April 20, 2026 - The Return of the Sedan

This is the Telemetry Transportation Daily for April 20, 2026, and I'm Sam Abuelsamid, Vice President of Market Research for Telemetry. 

Over the past decade, automakers have gradually culled cars from their lineups, particularly in North America. The only vehicle sold by Ford that isn't a crossover, SUV, or truck is the Mustang. Stellantis has only the Dodge Charger and some Alfa Romeos and Fiats. GM has the Corvette and Cadillac CT5. The Japanese and Korean brands have cut some of their lowest cost models but retained the volume models like the Toyota Camry and Corolla, Honda Civic, and Hyundai Elantra, among others.  

Crossovers and SUVs now account for more than 70 percent of sales in the U.S. market, but it looks like younger buyers are starting to tire of this form factor. Most of these vehicles look very similar to each other, and style has always been a factor in the vehicle purchase decision. Thus, many automakers are now revisiting the idea of bringing at least sedans and maybe even coupes back to their product lineups. Honda recently launched a new Prelude sports coupe based on the Civic. During the big Nissan product event in Japan last year, CEO Ivan Espinosa confirmed that the company is developing a new Skyline, which will also be the basis for an Infiniti sport sedan by 2028. Espinosa also emphasized the importance of sports cars to the brand, and as it stabilizes its core business, he wants more sports models in the lineup. 

Here in North America, General Motors has reportedly given the green light to both a new Chevrolet Camaro and a Buick sedan. Both of these are to be produced at GM's Lansing Grand River assembly plant, along with a new version of the Cadillac CT5, which means they will almost certainly use an updated version of the Alpha platform. That would make them at least rear-wheel-drive and possibly all-wheel-drive as an option. These may start to roll out as soon as late 2027.  Even Ford CEO Jim Farley has said he would like to restore some cars to his lineup in the coming years, and the company is working on how to build them profitably. Whether these vehicles turn out to be electric or not, they will likely share some key construction technologies and architecture with the new Universal EV, such as unicasting and centralized electronics.  For those of us who still prefer to drive cars over SUVs, this is all good news. 

Thanks for listening.