Automakers say they’re not nixing sedans yet

General Motors likely won’t be axing its car nameplates any time soon despite reports to the contrary, though it admits the vehicles may “evolve,” says The Detroit News.

A report from the Wall Street Journal earlier this week quoted insiders who said the company’s Chevrolet Sonic could be discontinued as early as this year, and that the long-running Impala was also being scrutinized for elimination.

“With these car segments, yeah, we’ve seen a decrease, but you’ve also seen an industry that’s growing, and these (car) segments are still worth two million vehicles,” GM president of North America Alan Batey told The Detroit News Wednesday.

“A two-million-vehicle mid-size car market in the U.S. is not a segment that you don’t want to be part of.”

Batey called the cars important pieces of the GM lineup, but did admit the portfolio has to continue to evolve, leaving open the possibility the nameplates may take on new, even unfamiliar, platforms or body styles.

The same report called out the Ford Taurus and Fiesta as set for discontinuation within the next two years, but execs with that automaker similarly referred to passenger cars as important to the brand.

Ford did, however, much more transparently admit last month that it expects trucks and SUVs to make up close to 90 per cent of its sales by 2020.

Fiat Chrysler in 2016 killed its compact sedan offerings, leaning instead on its larger Dodge Charger and Chrysler 300 sedans and its highly profitable trucks and SUVs.