Are cars REALLY getting smaller?

[Crazy Dazz]

I keep reading "people aren't buying large cars any more," but is that really true?

Now I have NO empirical evidence to back this up, its just my perception, but I believe cars are actually getting LARGER.

Thinking back to the day when a "small" car was a Corolla/ Escort/ Gemini/ Lancer/ 120Y, it seems to me that those cars (and their equivalents) have gotten progressively larger, bigger engines, and more features. Similarly the "Mid" sized cars, Cortina/ Corona/ Torana/ 200B/ Sigma, have also gotten larger, more powerful, and better featured.
The first Honda Civic was a lawnmower with doors, now its practically mid-sized.
Meanwhile smaller cars have been introduced, Fiesta/ Yaris/ Barina/ Micra/ Mirage, and they too have started to grow.

It's very easy to look back to the Falcon/ Kingswood/ Valiant of the day and ASSUME that today's Falcon and Commode is the logical successor. But is it?

Back in the day your standard XB Falcon put out about 100kw and 250Nm, the upmarket 250 was a bit more power and IIRC around 325Nm.
Todays Mondeo has more interior space, more luggage space, and more power.

I LOVE the Falcon, and I think the current offering is excellent, but realistically it is more equivalent to yesteryears' Fairlane. There's still a market, but it was never that big.

I think for a long time, people just came along for the ride. They were happy for their cars to keep getting bigger, better, and more powerful.
But suddenly there has been an awakening. Particularly with all the BS about greenhouses, people have realised that they don't NEED 200kw. Today's "family car" is more likely to be mid-size (or even "small") 4 cyl, and those would have bought a wagon now buy an SUV.

This isn't unique to Ford and Holden. Toyota, Nissan, Mazda, etc, all had larger models that have been discontinued and replaced.

We also have to accept that Marque loyalty is absent outside enthusiasts. So lost Falcon sales won't translate directly to Territory, Mondeo or Focus sales, but many to Toyota, Mazda, Hyundai, etc.

Getting right off my original topic here, but Falcon also had the problem of being Australian produced which made it bloody expensive. I think its reasonable for what you get, but if you don't NEED a Falcon why pay for one?