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Comment by alephnerd | Hacker News Reader

People in the US haven't been buying small cheap hatchbacks for years. Look at how the Toyota Yaris, Honda Fit, Hyundai Accent Hatchback, and the Kia Rio faired in the US market.

Toyota, Honda, Hyundai, and Kia would have continued to manufacture and sell these in the US if there was demand, which there wasn't.

What I'm surprised by is the non-existence of an Indonesian owned and designed brand, but that's probably a result of the Asian Financial Crisis back in the day, but it's embarrassing given that historically poorer Vietnam has been able to incubate it's own domestic ecosystem for EVs and ICE cars. Indonesia has stagnated over the past decade based on developmental indicators and seems to be falling into the commodities trap instead of upskilling into processing.

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As I understand it there was actually healthy demand for the Honda Fit and it sold profitably, but US-bound Fits were made in the same Mexico factory that made the more profitable Honda HR-V. The HR-V was successful enough that it displaced some Fit production and there were waiting lists at Honda dealers to get a Fit. Eventually the HR-V became popular enough that the Celaya factory switched to 100% HR-V production.

It wasn’t that Honda couldn’t sell Fits to Americans at a small profit, it’s that they found they could use their manufacturing capacity to sell more expensive, more profitable models to Americans instead.

The fit is an awesome car! My friend owns one and the way the rear seats fold into the floor is a sight to behold. Immensely practical vehicle.

> US-bound Fits were made in the same Mexico factory that made the more profitable Honda HR-V

> The HR-V was successful enough that it displaced some Fit production

> it’s that they found they could use their manufacturing capacity to sell more expensive, more profitable models to Americans instead.

That by definition implies that the Fit did not have ideal PMF. You do NOT want to be managing multiple SKUs, especially if they are cannibalizing each others market.

It's also an additional point showing that if given the option or the ability, consumers would spend a couple thousand more just to get a CUV instead if a hatchback.

Edit: I forgot, no one on HN understands how basic business works. Keep the downvotes coming

My personal theory is the people who want them don’t buy new vehicles. That is true of all the people I know who own hatchbacks (myself included).

True. Nobody buys a new hatchback - the kind of practical person who wants a hatchback wouldn't dream of taking the new vehicle depreciation hit. You get one with a Facebook marketplace discount.

That jibes with my personal experience. Honda made the Fit too good to replace (best car I've ever owned) and then they ditched the model before we needed a new one.

Indonesia doesn't have much of an engineering tradition. I think they'd struggle beyond maybe getting a foreign plant set up there like Thailand has done with Toyota.

Vietnam has one domestic car maker VinFast and it's more a project of the billionaire owner of Vin group - supermarkets and the like - rather than a government plan.

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