No generation wants to drive what its parents drove. It feels like it has taken forever for that to start this time around, but a new report says that it’s on the way. Buyers across the board, but especially younger buyers, have rediscovered the sedan and they’re more interested in cars than they are trucks or SUVs.
Everything Comes Back Around
1976 Mercury Comet Sedan Gray/Blue Front Angled ViewFord
First it was the sedan, then it was the station wagon. Chrysler’s minivans changed the game in the 1980s, and the Ford Explorer pushed the entire US into SUVs starting in the late 1990s and SUVs and crossovers have ruled the market ever since.
The Detroit Free Press spoke with multiple vehicle search sites who say that demand for sedans is growing fast, and that there a number of reasons why. Fashion is always important, but affordability also plays a role, along with the desire to drive something that doesn’t match every other vehicle in the parking lot.
Affordability is huge. New vehicle prices have skyrocketed over this decade, and lower-cost options have been culled from the market. According to data from Cox Automotive, the average price of a new compact SUV in April was $37,514. A compact sedan averaged almost exactly $10,000 less.
Move up to something larger, and the savings grow. Midsize SUVs were $50,380, while a new midsize sedan averaged just $34,069.
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Then there are gasoline prices. The gap between crossover and sedan in fuel economy has closed, but it still exists. With gas approaching record highs, the gap matters. When it comes to electric vehicles, the range gap between sedan and SUV remains large, another factor in favor of cars.
‘SUV Fatigue’ Hitting The Market
2026 Volvo EX30 Cargo. Side profile. Commercial vehicle. All-electric. SUV. e-SUVVolvo
“I do think there’s become kind of an SUV fatigue, I’d call it, that everyone is experiencing from consumers to car designers to rental agencies,” Karl Brauer, executive analyst at iSeeCars, told the Free Press. “There’s a group of people looking just to not look like everyone else. A sedan offers that — which is funny because they were considered boring and now they are cool.”
When mom and dad drove minivans, SUVs were cool. Now that mom and dad have moved on to SUVs, young buyers want cars. A survey from Escalent’s EVForward found that kids still wants cars. 83% of the teenagers (14-19) surveyed said that owning a car is “a huge deal or pretty important.”
51% of the teens said they imagined driving a sedan in the future. That’s compared with 31% for SUVs and just 14% for trucks.
This could be a problem for automakers, especially the biggest domestic brands. GM, Ford, and the Chrysler group (now Stellantis) ruled the sedan market for decades, but have all but abandoned it. Between the dozen domestic brands, the only sedans right now are three luxury Cadillac models and one Dodge that’s the size of a full-sized SUV.
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Buyers are clearly looking for value and rising minivan sales show where to find them.
Sales of sedans only make up around 14% of the market right now, and there are only about 50 across the entire industry. That gives the automakers who remained in the game, like Nissan, Toyota, Honda, Mazda, Kia, and Hyundai, a leg up. They’re ready to meet increased demand now, not three to five years after the executives realize it’s time to move.
Source: Detroit Free Press
