https://jalopnik.com/stellantis-sold-over-78-000-dead-cars-in-2024-1851733211

There is lots of talk about cheaper cars, but IMO all they are talking about are 30-40K EVs that are more affordable, but not "cheap"...To be honest I think lots of talk about "affordable" cars is just because they can't offer low interest financing on vehicles that cost more. If rates go low enough again, those "cheap" cars will disappear. 

Pony cars were big in the mid to late 60's, and now they are a niche. I was a teenager in the 70's and remember when personal luxury coupes were hot, and Oldsmobile sold 1 million cars per year with its biggest seller being the Cutlass Supreme. Now I can't think of a single personal luxury coupe being built, except maybe some high end Mercedes or BMW. I don't see coupes coming back at all.  I think sedans will diminish, with Camry, Corolla, Accord, and Civic being the only mainstream survivors (I'll skip the luxury market), and I think SUV's and pickups will dominate the market the remainder of my life. 

I see where you're coming from, part of the issue with the stinger was the price, and the fact that Kia just wasn't at a point with their brand to be charging that much. Being a sedan when SUVs were really starting to explode in popularity definitely didn't help.    But we're seeing shifts here man, for years, arguably decades, it was all about cars getting bigger, more expensive, more powerful. While I believe that will still hold true for some segments in the future, we're kinda seeing the resurgence of smaller, more affordable, and sensible vehicles.    At a time when the mustang is getting more expensive, on the verge of losing its obtainable status for younger people, and with Ford already experimenting with multiple mustang body styles, it just feels like it's now or never. 

But how much is this being clouded by your own personal biases? I'm not sure the data is out there to prove the point your trying to make.   Given how the market has been for almost 25 years and how the coupe market has constantly shrunk in the same time (along with sedans), it gives me lots of pause that something like an EV coupe would be good for the market and have a company make money off it.  I guess I'm leaning on being really conservative because there's been lots of pie in the sky ideas from people over the years and well they never panned out. Another example-the Kia Stinger-good product, RWD performance sedan, Dead after 5 years in production. 

It's crazy that Honda is selling so many CR-Vs and Toyota so many Rav4s   Rav-4 - 475,193 CR-V - 402,791   Even if you combined Ford's efforts, you're still only at 271,560   Bronco Sport - 124,701 Escape - 146,859  

Is something like the compact and midsized crossover markets a lot bigger than the market for what I'm proposing? Without a doubt, but you're also competing with 20,30,40 competing products for market share, the price war from hell.    I understand why you guys disagree, and that's ok, there isn't a huge market for coupes, I get it. But I'm also saying my generation is more receptive to that body style, and EVs, and great value for money. So I think if someone put all of those attributes together, there would be an audience for it. Furthermore, it would give your EVs a better reputation for being fun, and interesting, not just some bland jelly bean, a positive perception that would benefit your other EV offerings. 

I understand the whole Swiss army thing, but it seems like CE1 is gonna usher in an era of new desirable small and affordable vehicles. I think people will be more willing to accept something less practical if it saves them a lot of money, and if it makes up for it by being desirable in other ways. My generation, and gen z love sedans and coupes man, and not just because they're cheap. Even as they're better off financially, they still pick the sedan a lot of the time. Someone who can afford a new Camry can afford a new bronco sport. Yet they buy the Camry.    I'm not saying Ford should stop making trucks and SUVs, but their lineup is pretty saturated with them by this point, as is the market, at a time when Ford wants to avoid as much competition as possible. Maybe it's time for something new. 

What's old is new again. We saw the rise of the SUV, then the crossover, combining the SUV body style with a car like chassis. Now we're seeing crossovers that are basically just slightly lifted hatches. With EVs needing to rely heavily on areo, that's pushing them lower, and lower to the ground, and that trend seems like it's going to keep going. At some point, we're just gonna get back to cars, but them being called SUVs in order to sell.    I understand where you're coming from, but from where I'm looking at it, we've almost come full circle. We aren't there yet, but it's looking more and more likely. Wagons used to be seen as boring, SUVs were the hot thing in the market. Now my generation is dreaming of owning wagons, begging more brands to bring them here, and SUVs are seen as generic, and undesirable by many in my age group.    A lot of the time it seems like it's whatever your parents drove, you want something different. People who grew up in the back of wagons wanted vans, people who grew up in the back of vans wanted SUVs, now you're seeing a lot of people who grew up with suvs and want something different. 

That expectation is like expecting the Personal coupe or Vans to make a comeback in the market.   The Auto market is changing just like everything else-expecting things to work/sell the same way it did 20-30 years ago is folly   Just looking at the world the way it is now-a person is more likely to spend their 40K on a vehicle that is a swiss army knife like a Crossover or pickup truck, then a sedan, since that it where they think they'll get more bang for their buck.  Performance really isn't an issue-when an Accord is pulling 1/4 mile times as fast or faster then a "muscle" car from the late 1960s, which people thought where dangerously fast for what they where of the era, I don't think that is it either. Even basic EVs have somewhat incredible performance due to the way electric motors work with Torque.  Fuel economy is pretty much a non factor in saving money, once you hit that 20 MPG range, getting 30 MPG isn't going to save you nearly as much money. You might save $10 bucks a week in gas or so, but if your paying $500 a month on a car, that might be your last concern.    What being said, I feel for automakers these days-the market isn't where it was at even 10 years ago and the future is really murky in what direction it will be going in the next 10.