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State Of The Auto Industry: Chevy Trax Vs. Sonic

10K views 45 replies 24 participants last post by  Ruperts Trooper 
#1 ·
Automotive News
June 19, 2017





For three years, the Chevrolet Sonic was a pint-sized showpiece for General Motors, proof that it's still feasible to build a subcompact car in the U.S. with unionized labor.

These days, the Sonic is all but lost in the shadow of the Trax, a crossover based on the same tiny architecture that's built in Mexico and South Korea.

The Trax has been an outsize success story for GM, which presciently spotted an opportunity in an underserved corner of the market and handily beat most competitors to the punch. It's the fastest-growing subcompact crossover in the industry, with sales soaring 33 percent this year through May.

But its arrival at the end of 2014 triggered a tailspin for the Sonic, whose 45 percent sales decline this year through May represents the biggest drop among small cars still in production. Sales of the two vehicles were nearly equal in 2015; the Trax now outsells the Sonic nearly 3-to-1.

The two vehicles embody the speed at which consumer tastes have shifted from cars to crossovers, perhaps more than any other intrabrand pair in the industry right

The good news is that these crossovers are much more profitable than the cars left sputtering in their wake. Buyers paid about $5,100 more for the Trax than the Sonic last month, according to Kelley Blue Book data, and the Trax even commands about $1,500 more than the Cruze compact car.

"It's not even costing them that much more to make the SUV versus the car off the same platform," said Karl Brauer, executive publisher for KBB and Autotrader.

But GM had surely counted on higher volumes of the Sonic to get the project, which started in 2008, into the black. And President Donald Trump's criticism of automakers' increasing Mexican production makes this an awkward time for an imported Chevy to cannibalize one built in Michigan.

The Sonic is in a particularly tight spot because Chevy is the only mass-market brand with cars in all five of the industry's size classes, from mini to full-size. The Cruze, redesigned last year, offers newer technology, more space and better fuel economy in exchange for a small bump in the monthly payment, while the Sonic has gotten only a modest freshening since its 2011 introduction.

Buick scratched its small-car offering, the Verano, from the U.S. lineup last fall, as sales of its small crossover, the Encore, keep climbing each year.

But Alan Batey, GM's president of North America and head of Global Chevrolet, said there are no plans to thin out Chevy's portfolio. Some cars might seem superfluous now, he said, but they are a hedge against another gasoline price spike that could send people scurrying to unload their SUV again.

"You always have to make sure you're protected against an external environment that no one can predict," Batey said in an interview this month.

The Sonic, which replaced the forgettable Aveo in mid-2011, is the smallest car built by any automaker in the U.S. It's GM's first U.S.-made subcompact since the Chevette's run ended in 1987.

To facilitate that, GM took a number of cost-saving steps, bringing suppliers and subassembly work on-site and using innovations such as a thinner coating of rustproofing. GM also struck a deal with the UAW to pay many workers at the Orion Township, Mich., plant lower wages.

"We wanted to prove we could do it," Diana Tremblay, then GM's head of global manufacturing, told The New York Times, which highlighted the car's arrival in a front-page story.




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#3 ·
I was honestly under the impression that GM left innovations like this in the past.

Makes you wonder.
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However, the question is, is there an innovation associated with the thinner coating that allows them to do that with no adverse effects (rust)? I think it is entirely possible and would like to know more before we go down the "stupid GM" path.
 
#7 ·
I mean, have early Sonic owners been complaining about rust issues?
Let's hope not. But even the 60s-70s rustbuckets took a few years to oxidize into ugliness.
 
#5 ·
Par for the course of what is happening in the industry, nothing really surprising here. What would rock the boat is if BOTH vehicles, Sonic and Trax were not selling.
 
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#6 · (Edited)
AN is now a subset of Chibby PR?

"The Trax has been an outsize success story for GM, which presciently spotted an opportunity in an underserved corner of the market and handily beat most competitors to the punch. ":laugh::laugh:

Now if they'd said HHR, yes we can believe that story. But late 2014 did not "handily" beat much of anybody. Consider the Cube, Scion, etc. that have come and gone.

In the CD comparo, five of the six were new kids. But more and more, writers and other folks called journalists just make up stuff or just don't know anything, and nobody cares. Or nobody else knows either. Welcome, Idiocracy, 490 years early. :(

Interesting how in the New Information Age, with more info than ever available, people seem to know less and less and be able to reason less and less.


Reviews / Mazda CX-3 AWD vs. Fiat 500X AWD, Honda HR-V AWD, Jeep Renegade 4x4, Chevrolet Trax AWD, Kia Soul - Comparison Tests


COMPARISON TESTS
Mazda CX-3 AWD vs. Fiat 500X AWD, Honda HR-V AWD, Jeep Renegade 4x4, Chevrolet Trax AWD, Kia Soul
The members of this new class look like little SUVs, but you'll want to keep these guys on the road.

SEP 2015 BY JARED GALL PHOTOGRAPHY BY MARC URBANO

http://www.caranddriver.com/compari...egade-chevrolet-trax-kia-soul-comparison-test
 
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#12 ·
Exactly on that Trax being in an underserved corner of the market. If I remember correctly most everyone other than maybe Ford had an entry already there and GM was rushing this to US specs because they already had it in other places around the globe. Thus playing catch up again.
I would take a Sonic over a Trax any day but I definitely see more Trax on the road. Unfortunate for the workers in Michigan.

Need higher gas prices to spur sales but that seems unlikely for the foreseeable future.
It is the exact opposite in my neck of the woods. The Sonic is quite popular with more of them around and the Trax is the one in the minority.
 
#21 ·
Our 2013 Sonic LTZ Hatchback spent 2 years in upstate NY, 1 year in Portland, Oregon and the remainder in sunny central Florida. It has no rust issues and has seen lots of road salt.

It was a very comfortable car to make a 3,050 mile cross country drive and handled 80 mph speed limits out west very well.

The 1.4T engine is much peppier in this model than in the first generation Cruze. It has only averaged 32 mpg combined, but I blame that on the hatchback aerodynamics. We had a Fiesta in the family before this and the Sonic has slightly more usable space, but both are solid cars for the money and head and shoulders above the Yaris, Rio, and Accent.
 
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#22 ·
I really like the Trax ACTIV concept from last years SEMA show, its the only small CUV I would consider.
 
#39 ·
We had a 2013 Sonic...Silver LTZ hatchback. I liked the car a lot for what it was. Roomy inside..and not underpowered at all. It is one of the GM cars I would consider again, but NOT with the same old engine and transmission. Back 4+ years ago the Engine/Tranny combo was good, not GREAT, but good for this vehicle. 2 years ago I was thinking it could use an upgrade (esp since GM by then had powertrains that could work in this car that would give it more power and/or better mileage). Yet here we are more than 4 years after we got our Sonic, and there is no end in sight for the current powertrain before an upgrade.

I'm not saying I need a 200+ HP screamer in the Sonic, but it would be NICE to have the upscale engine as a OPTION of at least having 160hp or so.
 
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