Small / economy car deathwatch: we've passed "peak econobox" again

[JSH]

Originally Posted by cRiPpLe_rOoStEr

You must be used to see pictures of the Daihatsu HiJet (on which the Asia Motors Towner was based) with the Japanese-standard plates which are taller and narrower than the Brazilian and European ones.

I see more of these little RHD vans around town than you might expect. People are importing them using our classic car laws.

https://portland.craigslist.org/clk/...088175959.html

[freebeard]

JSH — https://duckduckgo.com/youtube+TDI+Samurai&ia=videos

Bicycle Bob — Tadpoles to the rescue!

[JSH]

Originally Posted by freebeard

JSH — https://duckduckgo.com/youtube+TDI+Samurai&ia=videos

Bicycle Bob — Tadpoles to the rescue!

Yes, they are out there. The problem is that clean stock Samurais are massively overpriced before you spend the money and time to do the TDI swap.

First gen Escape Hybrid AWDs are $5,000, run on cheaper gas and get 30 mpg. Not nearly as capable off-road but I don't rock-crawl, I drive gravel roads to hike, fish, ski.

[freebeard]

My brother's wife has the Escape. It's their go-to-town vehicle.

IDK if these are still around:

https://www.hemmings.com/blog/2011/1...united-states/

I lost a cousin to four-wheeling. There exists a Veep/Scamp that does everything but rock crawling.


http://www.kdf-wagen.de/pic/0000010/0000010168/s01.jpg

And here's a 1600cc gasser in a dune buggy:



All together now....

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

Originally Posted by JSH

I see more of these little RHD vans around town than you might expect. People are importing them using our classic car laws.

American classic laws are slightly less stringent than Brazilian ones, as it allows 25-years old vehicles to be imported while in Brazil it's only 30-years or older.

[MetroMPG]

Another one bites the dust:

the subcompact Toyota Yaris sedan and hatchback will be discontinued after the 2020 model year, effective immediately.

[...] a company spokesperson confirmed the model’s discontinuation.

Source: https://autowise.com/the-toyota-yari...year-autowise/

Note: the Yaris sedan (shown) is actually a re-badged Mazda 2. The Yaris hatchback (at least the hatchback still sold in Canada) is a Toyota design.


CORRECTION: the current Canadian market hatch is also a Mazda 2.

[Xist]

Weird. The economy isn't doing great and manufacturers are still pushing oversized vehicles?

[freebeard]

Coincidentally, this weekend I visited the brother I mentioned at #525. His Samurai is in a body shop (for weeks now) getting repainted. The repair done when he rolled it rotted out above the rain gutter.

He talked about wanting to re-engine it with a V-4 made with small-block Chevy parts. ???

[Xist]

Not an inline-four?

[JSH]

Originally Posted by Xist

Weird. The economy isn't doing great and manufacturers are still pushing oversized vehicles?

The market speaks. Yaris sales (sedan and hatch combined) dropped to only 22K in 2019. That is down from 44K in 2017. They only sold 2,400 1Q20

Toyota priced the 2021 Corolla at $19,600 so they can still advertise a vehicle less than $20K.

EDIT: The C-HR went on sale mid-2017 and jumped to 49K units for 2018 and 2019. I'm guessing a lot of Yaris buyers decided to go with the CUV for a little more.