cars of its era until the vastly superior Accord came along and redefined the game. Now the Koreans for sure, and maybe even Detroit (though even I'll admit I hedged my bet with an extended warranty) may be about to do the Corolla what the Accord did to the Valiant. Didn't the Japanese companies concede defeat on televisions last week? Not something that seemed likely 15 years ago. Anf fortunately my Dad tried the unknown Tercel rather than the Valiant's successor the Volare.
iPhone with 4% market share has a 50% share of profits in smart-phone market. Which company is in better shape Apple or Nokia? I would consider rather share of profits in compact car market rather than meaningless market-share.
For the premium cars, BMW is in the market share lead (worldwide), with Audi and Daimler close. Others are far, far behind. The three are also highly profitable, with much better gross margins than other premium makers. BMW has traditionally had the best margins though Audi is now ahead as BMW spends money on the new 3-series launch. And, yes, the compact models (3-series, A4/A5, C-class) are the biggest money-makers for the three.