It was once one of the most familiar car bodies on the roads, but a decision in Japan appears to be yet another sign of the slow death for the one-time family favourite auto – the classic four-door sedan.
It has been reported that car giant Nissan has said it will end development of all new sedans for its home market. It comes after US firm Ford also dropped sedans in many of its major markets.
Japanese newspaper Nikkei said major suppliers had been informed of the plans on Friday but the company itself has given no official comment.
Nissan currently has four sedans available in Japan including the venerable Skyline model which has featured in the line-up since 1957.
New development plans for all four saloons will cease with resources diverted instead to the all-conquering sports utility vehicles (SUVs) and electric cars which Nissan will work on with its partners Mitsubishi and Renault.
Nikkei reported Nissan sold 5800 sedans in Japan in 2020 accounting for just 1 per cent of sales.
Away from Japan, Nissan’s sedans sell better. Almost one million were bought in 2020 although this was down from the 1.7 million sales in 2016.
Ford also cooling on sedans
In 2018, Ford announced that a slew of cars would be expunged from its US line up, including all its sedans.
By 2020, the only sedan model left at showrooms was the Ford Fusion which ended production that year.
At the time, President of Ford North America Kumar Galhotra told the website Ford Authority that sedans were on the way out.
“The sedan segment itself has been in decline for a very long time, and that decline has been accelerating over the last few years,” he said.
“Our industry is very resource-intensive – we have to create a particular product, and the factory to build it, and all the tooling and our suppliers – that can run into billions of dollars.
“The question then became, in that environment, of a finite amount of capital, where do we want to invest that capital? Do we want to invest it in a declining segment or do we want to invest it in a growing segment?”
In New Zealand, Nissan sells eight vehicles, and none of these are sedans. It has four SUVs, a ute, a hatchback, and the GT-R.
All hail the SUV
Globally, sedans now make up less than one in four cars sold.
The type has fallen out of favour because they’re not as nippy as a hatchback nor as spacious as an SUV. Sedans also suffer from an image problem of being a sensible family car while SUVs are sportier and yet can carry all the kids to Saturday morning sports.
News.com.au