Small but loaded

Font Size

Print

Feedback

Email

Discuss

Related Articles

Vehicle sales hit 11-year low in DecemberHonda’s new zero-emission, hydrogen fuel cell car ...

: Consumers used to buy small cars for a simple reason: they were cheap. A decade ago, many budget-minded shoppers even turned down options like air-conditioning, power windows and compact-disc players to keep the price low.

Now people of all income levels are buying small cars to pinch pennies at the gas pump, but they are not scrimping on creature comforts. Instead, they are spending hundreds or even thousands of dollars on options, like heated leather seats and high-end entertainment systems, usually found in luxury cars.

That is adding up to some rare good news for Detroit automakers, which have long had trouble earning a profit on small cars. By contrast, they make as much as $10,000 on each big pickup or sport utility vehicle they sell. But consumer tastes have shifted rapidly as gas has climbed over $4 a gallon.

Sales of Ford’s big F-series pickup have fallen nearly 23% this year, for example, while sales of the compact Focus, its most inexpensive and fuel-efficient car at American dealerships, have risen 27%. Between April and June, two-thirds of the Focuses sold were sporty SES models, priced at a $2,170 premium over the base model, according to data from the Power Information Network, a division of J D Power & Associates.

Bev Dickinson, an insurance saleswoman from suburban Detroit, recently bought a $20,000 Focus equipped with the Sync digital entertainment system, Sirius satellite radio, a power sunroof and heated leather seats. “I was absolutely not going to have anything but leather,” said Dickinson, who previously drove two larger Fords, including an Expedition sport utility vehicle.

Small-car buyers often pay $600 for a sunroof, $500 for satellite radio or $400 for a hands-free phone system. Some even spend $300 for colorful interior lights. In this new math for the auto industry, gas mileage often trumps sticker price for consumers.

“Affordability is not so much the issue as fuel economy,” said George Pipas, Ford’s chief sales analyst. “Just because you want more fuel efficiency doesn’t mean you don’t want a moonroof or leather interior.”

Among the growing ranks of small-car buyers are baby boomers who previously toted their families in well-equipped mini-vans and SUVs. Now, with gas above $4 a gallon and their children grown, they want nothing to do with such a large vehicle but have grown accustomed to its luxuries.