Regular Passenger Cars Are Tanking As Performance Variants Hold Their Own

There’s a reason we run Midsized Sedan Deathwatch. North American consumers want space for six dogs, and nothing’s going to stop them from forking over big bucks for cargo volume and a third row. Traditional passenger cars be damned.

Increasingly, it looks like the market has been condemned — it’s down 12 percent over the first four months of this year. But the shrinking market presence isn’t solely the domain of the midsize. Compacts are in trouble, too. Full-size cars? You know the answer. However, if the vehicle in question started out as a conventional grocery getter but piled on the horsepower before leaving the factory, chances are it isn’t hurting.

A good example is the incredibly shrinking Ford Focus, destined for a date with Mexican production and already an afterthought for the powers that be in Dearborn. The Detroit News recently broke down the sales figures for that compact model and found something interesting.

For the first four months of this year, sales of the Focus fell 24.6 percent compared to the same period in 2016. That’s pretty bad, but not shocking. The market is heading in that direction and the Focus hasn’t seen a full redesign since the dawn of this decade. What is interesting is the sales performance of the hotter Focus variants.

Over the same period, sales of the Focus ST and RS grew 25 percent. According to Autodata Corp., the hot Ford Fusion Sport has seen respectable demand, despite the Fusion itself sinking on the sales charts. Are the only desirable cars performance cars?

Perhaps, but dedicated sports cars are also taking a hit. Year-to-date Ford Mustang, Dodge Challenger and Chevrolet Camaro sales are all down, so the bright light seems to shine only on sporty variants of an existing model.

As families turn to SUVs and crossovers for most hauling duties, it would make sense for the breadwinner’s commuter car to possess a sporty side. In the case of a sportier Focus, the added performance comes at a price, but buyers don’t seem to care. The same report cites Focus ST and RS owners’ average household income of $108,000 and $169,000, far and away higher than the income of a regular Focus buyer ($63,000).

Over at Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, it’s the same story. While Dodge Charger sales slumped 18.6 percent over the first four months of this year, performance variants like the SRT Hellcat remain popular. Performance variants might not save a threatened model, but it does seem they can prolong a lifespan. Purely from a marketing perspective, having a hotter trim to wave in front of the entire lineup is always a good thing.

Across the Pacific, other automakers are tapping into this thinking in a bid to broaden a model’s appeal. The Honda Civic Type R will arrive soon with 307 horsepower, while Hyundai decided its Elantra sedan is in dire need of turbocharging. Even Nissan has joined the fray, transforming its compact sedan into the Sentra SR Turbo and Sentra NISMO.

North Americans might not have much time for regular cars, but they still like chirping the tires.

[Image: Ford]