Are station wagons making a come back with sedans fading?

[DACH]

Rebirth, or Looming Fizzle? The Station Wagon Had a Pretty Good Year in 2018

 

 

In the absolutely superb 1949 war film Twelve O’Clock High, a doctor stationed at a U.S. Army Air Force base in WW2 England uses an interesting comparison when describing a character’s mental breakdown.

“Have you ever seen a light bulb burn out? How bright the filament gets right before it breaks?”

 

A similar phenomenon could be at work in a certain vehicle niche, one which gets more press than actual sales warrant. The lowly, reviled, and suddenly revered station wagon, now referred to in terms meant to dispel the stodgy family hauler image of decades past.

 

Never mind that BMW just announced its 3 Series wagon won’t make a return trip from Europe. There’s wagons aplenty these days, and it’s this writer’s firm belief that you’ll never have a better change to bring home a competent non-light truck cargo hauler. It’s now or never.

While wagon variants allow automakers to rack up additional sales of a given nameplate, the wagon community remains a small one. Loyal and passionate, but small. And what room there is for growth depends on your level of optimism. As Bloomberg notes, 2018 was a great year for wagon sales, simply because consumers suddenly found themselves with choice.

 

Buick has the new Regal TourX, Jaguar has the new XF Sportbrake, Volvo has the tony V90 and V60, Mercedes-Benz has the dignified E 450 4Matic wagon and disgruntled AMG E63 S wagon, Audi has the A4 Allroad, and Volkswagen will still gladly sell you a modest Golf SportWagen. All of this choice resulted in a bigger niche than years past. Some 212,000 wagons left U.S. dealer lots in 2018, representing a 29 percent sales increase compared to five years earlier.

 

Still, wagons amounted to less than 2 percent of the new vehicle market last year. That’s plug-in car territory.

This group of buyers, described by Buick marketing director Sam Russell as “almost violently opposed to being mainstream,” doesn’t want to be seen driving an anonymous crossover. And let’s face it, it’s easier to sculpt a sexy wagon than a high-riding, bulbous crossover. Thing is, though, wagons sales are a slim wedge of the overall volume of a particular nameplate. As sedan sales falter, wagons, despite their snob appeal, won’t pick up enough of the slack. All a wagon can do is delay a model’s discontinuation, if we’re to assume today’s market shift continues uninterrupted.

 

If sedans disappear from our streets, so too will wagons, despite wagons being a happy middle ground between sedans and crossovers. A sad situation, if the worst-case scenario comes to pass. While Bloomberg reports Buick’s TourX sales “increased steadily” over the past 12 months, Volvo’s gorgeous V90 is now available by custom order only, and Jaguar’s XF Sportbrake, while sultry, has to contend with the fact that no one’s interested in buying Jaguar cars these days. Even the brand’s crossovers can’t keep sales in the black.

 

Despite the recent uptick in wagon interest and availability, it’s hard not to see this phenomenon as a tired light bulb valiantly burning its way towards destruction.

[Karu]

Not wagon... SUV or pseudo SUV

[Lala81]

Wagons only sell in europe. 
Don't see the chinese or the americans taking it up.

[Sdf4786k]

yeah, plus its quite slow sales volume.

 

But as there are few takers, the second hand market seems quite a few buyers who like the unicorn status.

 

 

[Mockngbrd]

Not in SG.. but i like wagon

[boonhat_91]

Mz6 and i30 wagons look nice. Personal taste I'd prefer a wagon over a crossover/pseudo-SUV.

[DACH]

Already in the Skoda thread, people are requesting for Skoda sw models.

[Othello]

nope. my friends/relatives no one owns a wagon. And they probably never will. It will always be that small group of people. 

 

Me ? I love wagons. Current and ex car are wagons. 

[Vratenza]

My dream wagon:

 

[AndrewLee72]

This wagon in Spore nice leh! hehe

 

[Vratenza]

A wagon is just a more functional hatch.

 

Owned a saab 9-3 sports combi and loved the utility. 

 

Will not hesitate to get another wagon after I am done with trying out SUV (which is just a jacked-up wagon in all sense of the classification)

 

 

Edited January 10, 2019 by Vratenza

[walkofwinners]

The i30 turbo wagon and skoda spaceback aint too bad either

[Ysc3]

my shuttle also classified as a wagon leh … and there is the shuttle goup … so there are quite a number of us.

 

but usually wagon owners are more with kids in tow … need the extra space.

[Volvobrick]

I like wagons. Dog friendly.... ... Like E63s Estate.

Edited January 10, 2019 by Volvobrick

[SZ_ford]

subaru levorg, v90 xc, audi rs4......all swee

 

honda jade consider wagon?

[Mockngbrd]

I Like Stagea

[Solar]

Used to drive Subaru Legacy GT wagon.

Didn't find a good alternative since then. But if chance arise, yes, I will change back to a station wagon again.

 

Here's the old horse

Edited January 10, 2019 by Solar

[Heartbreakid]

Since young, my family members have owned wagons and probably that is why wagons grew on me. Always find them airy because of the extra compartment at the rear.

 

Is right that many have inquire about the Skoda Combi models in that topic. When the price is right, coupled with acceptable features, I don't see why wagons are not going to be popular. Wagons these days are unlike wagons in the 80s or 90s.