January 11: Smaller and smaller

Once upon a time, when we thought of a sport utility vehicle, what came to mind was the hulking great Chevy Suburban, like this one........

Room for your entire family (including the cousins) and everything they owned. In New Brunswick people used to live in them, but only the very rich. Then Jeep introduced the Wagoneer, which was a bit smaller.....

And this started the whole trend towards the suv as we know it today. But if the smaller Wagoneer was better, then how about one smaller than the Wagoneer? Smaller and smaller. Every time a more compact model was introduced, they sold really well and got the product planners to think about an even smaller version. Just how small can they go? Well look at these models that are here now or will be arriving shortly......

I think the Mini was the first really small suv and it showed the manufacturers that consumers would pay relatively big bucks for a capable little trucklette. Here are a couple that are just coming to market, one  economy priced and one premium........

Chevy Trax

Buick Encore

Smaller and smaller. But what's in a name? This is the first Buick Encore, but doesn't "encore" mean second time around? Look it up, that's exactly what it means, but I sure don't remember it being here before. But hey, this is the car business, where "coupe" means a four door sedan, so go figure. Anyway, the Encore is a new premium and surprisingly roomy, but tiny suv (a contradiction in terms?).

Other little ones.......Audi started with the Q7, then the Q5, now the European Q3........

........and possibly a Q1. Expect the Q3 to end up on our shores, but not sure if the Q1 will ever get here. Another one in the works is the soon to arrive Porsche Cajun. Smaller and smaller. Will BMW go one smaller than the current X1? An X 1/2??

So where will this all end? Will Smart expand to an suv? Now that would be interesting.

Until next time.........