Wednesday, May 12, 2010

SALES OF NICHE CARS IN THE USA - APRIL 2010

What's wrong with the 2010 Honda Insight? Fuel efficiency doesn't reach the levels attained by the Toyota Prius, true. But the Insight is $3,000 less expensive than the Prius. Surely a $3,000 price advantage brings with it high-volume sales in the hybrid market? Er.... no. Apparently not.

The Graph below showcases thirteen vehicles for which other GoodCarBadCar.net Sales Stats Graphs don't really fit. Although the title, "Niche Car Sales" implies a lack of success the same way "cult movie classic" means nobody ever watched it, the Toyota Prius is actually a very decent seller. Some months the Prius even cracks in to the Top 10 Best-Selling Cars In America list. One would expect the Prius's success to rub off on its most direct competitor, but the Honda Insight is madly undesirable. In fact, The Good Car Guy placed the 2010 Honda Insight in The Bad 8 v3.0 despite initial excitement at the early Insight concept and the old Honda Insight's place in GoodCarBadCar.net's 100 Favourite Cars.

One subsegment in this Niche Car Sales group is the Boxy Bunch, led by the Chevrolet HHR and Kia Soul. Supposedly appealing to a youthful crowd, Toyota's Scion division hasn't fared well lately. Nor has the Nissan Cube caught on as anticipated.

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