They seem to forget that a kid buying a Civic today will one day have a family and drive a Honda SUV in a few years time.
VW/Nissan/Toyota will no doubt be glad.
The biggest threat to their bottom line is economy cars. If somebody buys an economy car who could possibly spend another $20,000 that is a lost opportunity that won’t come back for 5 of 10 years in many cases.
Last time i bought a Fit I wanted a new one but had to get a used because they had no Fits because the ‘factory washed out in a flood' but they had 50 HR-Vs lined up that nobody had bought yet that came from the same factory.
The automotive press repeats that line that Americans only want to buy huge cars like the people in The Manchurian Candidate but the fact is everyday somebody goes into a car dealership and gets pressured to buy something bigger than they wanted initially.
Is that really profitable? Or are they making it all on lower tier buyers at 6.9%? I worked in the car business for years and most manufacturers don't touch actual bad credit people, so all that 10%+ loans you hear about are at other banks dealerships go through.