Rob
Last week, you wrote that the Hyundai Sonata would "stand the mid-sized market segment on its ear."
Call me old school, and maybe I'm showing my age, but how can you call what I consider a small car like the Sonata, a mid-sized car?
When I was growing up a mid-sized car was a heck of a lot bigger than most of the cars I see on the road today. What determines the size of cars these days?
Howard
I'm with you on this, Howard. For years I had a hard time figuring that out myself, but now it's something we have to live with.
Because of the proliferation of vehicle segments, car manufacturers had to devise a way to differentiate vehicles if for no other reason than to try to remove confusion for marketing purposes - this really worked, didn't it? To start, I will list the categories for you, then drill down to the sizing formula - yes, there is a formula.
Generally, consumer vehicles are labelled as Passenger Car or Light Truck. For the most part, Light Truck is self explanatory until you consider that some Sport Utility Vehicles (SUVs) also can fall under this umbrella, never mind Crossovers. Whatever they are.
In Canada, cars are placed into six classes and each is based on the calculated, combined interior volume of the trunk and passenger compartment.
- Two seater - with no set volume because (obviously) they only have - two seats.
- Subcompact - interior volume less than 2,830 litres (99.9 cubic feet)
- Compact - interior volume of 2,830-3,155 litres (99.9-110 cubic feet)
- Mid-size - interior volume of 3,115-3,400 litres (110-120 cubic feet)
- Full-size - interior volume more than 3,400 litres (120 cubic feet)
- Station Wagon - designated by the inclusion of the trunk area into the passenger compartment.
These classes have also been placed into a "segment" by using letter designations. This is often used in marketing with the following European based labels:
- Subcompact - B Class (Nissan Versa)
- Compact - C Class (Chevy Cavalier)
- Mid-size - D Class (Hyundai Sonata)
- Full-size - E Class (Mercedes-Benz E350)
- Two seater - S Class (BMW Z4)
What is missing?
- Micro or City car - A Class (Smart Fortwo)
- Crossover- no class for this segment yet (Honda Tourer)
- Full-size Luxury - F Class (Mercedes-Benz S Class, yes, that's correct)
- Minivan - M Class (Chrysler Town and Country)
- All SUV's - J Class (Toyota RAV4, Ford Excursion)
Trucks are more fun. It's a little known fact that there is a classification of Light Light-Duty in addition to Light Duty and Heavy Light-Duty. That's a story just screaming to be told all by itself.
There it is, Vehicle Classification 101.
Study hard Howard, there will be a test next week.