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HomeSubcompact cars

Subcompact cars

Current Events

Automotive News fails to mention obvious ways to cut weight of EVs

September 5, 2023 Steve 0

Automotive News recently bemoaned how heavier electric vehicles “are causing safety and pollution problems.” The news report by Richard Truett (2023) pointed to heavy battery packs as the main “culprit” but also weight gains caused […]

1959 Chevrolet Impala 2-door hardtop
Quotes

Compacts were more successful as big-car prices grew in late-1950s

May 12, 2023 Steve 3

“Before 1955 the compact cars, which had then included Rambler, Hudson Jet, and Volkswagen, were not outstanding sales successes. Their suggested list prices, and their actual retail prices, were comparatively high in relation to those […]

1972 Ford Pinto Runabout
Quotes

Hal Sperlich: Detroit made bad small cars to prove buyers wouldn’t like them

May 3, 2023 Steve 9

“The small cars that Detroit had produced, [Hal Sperlich] believed, had been bad ones, reluctant efforts at best. If anything the companies had brought out inferior, unappealing small cars to prove their own thesis that […]

1962 Volkswagen Beetle
Current Events

What should a simple modern car look like?

April 14, 2023 Steve 22

(EXPANDED FROM 3/1/2020) Once upon a time a Truth About Cars commentator lauded the simplicity of the then-new Jeep Renegade. “Well, I for one am yearning for a simpler time, and this vehicle suggests that,” […]

1966 Volvo 122S
Letters to the Editor

Reader opines on why U.S. automakers weren’t competitive with imports

April 10, 2023 Steve 4

Ole stopped by to respond to the post, “Gordon Buehrig on Ford’s attitude about small cars circa 1960.” It wasn’t until the early-1960s that the entire European auto industry produced more cars than Chevrolet or […]

1967 Oldsmobile Delta 88 Custom
Data Dive

Langworth and Norbye made excuses for General Motors’ big-car fixation

February 27, 2023 Steve 4

While updating our 1971-78 Cadillac Eldorado story, I pulled down from my bookshelf The Complete History of General Motors: 1908-1986. This Consumer Guide book written by Richard M. Langworth and Jan P. Norbye (1986) threw […]

1959 Oldsmobile
Current Events

Will history repeat itself by punishing automakers for their big SUV binge?

February 1, 2023 Steve 15

It’s an old trick in the U.S. auto industry to blame consumers for bad corporate behavior. Automotive News (2022) recently lent a helping hand by playing the victim card to justify the lack of improvement […]

1971 Chevrolet Vega hatchback
Letters to the Editor

Chevrolet Vega fan itemizes what ‘real’ authorities said about the car

June 1, 2022 Steve 26

A Chevrolet Vega fan — let’s call him RS — just submitted two comments about the post, “Why the Chevrolet Vega turned out the way that it did.” One of RS’s comments was in ALL […]

History

Four reasons why the AMC Gremlin was a bad idea

April 20, 2022 Steve 13

(UPDATED FROM 4/20/2022) The AMC Gremlin may be one of the most memorable cars of the 1970s, but it was a bad idea for four often-forgotten reasons. I grant you that what I am about […]

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Automotive Views: Honda’s 2023 HR-V shows the future of US small cars

April 14, 2022 Steve 0

Posts pagination

« 1 … 3 4 5 6 »
  • 1954 Chevrolet was beginning of the end for GM’s brand hierarchy
    April 21, 2026 17
  • 1980 Pontiac Phoenix 5-door hatch
    Bigger didn’t prove to be better for General Motors in late-70s and 80s
    April 17, 2026 41
  • 1963 Ford Galaxie
    Might Detroit have embraced front-wheel drive earlier if McNamara had stayed at Ford?
    April 16, 2026 7
  • Cheap dealer car
    How much do Trump policies have to hurt auto industry before it supports Dems?
    April 14, 2026 19
  • 1975 Ford Thunderbird
    Ford design in the 1970s was a real step down from the previous decade
    April 10, 2026 24
  • 1981 Chevrolet Monte Carlo
    The sad story about buying a 1981 Monte Carlo right out of college
    April 9, 2026 2
  • Why the 1968-69 Javelin was not Richard Teague’s best AMC sporty coupe
    April 6, 2026 9
  • Mitsubishi dealer in Spokane
    Indie Auto is moving — although you may barely notice
    April 8, 2026 4
  • 1956 Buick hood scoop
    Readers brainstorm ideas for future Indie Auto stories
    October 14, 2022 136
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Recent Comments

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  • Philco Ford on Bigger didn’t prove to be better for General Motors in late-70s and 80s
  • Jeff Kennedy on Ford design in the 1970s was a real step down from the previous decade
  • Lori H. on 1954 Chevrolet was beginning of the end for GM’s brand hierarchy
  • Stéphane Dumas on Ford design in the 1970s was a real step down from the previous decade
  • Steve on 1967 Pontiac Grand Prix convertible didn’t catch on
  • Philco Ford on 1954 Chevrolet was beginning of the end for GM’s brand hierarchy
  • Steve on 1954 Chevrolet was beginning of the end for GM’s brand hierarchy
  • Anthony Boddy on 1954 Chevrolet was beginning of the end for GM’s brand hierarchy
  • Albert Fredrick Godwin on 1967 Pontiac Grand Prix convertible didn’t catch on
  • Randerson on Bigger didn’t prove to be better for General Motors in late-70s and 80s
  • SCAMPMAN on Bigger didn’t prove to be better for General Motors in late-70s and 80s
  • SCAMPMAN on Bigger didn’t prove to be better for General Motors in late-70s and 80s
  • Terrance Smith on Even Motor Trend complained about the 1967 Cadillac Eldorado’s brakes
  • SCAMPMAN on 1954 Chevrolet was beginning of the end for GM’s brand hierarchy

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