Automakers end Toyota Avalon, VW Passat, other models

Sopuruchi Onwuka

The revolution in the energy industry and the prevailing global response to climate change have not just redefined the direction of investments in the automobile industry, they are also changing the fate of popular auto brands and models.

Apart from sinking huge funds in sourcing different materials and building alternate assembly lines for electric vehicles, automobile firms are also following demand migration from models in their mainly sedan category to sturdier body types.

According to several press releases and sundry reports emerging from the automobile industry, the fleet of vehicles that manufacturers have decided to stop producing includes sedans that still use internal combustion engines that are fired with petroleum fuel.

Automobile market pundits insist that manufacturers’ decision to discontinue models in response to evolving consumer tastes and declining sales is partly spurred by closing gaps in the features of emerging sedans that compete with their sister SUV models.

What has become clear though is that the SUV has come to dominate the demand of the emerging generation of drivers who contend with extreme weather and environmental conditions.

From flooding in coastal towns to need for height and space, the preference has been higher and stronger vehicles in the SUV category, entailing end of the road for several sedan models.

And from major brands like Chevrolet, Toyota, Acura and Honda the younger generation of buyers continue to flock to SUVs.

“The extra-small SUVs are definitely becoming a much more popular entry-level for these brands,” says Will Kaufman, news editor at car research site Edmunds.

However, demand appears to remain strong for the electric vehicle or EV sedans, suggesting that sensitivity to environmental concerns and consumer response to energy transition from fossil fuels contribute to shaping the choices made by buyers.

Notably for Africa, especially Nigeria, where the most of vehicles are driven by internal combustion engines, yanking down some of the popular brands by companies like Toyota, Hyundai and Volkswagen raises concerns about business sustainability for dealers and mechanics that consume spare parts of the phased models.

According to Edmunds, auto makers will from 2023 stop producing the Acura ILX compact luxury sedan which came out in 2013 as the brand’s entry-level model and hadn’t gotten a major update since its release.

Now, the reborn 2023 Integra will serve as first-time buyers’ point of entry into Acura’s lineup.

Also American manufacturer, General Motors, has decided to end the Buick Encore model which was introduced in the 2013 model year with the hopes of attracting younger buyers. However, sales of the Encore in the January-through-September period reportedly fell nearly 42% in 2022 compared with the same stretch in 2021.

General Motors stated that “The Buick Encore going away makes a lot of sense because Buick’s already selling the Encore GX, which is a related similarly sized model,” said Edmunds’ Kaufman. “No sense to have competition there on the inside.”

Sister brand, Chevrolet, will also drop its Spark model from production line in 2023 even though Edmunds had reported that Chevrolet ceased production of the Spark subcompact in August.

The Spark was one of the cheapest new cars on the market, starting at $14,595 with destination and handling charges.

Another major US vehicle brand, Ford, is also ending production of EcoSport in 2023.

The Detroit Free Press reported Ford as saying that the EcoSport subcompact crossover SUV would be removed from the U.S. market in 2022. The model, Ford’s smallest and most affordable SUV, recorded poor sales even though it has only been available only since late 2017.

Japanese automaker, Honda, also announced that its Insight model would go offline after failing to sell up to 100,000 sedans in nearly five years.

Honda announced that its Indiana plant would end production of the Insight hybrid sedan in June as the company focuses on its hybrid core models. Honda said it sold more than 70,000 Insight sedans since the model was introduced in 2018. It will be replaced in the production line with a sister Civic hybrid model.

“Honda is going to launch its Civic Hybrid, and that would be in competition with the Insight,” Kaufman said.

South Korean brand, Hyundai, is not left in the market realignment, pulling its Accent model from production plant from 2023.

Hyundai said in a statement that the Accent was discontinued “due to an expanded SUV lineup that includes Venue,” a small SUV. And with the Accent’s discontinuation, the Venue becomes the brand’s lowest-priced car.

“Having a small sedan as your entry-level isn’t necessarily worth it at this point,” Kaufman said. “Hyundai has a small SUV as an entry-level vehicle that’s slightly better equipped.”

Toyota announced that its Lexus RX L launched in 2017 as the RX L the three-row version of the popular RX SUV which just had a full redesign, would come off production plant in 2023.

“It’s likely they’re going to make a dedicated three-row Lexus SUV,” Kaufman said. “They’re not going to rely on sort of this compromise solution of a slightly longer RX model.”

Toyota is also placing its Avalon model under the hammer after a full decade of production. But the carmaker is replacing the sedan with the Crown, a new semi-luxury full-size sedan.

Again, the 2023 Crown “kind of splits the difference between a sedan and an SUV,” Kaufman said.

Europe’s ancient carmaker, Volkwagen, has also decided to end it with the very popular Passat, after a limited-edition 2022 model year run.

The discontinuation came more than 30 years after the Passat nameplate made its way to top global auto brands.

“It makes sense for Volkswagen to focus more on their SUV business right now because it’s doing quite well,” Kaufman said.