[PaulHoule]

There are Americans who like small cars but dealers don’t want to sell them.

The Honda Fit is the ideal getaway car in Tompkins County (see ‘em everywhere) but after mine got totaled twice in six months I went looking for a new one and the dealer didn’t have any, had the excuse that the factory washed out in a flood, but there were 50 CR-Vs made in the same factory lined up.

Before the pandemic, when sales incentives were widespread, I’d see $8000 discounts on huge vehicles, none on small vehicles. Is that really a sign people want to buy large vehicles or that dealers want to sell them? How many people walk out with a larger vehicle than they need because dealers didn’t have the vehicle they wanted?

[kemayo]

I have a Honda Fit, and in my (urban) area it's a super-common car. It's great! It's cheap, apparently pretty reliable, fits well into streets, and has a surprisingly large amount of cargo space when needed.

It's why it's annoying that Honda decided to stop selling them in the US 3 years ago: https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a33337398/honda-fit-discon...

Since they cite slow sales, it's probably a good lesson in how one's own situation can't be generalized too well. Based on what I see in my own area I'd have assumed they were selling like hotcakes, but presumably the suburban market is sufficiently larger and obsessed with vast SUVs to make that irrelevant.

[Scoundreller]

Probably more like the SUVs had higher margins so they could market fake discounts/incentives.

Largely, an SUV and a sedan have the same expensive/complicated electronic/mechanical parts, but with stretched bodies so they can nearly double the price but definitely not double cost.

[greendave]

I think most people associate cost with volume (other things being ~equal). The notion of paying the same or more for something that is smaller is inherently a hard sell. In other places, there are significant advantages (either in taxes, fuel costs or convenience parking/going places) that counteract that to a lesser or greater degree, but those are largely missing in the US.

[PaulHoule]

I like the way a small car handles. Even a Toyota Camry feels like it is carrying around a lot of excess weight.