Top New Cars for 2020: SUVs, EVs, PHEVs, Not So Many New Sedans
In 2020 we’ll see even more SUVs because that’s what an increasing number of buyers want, if they don’t want pickup trucks. At least in the US. Among traditional US automakers, Ford and GM are jettisoning sedans and Chrysler is already an SUV-pickup truck-minivan company. All of which is good news for automakers from Japan and Korea, who continue to churn out sedans. The other trend is the increasing number of vehicles that offer a hybrid version, a plug-in hybrid version, or a 48-volt booster motor that replaces or enhances a turbocharger. A couple of makers including Hyundai and Honda continue working on hydrogen fuel cells.
Automakers do the electrification dance because they’ve recognized climate change is not much in doubt, and they do it knowing the take rate is modest in the US. Even with federal take credits, purely electric vehicles hover around 2 percent of the market. They also do it because governments in Europe and Asia are serious about moving their countries into cleaner cars.
Here are 10 vehicles for 2020 that typify some of the trends we’re seeing and yes, more than 2 percent of our favorites will be electrified. Plus the Corvette, which is electrifying.
Automakers have more on their minds as they head into the decade of the 2020s — and we’re not getting into arguments over if that’s 1/1/20 or 1/1/21 — than where they’ll make up their losses selling EVs. Prices continue to climb in raw-dollar terms; Kelley Blue Book said the average transaction price (ATP) of new cars last month increased to $37,590. Buyers are opting for longer payment terms knowing they’ll be upside down — owing more than their car’s residual value — for two years, sometimes more. Economists say the number of people buying cars with subprime loans (they’re poor credit risks) and people buying over 50-84 months are signs their personal budgets are strained, that or they just want to buy cars with more features.
Longer-term there are concerns that as cars continue to get more reliable, people will hold onto their existing cars longer. The bigger concern is than when self-driving cars become real 2030-2040, even the flat 17 million sales expected this year will seem long the best of times. Concerns aside, 2020 cars and SUVs are exciting, more so if you shop electrified vehicles.
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