Battered first by the mini-van and more recently by sport-utility vehicles, the station wagon appears on the verge of extinction.
Wagons peaked at 619,403 units in 1983, capturing 7 percent of passenger-car sales, according to R.L. Polk & Co., which tracks new-vehicle registrations. Chrysler Corp. introduced its trend-setting mini-van the following year, and wagon sales have been going downhill since.
Just 336,000 wagons were sold in the U.S. in 1996, mini-van sales were steady at 1.2 million and sport-utility vehicles hit a record 2.2 million.
But don’t count the station wagon out yet.
Four manufacturers are adding entries in this shrinking market segment for 1998, and though none expects to sell in large numbers, all say there are enough wagon buyers to be successful.
Suzuki, best known in the U.S. for its sport-utility vehicles, is coming out in August with a wagon version of the subcompact Esteem sedan. Volvo has added an all-wheel-drive wagon, and Audi and Mercedes-Benz will introduce new wagons this fall.
Gary Anderson, vice president of sales and marketing for Suzuki, sees an opportunity despite shrinking wagon sales.
“It’s not a crowded market segment, which we like. We think that with the right price there is a market there,” Anderson said of the Esteem wagon, which will have a base price less than $12,500.
“It offers more room than a sedan and as much versatility as a sport-utility, but at a lower price. Not everyone wants a sport-utility vehicle. There’s almost an obvious need for this type of vehicle among young families.
“You have to remember that nobody thought there was a market for small sport-utility vehicles, either, before we introduced the Sidekick,” he said.
Anderson said Suzuki expects to sell about 6,000 Esteem wagons a year initially and volume could grow to 12,000. It will compete with the Ford Escort, Hyundai Elantra and Saturn wagons.
Suzuki’s wagon is a big seller in Japan, where it accounts for 70 percent of Esteem sales, and in Europe, where it is 40 percent.
The Esteem comes with front-wheel-drive, but Anderson hopes to add an all-wheel-drive-model (available in Japan) to give the wagon broader appeal.
Despite the crop of new wagons for 1998, some auto industry giants, including Chrysler and Toyota, have abandoned wagons to concentrate on mini-vans, which are roomier, and SUVs, which have a sportier image.
Honda is the latest to go, dropping the Accord wagon for 1998 because of low demand. While Accord wagons linger on dealers’ lots, Honda can’t meet demand for the hot-selling CR-V sport-utility, which is in the same $20,000 to $23,000 price range.
Ford Motor Co. is the only domestic manufacturer that still builds wagons.
Besides the Escort, Ford also sells Taurus, Mercury Sable and Mercury Tracer wagons, which combined sold 135,000 in the U.S. last year, more than any manu-
facturer.
Other companies may be abandoning the market, but for Subaru of America, the station wagon has meant salvation. Subaru sold 90,395 wagons in the in 1996, 75 percent of its total sales.
Five years ago, Subaru was losing money in the U.S. trying to sell sedans. Finding a niche with wagons and all-wheel-drive turned things around for the company.
“We were selling front-wheel-drive products that were very similar to Toyota, Honda, Nissan and Mitsubishi,” said Subaru President George Muller.
“We didn’t have a salient point of differentiation. The only way to sell Subarus in the early ’90s was to undercut Toyota and Honda with deep discounts and big incentives.”
In 1993, Subaru started to focus on all-wheel-drive and, in 1995, it introduced the Outback wagon, which the company describes as “part car, part SUV.” Sales jumped to 120,000 in 1996 from 46,000 in 1993.
“When you’re a small manufacturer, if you can’t stand for something different you aren’t going to succeed,” Muller said. “You don’t want to bump heads everyday with Goliath.”
Subaru recently added another wagon-based SUV to its lineup, the Forester, derived from the subcompact Impreza. Though the Forester is classified a station wagon for federal emissions and safety purposes, it is marketed as an SUV.
Volvo Cars of North America also does good business with wagons. Volvo sold about 27,000 last year, 30 percent of its total volume.
“It’s always been a very strong market for Volvo,” spokesman Dan Johnston said. He said Volvo’s wagons are successful because they are “big boxes” that haul lots of cargo and up to seven people.
“A lot of other people have never figured out how to design a wagon,” he said. “They try to make it stylish, and then they find they can’t haul anything.”
Volvo added an all-wheel-drive version of its V70 wagon for 1998, and it has copied Subaru’s Outback approach with the XC (“cross-country”) model. The XC has more aggressive front styling and extra ground clearance to make it look more like an SUV.
Audi, on the other hand, has found a niche by marketing the all-wheel-drive A6 wagon as the “un-SUV,” said spokesman Doug Clark.
“The wagon is positioned for people who have had a sport-utility,” Clark said. “While they are marvelous vehicles, they have some tradeoffs in mileage, comfort and handling. The A6 wagon doesn’t.”
Audi sold 2,700 wagons last year, a small number but nearly double what it sold in 1995 and 27 percent of A6 sales.
For 1998, Audi will add a smaller wagon, the A4 Avant, which will be available with front-wheel- or all-wheel-drive. Clark said Audi expects to sell about 2,000 A4 wagons.
Mercedes didn’t offer a wagon in the U.S. in 1996 or 1997, but it is back for 1998 with the E320. Mercedes also introduces a new sport-utility vehicle in the fall, the M-Class.
“They are in two different market segments, and there is room for both,” said spokesman Jim Koscs. “The wagon is for the people who need the extra room but who want the look and feel of a car, not a sport-utility or a truck.”
Mercedes expects to sell about 3,000 E320 wagons. As with Suzuki, Mercedes sells its wagon worldwide, so it does not depend on the U.S. to justify production costs.
“For Mercedes, there has always been steady demand for a wagon,” Koscs said.
“Admittedly, the numbers are too small for a lot of manufacturers to consider, but for us it’s a solid niche.”
Koscs said most buyers probably will be loyal Mercedes wagon owners who aren’t seduced by the sportier SUVs.
“Some people perceive wagons as dowdy,” he said. “But there’s nothing dowdy about it. It’s an elegant solution to providing more utility.”
German rival BMW dropped its U.S. station wagon last year, but a spokesman said the company is considering bringing it back, probably as a 1999 model.
