odiofyl

Fellas:

I am new to the site, but I am doing some research. I work for an OEM and am wondering what do young buyers look for in a small car such as a Civic, Scion, Cobalt, , Fit, Mazda 3, Impreza, etc.? You do not need to list in any particular order. You may list cars that you like but decided not to buy due to lack of HP, quality, cargo volume, name brand, etc. If you had a chance to design a car, what would it be?

akboss

The demographic for small cars is getting broader, so there is more room for niche cars and brand-specific buyers. Because of our economic conditions, older buyers who would normally be moving on to midsize or even entry level luxury cars are considering compacts again. So we see cars like the Mazda3 in base form for a super-low price and equipped with basic needs/conveniences, but a buyer can option the car up about $8K to the point where it has the same features as an Audi A4 or Mercedes-Benz C-Class. The cars that appeal to a youth market will have to be edgey from the get-go, newly styled and completely convinced of their identity as a youth market car. Something like the Kia Soul or Honda Element, even Scion and Toyota's XB and XA's and Honda Fits. These buyers are looking for style first and foremost, and gadgets. They want blue LED's on the dash and cupholders that light up, fridges in the glove box and seats that swivel. Horsepower is a side-note, unless you're building an enthusiast model (like Sentra SER-Spec V, MazdaSpeed3 or Cobalt SS). Practical and cool is the youth market now, and because dad's are buying these for their daughters going to school, they need to have good safety ratings and lots of airbags.

To know what young buyers want in a new small car you basically have to look at the buying trends of young people, but consider some of the money may be coming from practical parents - hence the delicate balance of trendy but useful. The Kia Soul is an instant hit, and if they made a Prada or Oakley model, selling it to a generation that is more brand-conscious than any before, it would sell like hotcakes.