Automakers jazz up big cars in hopes of luring new buyers
Handling, sleeker looks target younger buyers
Toyota, Chevy, Ford among those hoping restyled large cars can attract younger buyers.
The auto industry is finally adding some sizzle to its full-size cars, a relatively small market segment appealing disproportionately to cops, cabbies, retirees and rental fleets.
Yet unknown is whether a handful of dramatically restyled and upgraded big cars, including two just rolled out this month at the New York auto show, can attract enough younger buyers to shake the segment’s geriatric image and grow sales. These are, after all, successors to the land yachts that ruled postwar America.
“You won’t see us get back to the heyday, but you will see some growth in the segment,” predicts Gregg Benkendorfer, Toyota’s national brand manager for passenger cars.
Toyota introduced a redesign of its full-size Avalon in New York, and Chevrolet unveiled a sleeker new Impala. Hyundai just started selling a dramatically redone Azera, and Ford has tweaked its Taurus for 2013. They join others already on sale, such as the upgraded Chrysler 300 and Dodge Charger.
Large cars are only about 3% of the new vehicle market, consultant Strategic Vision reports. The median buyer is age 61, compared with 53 for all vehicles, and 34% are retired, vs. 19% for the overall market. Comfort, not performance, is top of mind, President Alexander Edwards says.
Luring new buyers won’t be easy. More than half of big-car shoppers also consider midsize models before buying. But only one in 10 midsize shoppers also looks at full-size models, Edmunds.com reports. One reason: The average full-size car costs $5,623, or 23%, more than the average midsize sedan.
But dealers will be able to point to significant improvements:
-Better gas mileage. The gas hogs are gone. Ford, for instance, boasts that the 2013 Taurus with a 2-liter, turbocharged engine will achieve 31 miles per gallon on the highway.
-Nimbler handling. They’re not sports cars, but neither do they wallow like barges these days. Toyota says the 2013 Avalon will have a stiffer body with more bracing and high-strength steel, along with Macpherson struts in the suspension and precise, electric-assist power steering.
-Sleeker looks. Mainstream brands are embracing the swept-back look of luxury sedans such as the Audi A7 or Jaguar XJ. Chevrolet describes 2014 Impala as having “a sleek proportion (with) sculpted body sides.”
Shoppers are sure to take note, if not buy. “There haven’t been any crazy, game-changing vehicles, and now you are seeing more,” Chevrolet spokesman Otie Mckinley says.