One of the buzz-words in the auto business is segment buster.
It’s commonly used to refer to something that isn’t a pickup, four-door sedan or minivan–the broad, traditional market segments that account for more than one-third of all vehicles sold in the U.S. in 2001, according to information from Autodata, a New Jersey-based firm that collects automotive retailing data.
“We try to segment a vehicle according to the way people buy and use them,” said Bill Seltenheim, an analyst with Autodata, and there is a broad consensus among manufacturers and car buyers in describing vehicles as sedans, minivans and full-size pickup trucks.
Autodata uses 20 segments based on vehicle price, size and special characteristics. Thus, small cars made in South Korea wind up in the low small-car segment and the more expensive Honda Civic is in the upper small car segment. It subdivides the luxury category into different segments, ranging from low luxury dominated by cars such as the BMW 3-Series to the Luxury Sport, where the Chevrolet Corvette rules.
By contrast, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency divides all light-duty vehicles into two categories–cars and trucks–for the purpose of in computing corporate average fuel economy.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, meanwhile, uses five categories based on weight in its N-CAP or crash-test program. The categories start at vehicles weighing 1,500 to 1,999 pounds such as the Honda Insight. The next category is for small vehicles weighing 2,000 to 2,499 pounds, including the Hyundai Accent, then for vehicles weighing 2,500 to 2,999 pounds, such as the Honda Civic. The next category includes passenger cars weighing 3,000 to 3,499 pounds such as the Chevrolet Impala, according to NHTSA spokesman Tim Hurd. The largest category is for vehicles weighing more than 3,500 pounds, which NHTSA subdivides into passenger cars, sport-utility vehicles, pickups and minivans.
As the number of segments has increased, however, so has the debate over where certain vehicles belong. When it reports sales, the Chrysler Group classifies the PT Cruiser as a passenger car but Autodata places it in its sports-wagon segment. The Environmental Protection Agency, which has its own categories, classifies it as a truck because of its interior volume.
Moreover, segments such as minivans include vehicles starting at around $16,000 and topping $36,000 with luxury features and equipment.
The four-door sedan segment includes everything from basic transportation to top-of-the-line marques such as the Audi A8 and Mercedes-Benz S-Class, the latter of which costs more than $81,000. Autodata, however, has carved up the passenger-car segment into a dozen categories ranging from modest-priced small cars where the South Korean makes dominate to the ultra expensive luxury sport segment, where vehicles can cost more than $100,000.
“There are so many segments now, it’s hard to keep with them all,” said Andy Boyd, a spokesman for American Honda.
James Schroer, head of marketing for Chrysler Group, said the increasing number of segments reflects the affluence of Americans, who are more apt to spend money for a specialized vehicle.
“You’ve got a lot of people now with three and four vehicles,” he said. “One of them might be a truck. But another might be a sports car.”
One of the hottest segments, sport-utillity vehicles and sports wagons have taken over the territory once held by the station wagon. They also have muscled into the family-vehicle turf commanded by the minivan, the original segment buster when the Chrysler Corp. introduced it in 1983, says Jim Hall, an analyst with AutoPacific’s office in Southfield, Mich.
SUVs grew out of a general-purpose military vehicle, the World War II Willys Jeep.
The SUV segment now has more than 50 models ranging from the Jeep Wrangler, a direct descendant of the original Willys Jeep, to the mid-size Chevrolet TrailBlazer, Ford Explorer and Jeep Grand Cherokee, to the full-size Toyota Land Cruiser, Ford Expedition and Dodge Durango, to the behemoth Ford Excursion and Chevy Suburban. It even has its own luxury category with vehicles such as the Lincoln Navigator, Cadillac Escalade and Range Rover.
SUV’s account for more than 25 percent of all vehicles sold in the U.S. but a slowing growth rate has fragmented the segment. “As the segment grows you get more and more entries,” according to Nick Twork, an analyst with AutoPacific Inc. “You see more and more niches,” he said.
At the start of the 2002 model year last fall, crossovers were the fastest-growing segment of new vehicles, according to Autodata. It includes such vehicles as the PT Cruiser, Ford Escape, Lexus RX300 and Mazda Tribute. Though analysts are reluctant to make sales forecasts in this area, Paul Ballew, GM’s director of sales analysis, sees rapid growth for crossovers.
Hall noted automakers are more aggressively trying to match new vehicles to customer lifestyles. Thus the crossovers, which combine features of cars and light trucks, he said.
Vehicles such as the PT Cruiser, which is built on a small-car platform but classified as a truck based on interior volume and marketed as an alternative to the SUV, blur the lines, Hall said. Others that do the same are the Honda Odyssey and Acura MDX, which use the same chassis but are classified as minivan and SUV respectively.
GM’s Lutz said such crossovers are a bridge between the passenger cars and light trucks. “If you look at them, they really do fall in between,” Lutz said.
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Breaking it down
Some of the discrepancies in categorizing vehicles come about because organizations use categories for different purposes. The Environmental Protection Agency, which enforces fuel economy requirements, classifies auto industry segments according to interior volume of the passenger compartment and the trunk or cargo areas. Here are the EPA classifications:
CARS
– Two-seaters Car designed to seat primarily two adults
– Minicompact Less than 85 cubic feet of passenger and luggage volume
– Subcompact 85 to 99 cubix feet of passenger and luggage volume
– Compact 100 to 109 cubic feet of passenger and luggage volume
– Midsize 110 to 119 cubic feet of passenger and luggage volume
– Large 120 or more cubic feet of passenger and luggage volume
STATION WAGONS
– Small Less than 130 cubic feet of passenger and cargo volume
– Midsize 130 to 159 cubic feet of passenger and cargo volume
– Large 160 ormore cubic feet of passenger and cargo volume
TRUCKS
– Small pickup Trucks having gross vehicle weight ratings (truck weight plus carrying capacity) less than 4,500 pounds; 2WD
– Standard pickup Trucks having GVWR of 4,500 to 8,500 pounds; 2WD/4WD
MINIVANS, SPORT-UTILITIES AND SPECIAL VEHICLES All other light vehicles not in another car or truck class
