Great news! Wagons sales are up. Way up, actually, versus 2013. According to data released by Edmunds and published by Bloomberg, the number of wagons sold in the US has gone up 29 percent, a total of 212,000 of them purchased in 2018. Sounds good, right? Historically, Americans have been moving away from wagons, increasingly opting for crossovers to satisfy their needs. Could this finally be the market shift that ushers in a new era of longroof prosperity? Well, not quite.
Although overall wagon sales numbers may be up versus five years ago, that doesn’t tell the whole story. A chart published on Twitter by Tyson Jominy, head of automotive data and analytics at J.D. Power, actually suggests that Americans are less interested in wagons than they were five years ago.
Twitter: Americans love wagons
Also twitter: (wagon retail share) pic.twitter.com/9375bOovA3
From 2013 to 2018, the retail share of wagons in the market dropped from an already puny 1.9 percent to just 1.4 percent. So, while more wagons are being sold, the percentage of Americans buying wagons has actually gone down—because other types of vehicles have seen even bigger increases in the past few years. Wagons are up 29 percent in terms of raw sales numbers, but compact crossovers have gone up 75 percent in sales in the same period. It’s the same story with entry-level luxury cars. Since 2013, the number sold has gone up 71 percent. And thanks to vehicles like the Chevrolet Colorado, mid-size trucks have gone up 60 percent.
Judging by J.D. Power’s numbers, it seems the downward trend will only continue. In fact, considering BMW just confirmed it will no longer offer the 3-Series wagon in the US, dwindling wagon sales seems like a sure thing. While niche cars like Volvo’s V90 may help, the market is just too small for that car to cause a serious dent.
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