Its place in the suburban family`s garage captured by the boxy mini-van in the early 1980s, the station wagon has been described as near death by some auto experts for more than a decade.
The long, wide highway yachts were at the height of their popularity in the 1950s and early 1960s. But too much competition and too little creative design have dropped the wagon`s share of the U.S. car market to 4 percent in 1991 from 12.6 percent in 1972.
But some automakers have refused to sign the station wagon`s death certificate.
They see a niche for a large, full-size luxury wagon in the upper end of the U.S. market and, likely a more profitable one than its small and midsize siblings.
Among automakers standing behind their big wagons are Mercedes-Benz, BMW and General Motors. In the next 12 months, GM will begin making its full-size wagons in Arlington, Texas.
The Chevrolet Caprice, Buick Roadmaster Estate and Oldsmobile Custom Cruiser wagons owned 94.65 percent share of the full-size station wagon market last year. And though their combined sales of 30,096 in 1991 were down from 79,147 in 1985, GM officials say the three could sell 40,000 units this year if the economy begins to turn around.
”The classic wagon buyer has gone to vans, sport utilities and Suburbans,” said Richard Greene chairman of Vandergriff Chevrolet-Geo in Arlington, Texas. He`s also mayor of Arlington.
”There are 23 vehicles that Chevrolet and Geo” offer, he said. ”The ones we stock are the ones we think are in demand.”
Steady sales of wagons would add to the stability of the Arlington GM facility, which has just gone through what may have been the most tumultuous period in its 39-year history.
On Dec. 18, GM said its Arlington plant or its sister operation, Willow Run near Ypsilanti, Mich., would close. Both make full-size, rear-wheel-drive cars.
On Feb. 24, GM said it will close Willow Run by the summer of 1993. That means Arlington will gain production of the cars made in Michigan: the Caprice sedan and wagon, Custom Cruiser and Roadmaster Estate.
Arlington makes the Caprice sedan, Buick Roadmaster sedan and Cadillac Brougham.
Steve McAvoy, marketing manager for passenger cars at Chevrolet, knows as well as anyone the rigors of competing in the station wagon market in the last 10 years.
”We now have to deal with a million-unit market called mini-vans,”
McAvoy said.
”But we still believe there is a market out there for full-size wagons. It`s a stable market and a market we can make money in.”
