Word: subcompacts
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...holding them steady or reducing them for smaller cars. This week General Motors is raising prices an average of $137 on all its models except the sub-compact Chevette. Since Detroit traditionally plays follow-the-leader, Chrysler is raising prices an average $85 for all cars except the subcompact Omni and Horizon, and Ford is expected to post further increases...
...suggest that buyers are becoming more discriminating and value conscious. When General Motors in mid-March ran special sales contests, during which dealers pare prices, sales increased dramatically. While total new-car sales were down for the first six months of the 1978 model-year, sales of compact and subcompact cars increased by 13%. The star performer at General Motors last month was the boxy Chevette; its sales were up 84%, compared with a year ago. At Ford, Mustang sales rose 14%, while the new Fairmont is a stellar seller. Ford's lacocca puts himself in the position...
...buyers seem to be showing solid interest in the subcompact Omni and its nearly identical (except for trim) Horizon sibling. Chrysler hopes that brisk orders will make up for a turndown in sales for its compact Aspen and Volare models. At 30 m.p.g., the Omni and Horizon exceed federal fuel economy standards for 1985, thus putting Chrysler in a good position for taking direct aim at Japanese competition (Toyota, Datsun) and Volkswagen's Rabbit, which will begin rolling off a VW-built assembly line in Pennsylvania in April...
...slow lane on a sunny Sunday afternoon. Duesenberg, Auburn, Cord, Marmon, Stutz, Fierce-Arrow and Franklin have the glamour of old movie stars-and are usually better preserved. The value of these classics now runs into six figures. American Classic Cars by Henry Rasmussen (Picturama/Schocken; unpaged; $24.50) allows the subcompact set to relive the golden age of the luxury automobile. A look at masterpieces as rare as a glimpse of Garbo...
More important to Detroit than the subcompact trade-which, while growing fast, still accounts for just a bit more than 10% of U.S. sales-is the market for mid-size vehicles. This broad bracket, embracing compacts (such as Chevrolet's Nova and Buick's Skylark) as well as intermediates (Chevrolet's Chevelle, Ford's LTD II) and what the industry chooses to call luxury small intermediates (Chrysler's Le Baron and Diplomat), is accounting for 54% of all U.S. auto sales this year. By contrast, the traditional standard or full-size cars now account...