Quote:
Originally Posted by colin_e90
1 series sedan and hatch rwd would sell great here in the states. Don't understand why they don't bring the m135i here. Hatchbacks have been growing over the years. Even the x1 is as well. Only thing that is a shame is that the previous gen x1 feels so much more connected and drives much better then it's newer counterpart.
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The sedan, maybe. The hatch, absolutely not. Cut-and-paste from a previous post of mine in another thread:
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It's not that Americans don't like small cars. Americans don't like hatchbacks -- and so-called 'hot' hatchbacks in particular. For decades, dozens of hatches have either not made the U.S. market (any one of a number of European models, including the M135i), have been sold here but then eliminated (the WRX/STi five-door comes immediately to mind, as does the Civic Si three-door and the Mazda2), or have been marketed incorrectly and sold poorly.
The only ones that tend to do reasonably well are either niche or fashionable models (the MINI falls into this category, as does the Fiat 500) or are out-and-out economy cars (Prius, Chevy Sonic, Ford Fiesta, dirt-cheap Kias and Hyundais) These days, the biggest reason they don't 'take' is because of the proliferation of small SUVs -- which, I might add, do not sell well pretty much anywhere else in the world but here.
The SUV phenomenon is also related to the reason why station wagons (i.e., five-door cars with a liftgate instead of a trunk) no longer sell. Believe it or not, the government categorizes almost all five-door hatchbacks as 'station wagons' now -- even the Sonic and the Golf.>>
Since that post, the 2-door version of the Golf (including the GTI) has been discontinued, and though Chevy is marketing the new Cruze Hatch, it will almost certainly not sell to individuals nearly as much as to rental and company fleets. Also, sorry: the X1 is a small SUV, and is marketed and certified as such ... and there's a reason Audi doesn't sell the A1 here, VW doesn't sell the Polo here, M-B has never sold its A-class cars here, etc.
(Oh, and not only all of that, but it's just not cost effective for a foreign car company to crash-certify a low-margin vehicle with the FMVSS like a smaller hatchback. Why? Again: they don't sell. it's simply not worth it.)
Smaller hatchbacks are
not growing in the U.S. They are shrinking. What is starting to sell some, however, are large luxury hatches like the Audi A7 and Porsche Panamera. My bet is that both BMW and M-B have a version of this kind of car for sale by 2021.