D-class sedan segment plummets

From a position of dominating the car market a few years ago, the D-class sedan segment collapsed quickly before the rise of small SUVs.

The overall market has fallen sharply, with only a few sedan models growing.

In recent years, analysts have seen the decline of the sedan segment, especially mid-size sedans (D-class). The reason for the decline of D-class sedans is none other than the "hybrid" crossover, also known as a small SUV. Thanks to the advantages of both sedans and SUVs, crossovers have become the perfect alternative. The invasion of crossovers into sedans has been going on for several years now, but it seems that it really exploded in 2017.

Now, the scene of fierce competition between manufacturers, each trying to get a piece of the market share in the D-class sedan segment has cooled down. The power transfer between the two segments is currently most evident in the US, a market that is always sensitive to new trends. This is also a market with a car selection style quite similar to the Vietnamese.

Accordingly, in May alone, only Honda Accord grew slightly by 0.8% compared to the same period with 33,547 cars, the rest were all going downhill. The former king Toyota Camry also fell out of favor when it lost 15.4% to 32,547 cars, giving up the monthly crown to its compatriot rival. The Mazda6, which is selling very well in Vietnam, is quite "poor" in the US when it lost 46% of its sales to only 2,708 cars.

The remaining models also saw a dramatic drop in sales, such as the Ford Fusion with 21,603 cars (down 12.1%), Chevrolet Malibu with 20,718 cars (down 14.4%), Hyundai Sonata with 12,605 cars (down 20.6%), Kia Optima with 10,789 cars (down 1%), and Volkswagen Passat with 5,455 cars (down 23.5%). The 2016 fiscal year was even more disastrous, as both segment leaders Toyota Camry and Honda Accord saw slow sales, down 11.8% and 7.3% respectively.

Meanwhile, on the other hand, the crossover segment is growing rapidly, with Toyota RAV4 increasing by 14% in May, Nissan Rogue increasing by 18.6%, Chevrolet Trax even increasing by 21%. In Vietnam, this change is also quite obvious, as evidenced by the top 10 best-selling cars in the first quarter of the year, including crossover models such as Mazda CX-5, Ford EcoSport, the remaining names mainly focus on hatchbacks, small sedans...

It is expected that this transfer of power in Vietnam will be even stronger next year, especially when names like Mazda CX-5, Honda CR-V, and Nissan X-Trail have been competing to reduce prices recently.

According to TNO