Remember when small cars were, well, cool? It wasn’t that long ago that zippy, compact vehicles offered a blend of practicality and undeniable style. Take the lament of Dion Lefler, an Opinions Editor at the Wichita Eagle, who recently pointed out the absurdity that Americans can’t even buy the kind of mini Toyota pickups favored by groups like the Taliban. His point? The US market has systematically purged itself of cool, smaller-style pickups, and the trend extends far beyond just trucks.
Lefler’s argument, outlined in his column, is spot on. Trucks and SUVs have ballooned to gargantuan proportions, becoming less efficient, more dangerous, and harder on our infrastructure. Yet, the compact pickup, once a staple of American roads, has all but disappeared. He attributes this to two key factors: first, automakers prioritize larger vehicles because they yield significantly higher profit margins. Second, the infamous “Chicken Tax,” a 25% tariff on imported light trucks dating back to the LBJ era, still discourages the import of smaller, more affordable pickups.
But Lefler’s genius lies in his framing. It’s one thing to bemoan the lack of small pickups. It’s another to highlight that even the Taliban, a regime hardly known for its progressive values, has a superior selection of cool small whips in this vehicle category! This ironic comparison underscores the depth of the “Cool Small Cars” crisis in America.
Beyond Pickups: The Extinction of the Cool Subcompact
The vanishing act isn’t limited to pickups. The entire category of “cool small cars” is facing an existential threat in the American market. Consider the dearly departed Honda Fit, discontinued in the US after the 2022 model year. This subcompact car was a gem – practical, fuel-efficient, and surprisingly stylish in its own understated way.
Honda, predictably, replaced it with the larger, less appealing HR-V, a “light utility” vehicle that prioritizes size over style and, frankly, sounds more like a health concern than a car model. While other small cars like the Toyota Yaris, Nissan Versa, and Chevy Spark exist, they often lack the certain je ne sais quoi that the Fit possessed. The Fit wasn’t trying to be cute or quirky like a Fiat 500 or a Mini Cooper. It was simply a well-designed, handsome, and unpretentious compact car.
The Honda Fit wasn’t just about aesthetics, though. It boasted impressive cargo space, peppy handling, and renowned Honda reliability. But beyond the utilitarian aspects, it was the Fit’s understated cool, its “humble but ample aesthetic achievement” that resonated with drivers who appreciated smart design over flashy excess. Its lines were purposeful, its demeanor bordering on subtly aggressive, avoiding the forced “cuteness” of some competitors. Add a roof rack to a Fit, and you instantly amplified its rugged, ready-for-anything vibe.
Wider Trends: Two-Doors and Small EVs Vanishing
The decline of cool small cars is part of a larger automotive trend. Finding a stylish new two-door car, that isn’t a sports car or coupe, is practically impossible these days. While vintage BMW 2002s or classic Toyota Tercels still turn heads, modern equivalents are virtually nonexistent. Car manufacturers have largely abandoned the two-door format altogether.
Similarly, small electric vehicles (EVs) are also facing pressure. Models like the BMW i3 and Chevy Bolt, despite their popularity, have been discontinued or faced uncertain futures. While Chevy has thankfully revived the Bolt, the trend points towards larger EVs dominating the market. Honda’s stylish small electric “e,” available in other markets, isn’t even offered in the US.
This shift away from small EVs is partly driven by consumer demand for longer ranges, requiring larger batteries and, consequently, larger vehicles. However, it’s also fueled by the auto industry’s pursuit of profit. Larger vehicles simply generate more revenue, leading manufacturers to prioritize them, even at the expense of smaller, more efficient, and arguably cooler options. This creates a self-perpetuating cycle where the market is flooded with oversized vehicles, while genuinely cool small cars become increasingly scarce.
American Car Culture and the Size Obsession
This isn’t a simple matter of political divides. While massive Ford F-Series trucks are often associated with certain demographics, affluent, liberal areas are equally saturated with oversized SUVs. Even Subaru, a brand once synonymous with sensible, compact vehicles, has succumbed to the trend, making the Forester larger and less distinctive. The Toyota RAV4, which started as a quirky, small two-door, has morphed into another anonymous, overgrown crossover. Suzuki still offers the charmingly small Jimny in other markets, but alas, not in the US.
The focus on ever-larger vehicles subtly shifts the baseline. SUVs, themselves massive and often unnecessary for their drivers’ needs, begin to appear “normal” when compared to the truly gargantuan pickups dominating American roads. This creates a distorted perception of what constitutes a “standard” vehicle size.
The American obsession with car size is deeply rooted in cultural perceptions. In the US, small cars are often, and wrongly, associated with being “broke” or “economically struggling.” This flawed thinking equates vehicle size with social status, a perverse reflection of McMansion-style pathologies that link self-worth to the dimensions of one’s possessions. In this context, a subcompact Mercedes, common in Europe, would be seen as a contradictory and less profitable proposition in the US market.
This “bigger is better” mentality also taps into anxieties about safety and competition. In a perceived zero-sum world, a larger vehicle is seen as offering a competitive edge, both in terms of perceived status and actual safety in collisions. However, this logic ignores the broader societal costs of oversized vehicles: increased congestion, greater environmental impact, and diminished urban livability.
Reclaiming the Cool in Compact: The “Cars as Clothes” Metaphor
Cars, once marketed as symbols of personal freedom, have become, for many, daily commutes in traffic-choked cities. The desire for ever-larger vehicles might be a misguided attempt to make these “prison cells” more comfortable, a delusion that bigger automatically equals better.
However, a more stylish and sustainable approach exists. Consider the “cars as clothes” metaphor. Driving an unnecessarily large vehicle isn’t akin to wearing a stylishly oversized suit; it’s more like a child drowning in an adult’s trench coat and clown shoes – cumbersome, graceless, and ultimately ridiculous. Two people in a Smart Car might be the automotive equivalent of skin-tight jeans, but two people in a Honda Fit? That’s like stepping out in perfectly tailored, Japanese-designed streetwear – ample room, comfortable, and undeniably cool in its considered proportions. It’s about “vehicular drape,” not vehicular bloat.
Perhaps it’s time to “de-grow” our automotive aspirations, to rediscover the inherent coolness of compact, well-designed cars. For everyday life, a Fit-sized vehicle is not “small”; it’s perfectly proportioned, offering ample space without the unnecessary bulk and environmental cost of larger alternatives. Let’s reclaim the cool in compact and challenge the oversized status quo on American roads.
Peace Out,
J & E
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This article is inspired by and expands upon the themes and arguments presented in the original Blackbird Spyplane article, focusing on the keyword “cool small cars” and optimizing for an English-speaking audience.
References:
- The Wichita Eagle op-ed about small pickups: here.
- Blackbird Spyplane “wack automotive macro-trends” article: here.
- Blackbird Spyplane “Pants Dysmorphia” essay: Pants Dysmorphia.
- Blackbird Spyplane “Salomons” article: again.
- Blackbird Spyplane list of “the world’s 35 slappiest shops”: here.
- Blackbird Spyplane “Profound Essays, Mindsets and “Unbeatably Spicy Takes””: here.
- Blackbird Spyplane Global Intel Travel Chat Room: here.
- Christian Bale Instagram post about his Tacoma: here.
- The Autopian article on “trimflation”: here.
