Is this the end of small cars as we know them? The Toyota Corolla, Mazda3, Hyundai i30 and other small hatchbacks could be in danger of disappearing as buyers switch to SUVs.

The Toyota Corolla is the best-selling small car in the country, but sales have declined.

Small passenger cars such as hatchbacks and sedans have traditionally been one of the favorite vehicle types in Australia.

However, according to sales data, small passenger cars may eventually become a thing of the past.

It's a huge turnaround given the popularity of small hatchbacks and sedans just a decade ago.

Sales figures for 2010 show that small passenger cars make up the largest vehicle segment by a huge margin. They accounted for just over 239,000 sales, representing 23 percent of the total market. The next closest were light passenger cars with 13.3%, then compact SUVs with 11.1%.

In the same year, five small passenger cars and one passenger car made the top 10 best-selling cars list. The rest included three larger passenger sedans and one passenger car.

Subcompact cars included the Toyota Corolla, which was the second best-selling car that year with 41,632 units, just 4000 units behind the then-dominant Holden Commodore. Other small models in the top 2010 for 10 years were Mazda3, Hyundai i30, Holden Cruze and Mitsubishi Lancer.

Even more than 20 years ago, in 2000, small passenger cars accounted for 27.8% of all new car sales, and large passenger cars such as the Commodore and Ford Falcon were the only segment with higher sales (35.9%).

In 3 Mazda went up in price along with the new generation model. (Image credit: Tom White)

A completely different story in 2021.

By the end of November, 93,260 small passenger cars had been sold, a decrease of 4.8% in 2020.

Corolla still dominates the segment with 27,497 year-to-date sales and is one of the few big players including Hyundai i30 (23,334), Kia Cerato (17,198) and Mazda3 (13,476).

There are several reasons for this.

In 2021, this segment accounts for 10.6% of all sales and is now in fifth place behind 4×4 pickups (18%), medium SUVs (17%), small SUVs (13.7%) and large SUVs (12.8%). .

This highlights the clear shift from passenger cars to SUVs. While the number of small passenger cars has more than halved in a decade, sales of small and light SUVs have grown by about 60,000 units a year from 2010 figures.

The cheapest VW Golf you can buy costs just under $30,000 before travel expenses.

The appeal of higher ride height, chunky design elements, and the perception of off-road ability has led buyers to move en masse from small hatchbacks to small SUVs.

As a result of declining sales of small cars, many manufacturers are repositioning their hatchback offerings.

Instead of starting at around $20,000 pre-travel costs for a base model with a small package and moving up from there, automakers are increasingly offering fewer options that are only in the mid-range or high-end. And this is usually associated with a higher price.

There are many examples of this. The current generation Mazda3 and Toyota Corolla start at a higher price than their predecessors. Mazda3's starting price rose $4500 to about $25,000 pre-travel when the new model arrived in 2019, while the current Corolla jumped $2680 over the old model in 2018.

Prices have risen even more since then, with the 3 now starting at $26,340 excluding traffic. The Corolla is now $1000 more than when it launched and starts at $23,895.

Kia Cerato is not as cheap as it used to be.

The mid-year Volkswagen Golf Mk 8 now starts at $29,550 (BOC) for an entry-level manual, about $3500 more than the base Golf 7.5.

Honda has raised prices to new levels with the launch of 11^thCivic generation hatchback. It's only available in one special variant - for now - priced at $47,000. That's $16,000 more than the previous range-opening VTi-S and puts it in BWM and Mercedes-Benz territory.

Even Kia and Hyundai are no longer playing in the $19,990 small car segment. The i30 Luke now starts at $23,420 (BOC) and the Cerato starts at $25,490, though you'll find deals around $25,000 for both models almost all year round.

Other brands have abandoned this segment altogether.

Ford has retired all but sporty ST variants of its undervalued Focus hatchback in Australia, after scrapping the sleek station wagon about a year ago.

Similarly, Renault dropped all Megane classes except the RS hot hatch.

Honda's change in strategy has resulted in a significant price increase for the new Civic.

Holden's departure killed the Astra, Nissan dropped the Pulsar back in 2017, and Mitsubishi finally ran out of Lancer stock in 2019. Kia ditched the Soul and Rondo a couple of years ago, and the Alfa Romeo Giulietta will soon disappear.

So what does this mean for the future of small passenger cars? Sales are likely to continue to decline as buyers increasingly opt for similarly sized SUVs. You can abandon more models, especially with the transition to electrification. The future of the Golf is uncertain beyond the current generation as VW plans to dramatically increase its electric vehicle output.

There is some positive news in the short term for fans of small cars, with several new models hitting showrooms next year.

The new-generation Peugeot 308 hatchback and station wagon range will arrive in the first quarter of 2022, offering attractive design, new technology and more interior space. The latest brand of the Volkswagen Group, a subsidiary of Seat Cupra, will launch the Leon hatchback in mid-XNUMX as an alternative to the Golf.

Speaking of which, 2022 will see the arrival of the Golf R, as well as smaller hatchbacks like the Skoda Fabia and others.