Consumers have fully embraced crossovers, but a new report is suggesting Ford, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles and General Motors will eventually lose their dominance of the segment which is widely popular in North America.
Bloomberg recently spoke with automotive analyst Alan Baum who predicts the Big Three will only be responsible for 35 percent of the crossovers sold in North America by 2023. That will reportedly be a decline of 26 percent since 2005.
The companies aren’t just expected to lose out on crossover sales as Baum predicted the Big Three will only be responsible for 16 percent of car sales in North America by 2023. That figure seems for more reasonable as Fiat Chrysler Automobiles has largely abandoned cars – besides the aging 300, Charger and Challenger – and Ford will cease sales of several models by then.
The only area where Baum predicts the Big Three will remain a dominant force is in the pickup market. If his predictions are correct, the three companies will be responsible for 86 percent of the truck market by 2023.
While no one knows what the future holds, Baum told the publication “The Asians and the Europeans are taking over crossovers in the U.S. by adding new models and more manufacturing capacity. They did the same thing in cars 10 or 20 years ago.”
While the predictions sound like doom and gloom, Ford and General Motors are responding to changing consumer preferences. In the past few years alone, GM has launched an assortment of new and redesigned crossovers such as the Acadia, Equinox, Enclave, Traverse, Terrain and XT5. Even more models are on the horizon as Chevrolet recently showed off the 2019 Blazer and Cadillac is gearing up to launch the entry-level XT4 as well as the three-row XT6.
Ford is also preparing an onslaught on new and redesigned crossovers. Over the next few years, we will see the Bronco, Baby Bronco, Escape, Explorer and a new “Performance Battery Electric Utility” which could be called the Mach 1.
