The Death of the American Subcompact Car

In this video, I explore the history of the subcompact car segment in the US, and how it has practically disappeared in recent years. The world is moving away from small cars, and it has wide-reaching consequences for everyone.
It also gave me another excuse to complain about crossovers (my favorite activity at this point)
My apologies for the lack of uploads recently, but thank you all for the support!
Thanks for watching!
SECOND CHANNEL: / @carbonine
Music Used: (from YT Audio Library)
A Stranger Thing - Bruno E
Body of Water - Tracktribe
Members Only - Tracktribe
Sewer - Ramzoid
Sinister Cathedral - Asher Fulero
Sparse Clouds - Quincas Moriera
Teasing the King - Nathan Moore
The Loner - DJ Williams
Wish you'd never left - Tracktribe
Sources:
pastebin.com/V...

[@rahulgolikeri1187]

This same situation is playing out in India too... and as a small car lover... I am disheartened too!

[@princemehta1443]

Exactly bro same in India .. 😢 but it's also because of Indian buyer it's better to buy starting models of mid-big size suvs like safari, XUV, Scorpio n than these cross overs

[@heyapradohere]

No one wants to even look at a baleno, maruti is pushing the GV, if you have money you need to buy Innova and ntng less. Every road in banglore is filled with creta or venu (essentially same car). And the worst, Kias, so many that people even buy and just keep it in front of their house. Small cars and better public transport is the way forward!

[@yossarian6799]

It's worldwide. The _kei_ market in Japan is entirely tall, boxy, weird MPVs and elsewhere, the A-segment is all but gone, with the Honda Brio and Toyota Agya being two of the few left, and not sold outside of Southeast Asia. The Fiat Mobi is the only A-segment car left in Latin America and I suspect its days are numbered. The Renault Twingo and ageing Fiat Panda are about all that's left in Europe. Even the C-segment hatches and sedans are dwindling worldwide.

[@worldhello1234]

That is why the Volkswagen Polo would not work in America. They are hard pressed to sell Golfs and Passats.

[@halfemptyfox]

we haven't had the passat since 2018

[@crimsonfoxx2997]

And the only golf's here are the GTI and R, the normal golf was discontinued here in Canada back in like 2019 or 2020 when the MK8 golf was released

[@DeadAir21]

@@halfemptyfox 2022 was the last year for the Passat

[@darealdeal8185]

RIP Honda Fit and Toyota Yaris, two of the best subcompacts in the US. Wish I could buy one new, but looks like ill have to find a used one instead

[@baronvonjo1929]

Naw man. Had a Fit. You're not missing much. It's seriously the worst car I ever bought. Very unreliable. Never ever consider a cheap car. Automakers dont put nearly the right amount of resources into them.

[@local_tony_soprano]

Still available overseas

[@theadvocate4698]

As a small car lover, i'm sad and wondering what should i buy next... Let's hope that small cars will be back in America...

[@braedengibb4358]

I just recently learned that the Honda Fit, which ceased production in North America after the 2021 model year, is still being made in a new generation. It looks so weird

[@darwinskeeper421]

Manufacturers have been slowly upsizing their cars for decades. Look at the different generations of many famous small cars that were sold around the world, whether you're looking at the VW Golf, Honda Civic, or the Toyota Corolla, each succeeding generation was slightly larger, slightly roomier, slightly heavier and often slightly more upscale. If their engineers were good the gains more than exceeded the penalties but things were moving up. Then the small crossover segment is just larger than normal step in the process. The thing that concerns me is that manufacturers and dealers just stopped caring about affordable vehicles. I've heard that it's difficult to find new cars or trucks below $20,000 and it is not uncommon to see over-optioned pickup trucks reaching $100,000. I understand the logic behind it. Companies exist to make profits and it's easier to be profitable building and selling expensive vehicles. Its just that a lot of people can't afford the current prices, and this is the sort of thing that could convince younger people to give up driving altogether. Me I'd like to see smaller affordable cars, whether they be ice of EV. Manufacturers are making smaller EVs for Europe. I would say it makes sense to bring them to the United States. The most expensive part of an EV is the battery, smaller cars require less energy and can have acceptable range with smaller batteries and be more affordable. I have seen a few promising cars made for Europe like the Hyundai Inster. I sincerely hope they'll send it to the United States.

[@internetmeta]

Half of the issue is the EV. Politicians in DC are goddmn stupid they think EVs are the future so they started to over regulate the market even more so. To push the everyday worker into making payments for their entire life. Look up how stupid the CAFE standards are. That and the EPA.

[@spartan-5795]

As an american, I could not find a subcompact under 10 grand (Used condition obviously). I didn't need a truck, just a small vehicle. but due to pricing, I now have an S10, which is very small for a truck, yet somehow more utilitarian than my father's E350 van. I simply don't understand where the market is going, but i am going to blame soccermoms for buying up all those ford explorers, lol. Nothing against the explorer though, just too big a car for my needs.

[@bloxyraven]

Cool! I was gifted a 1997 chevy s10 extended cab by my dad, and it's such a great little truck :) I honestly feel insanely lucky being able to avoid the expensive car market, and get a car that is really utilitarian and efficent.

[@TheAtqthe30th]

Honestly as a Canadian I've been looking at the minivan market. It is awful still and very long wait times especially for Toyota siennas.

[@UtkarshaMohan]

With many manufacturers backtracking their decisions on EVs, I hope small ICE cars make a comeback.

[@am8115]

PHEVs are coming without a doubt because of the West Coast policies

[@EB-yp1wu]

You're almost forced these days to buy an SUV. I had a compact car that got totalled by a Kia Sorento lightly hitting it. Bumpers are lower than those on SUVs so you're not even protected by most cars in the roads. A simple accident can become a huge financial loss especially when insurance pays out the current value which for some people could be 5000$. Very hard to buy another car with that little money

[@fleurix9967]

There are still 2, albeit upmarket, subcompact hatchbacks left, the Mini and the fiat 500E

[@sarahrowe9661]

This was a really great video. As someone who was recently shopping for my first car, I kept asking "What happened to the small, cheap cars?". While I wanted a small vehicle to drive to work, I also felt that being on the road with very large pickups, SUVs and transport trucks could potentially be dangerous. In Brampton, Ontario, Canada, there are lots of fast cars, big cars and trucks where many drivers specialize in recklessness. 😂 Again, great video!

[@philojudaeusofalexandria9556]

2010s subcompacts will be collectors items in 20-30 years.

[@Mayank_Maximum]

This situation is everywhere,superminis are dying and it’s horrible

[@liamrabnett3829]

I’m so glad I found your channel. Not enough good informative auto content like this

[@attilaboda9881]

excellent video... and you didnt even mention BMW i3, Toyota iQ and Honda e... all discontinued

[@stephenoberkirch1812]

I've always had a thing for minimalist transportation. As of late, I've inherited a 2004 Toyota Avalon, but I still long for my old 1985 Toyota Tercel, with a 5 speed manual transmission.

[@Anonymous589x]

Man, only if I had the money to start a car company! I would build very affordable vehicles for everyone's taste. Prices would start from $10,000 to $35,000 max. NO EVs. Only ICE and a small amount of Hybrids. No passionless MBAs, I'd rather pay all that money to hire engineers to build newer technologies for increasing gas mileage and quality while decreasing cost. I would've also established an EV research and development centre to come up with the breakthrough so that we could charge under a minute and get a range of 700 miles+.

[@roastbeefy0weefy]

Great music choices man

[@15725867905]

There’s a lot at play here. From a packaging perspective, we expect a lot from cars, not least of which are tech and safety. Sub compacts are generally a challenge to package efficiently, but add in all the extra hurdles of stuffing in ADAS, advanced airbags, etc. on top of already expensive technology and the R&D just doesn’t make sense anymore. The other is in the US we’ve been tricked into thinking we need AWD, which subcompacts don’t offer. Subcompacts also have visibility concerns around the much larger cars and so the drivers feel less safe. Another is that subcompacts were popular with younger drivers and city drivers, however fewer teens actually want to drive and the need for small cars in an urban environment has drastically decreased with the advent of rideshare and alternative transportation. It sucks because the subcompact was such a great tool, but the combination of factors just makes the business case for development, marketing and selling them very very poor. If BEV is really our future, I foresee the return of the wagon and hatchback for most, but I think subcompacts are, unfortunately, dead.

[@user-gi1xs6nj9o]

awesome video didn’t expected this quality from such a small channel keep up the good work you’ll get somewhere

[@matturner6890]

Hammer & Sickle... cringeeee

[@ILovePancakes24]

Why the icon

[@captainnovolin]

Communism will win

[@DeadAir21]

The fact is they subcompact cars never sold well in the US. If they were selling 110k-200k units a year they would still be here. You don’t make a lot of profit on selling 50k-60k on a $18k vehicle.

[@kabysummit5801]

Poor Pinto. The bump and explosion scene is forever etched in the American psychic. Forever LOL.

[@samanthagaboo5610]

The video just started I'm interested to see what you say... Currently those newer Honda fits are selling as much as a Corolla. It's hard for me to justify the price of the newer ones being the same price of the Corolla.

[@A1C6]

Underrated channel

[@dark9hades]

my family used to own a 2001 saturn sl2. I grew up in that car and I was disappointed when I found out it was discounted it was a good looking car and was good on gas rest in peace saturn.

[@nickgonchar7272]

Modern tech/ADAS/safety features cost significant money. Yet they cost the same on a Yaris and a Camry. Because of that, in percentage terms, modern would-be Yaris could not be that cheaper than Camry, as it was 20 years ago. Would you buy a Yaris over a Camry if it was, say, just 15% less? I'd probably buy a Camry, may be used. Looks like most people would do the same.

[@ruzzelladrian907]

No more subcompacts, because it's expensive to keep up with government efficiency mandates. So they discontinued the subcompacts in favor of crossovers, as they can be classified as a light-truck, which circumvents the requirements. Subcompact sales is not high and the profit margins on them is razor thin, so adding a government efficiency mandate made it much worst for that category.

[@abdullahakhtar9824]

I don’t know why suvs are so popular. They feel like boats and airplanes. I would much rather drive a car which handles at least half as good as them

[@robtyman4281]

....and yet Americans still drive 'sedans' and there's no hint that demand for them is waning. A stark contrast to Europe, where sales of these type of cars is half what it was five years ago. In the UK now, virtually no one drives a sedan anymore. Brits prefer SUV's, Compact SUV's, Crossovers, Hatchbacks, or small city cars.

[@showoe3126]

Sedans have very much slipped in the US market. All american auto makers except Cadillac and tesla have discontinued theirs (Malibu in November 2024). Though it's unlikely they will fully disappear from the market anywhere

[@-fuk57]

'89 Chevy Sprint.... whoop!

[@Stormtrooper_98Trd]

We have an 86 sprint in our garage 😆

[@Hschlick84]

I've owned 2 subcompact cars in my life, I like them cause they're financially cheap to maintain. However, too many dude bros live in my area drive big trucks and SUVs, so I might have to upsize to a compact crossover for my next ride in order to feel safer.

[@bokdcutie]

Because of mandates sub compacts died. Also for the price you can add 2,000 more and you can get a bigger car

[@bludclone]

we'll see small cars return once the electric car market crashes and burns

[@baronvonjo1929]

I had a 2018 Honda Fit. Worse car I ever had. On paper is neat. But it was so poorly built. It felt unsafe. Super weak engine. And very very unreliable. Cheap cars have zero quality control. I had motor mount failures, oil leaks, shoddy materials, and bad craftsmanship. I had major water leaks in all the doors. Taking things apart you could see how bad the craftsmanship is. You get what you pay for I guess. Never ever considering a Honda, a cheap car, or a car made in Mexico again. For how expensive a subcompact is and how little you get. They feel like penalty boxes. I wanted to try something new. Now I am in a 4Runner. Every single subcompact car offered here was a joke. You can see it in the cheap deisgns and how little effort was put into them. It makes complete sense why Americans abandoned them. My insurance also was very expensive because according to my insurance, small cars are statistically in more accidents. Not sure if its small car drivers or people hitting small cars. It just makes more sense for people to buy compact cars or a used larger car. People on a serious budget will never buy a new car. Even a cheap new car is out of the question. They buy used. People who feel the need or deisre for a new car will pay the money for a better looking, better made, bigger compact car or bigger. I did like the ease of parking and MPGs. But eventually it felt embarrassing to be seen in thr Fit. Parking it at events you could see how much it stood out and nobody was impressed with it. And people saying it was cute killed my self esteem. Im not looking to draw attention. Nobody will bat a eye at the 4runner. I will probably get a smaller car next though. It is a bit big.

[@bokdcutie]

Sub compact is king at autocross. So what’s next at autocross? Crossovers ?

[@iPhone_3GS]

Love my mk6 Jetta. MK7 is too big, same size as the older passat.

[@That-Guy_]

I had a 2012 Fiat 500. Not a bad car just don't get hit by anything bigger than it or you are toast. Switched to a Model 3 rwd.

[@summers232]

Need mah murican trugggg

[@johnnymason3265]

Electric vehicles are a niche market. The infrastructure is not there to support a lot of so-called mainstream EVs. Our electricity grid system is already overtaxed as is. I see synthetic gasoline as a more realistic solution. The demand for EVs, SUVs, and crossovers will eventually go down. It is inevitable. It has happened many times before.

[@zvuho]

you meant murican, america is a continent. thumb down

[@isaac2409]

what

[@jasonshinton]

@@isaac2409 People outside of the USA generally don't refer to the United States as "America". That is because there two continents* called America and the USA is just one of many countries in North America. * This assumes someone uses the 7 continent model taught mostly in English speaking countries. Spanish speaking countries and most of Europe group North and South America together as a single continent so they only recognize 6 continents. (The 6 continent model is also why there are only 5 Olympic rings representing the inhabited continents of the world (Africa, America, Asia, Australia, and Europe)

[@cutehumor]

America land of the free home of the brave. As Leo said, we King of the world baby.

[@baronvonjo1929]

​@@jasonshintonMakes no sense. North and South America are physically divided by plates. Europe and Asia have no divisions. There are 6 major plates. Eurasia, North America, South America, Antarctica, Africa, Australia. You have many smaller plates and plates that take up the ocean's as well.