Chevy Buyers Go for Smaller Engines

A buyer behavior evolution that was until recently considered to be years away is currently taking place in the US. Probably discouraged by the high prices of gasoline in the past few years, the American consumers are slowly giving up their native passion for big V6 and V8 engines and start to chose smaller, 4 cylinder power plants.

At least, this is the conclusion American manufacturer Chevrolet drew after compiling the numbers in its archives for the past four years. Chevrolet found that, while in 2007 four-cylinder models represented 23 percent of Chevrolet retail sales in the US, now that percentage has grown to double that, or 46 percent.

The behavior of the consumers is interesting to watch and shows that the Americans are going for smaller engine gradually. Chevy discovered that buyers give up V8-powered SUVs and go for V6-powered crossovers. Owners of V6-powered cars and crossovers instead give up their cars in favor of sedans powered by four-cylinder engines.

“The shift in consumer preference evidenced by Chevrolet’s lineup is a great example of how much four-cylinder engines have improved across the industry,” said Bill Visnic, auto analyst at AutoObserver.

“Four cylinders used to be something to settle for. But advances in engine design and technology have made four-cylinder engines vastly more refined, and power output has increased to where V-6 engines were just a few years ago.”

The fact that buyers give up big engines in favor of smaller ones doesn't mean the Americans no longer like high-powered cars. The advancements in technology have made it possible today to have about the same amount of power from a V6 in a much smaller four-cylinder package.