There is a cycle in the automotive industry of enlarging cars with each and every redesign. The latest casualty is the Honda Accord, once known as a more sensible choice in the face of ever-larger sedans from the American automakers. Back in the early eighties, American companies were still building large rear-wheel drive cars while companies like Volkswagen, Honda and Toyota were just beginning to roll out their smaller front-wheel drive designs. As it became apparent that consumers in America were increasingly choosing the smaller imports instead of the Detroit land barges, the big three started to change their designs, mimicking the designs from Japan. Today, things are starting to reverse, with cars like the Chrysler triplets, the 300, Charger and Magnum, as well as the new rear wheel drive GM's like the upcoming Pontiac G8 and Impala. Japan has noticed this trend as well, and their cars are becoming larger in an effort to be size-competitive. The aforementioned Accord has grown to the point that it is classified as a large car. So is the Crown Victoria.

We are not suggesting that the masses in general purchase microcars, but we are suggesting that the ever-increasing sizes are not entirely necessary. Keep the Accord an Accord, please. Wanna bet that the next Camry will try and one-up the Accord in size? The Civic of today is larger than the Accord from the '80s, and that's just wrong. Now, the Fit has taken up the place in Honda's line as the small car of choice, proving that the market for a vehicle that size is still alive and well - and that the automakers are capable of building a good, small car. Comments, questions and snide-remarks are welcome in the comments, as always.

In the year 2000, as the IT world scrambled to fix computer problems and people bid farewell to the '90s, Ford and GM Holden - with their Falcon and Commodore, respectively - stood supreme as the dominant forces of the dominant large car market in Australia. Just seven years on and that market has shrunk from 35.9 percent to just 13.5 percent in the light of rising fuel prices which has seen a massive movement away from large family cars to medium-sized cars. The Falcon and Commodore are now fighting each other over a diminishing market while simultaneously trying to hold off the other locally produced six cylinder competition in the form of the Mitsubishi 380 and the Toyota Aurion.

Such has been the slide in demand for big cars that Holden just announced that 600 jobs will be axed at their Adelaide plant.

The market movement towards smaller cars has led both Ford and Holden to announce new entrants into the already cut-throat medium sized car market which is currently dominated by Asian vehicles like the class-leading Toyota Camry along with the Mazda6, Honda Accord Euro and Hyundai Sonata. Holden is about to release the Daewoo made Epica and Ford is bringing the Mondeo back later this year.

Analysis: The Mondeo and the Epica both look to be good quality cars at a good price but they're in for a real fight to gain traction in the medium-sized car market because it is already dominated by good quality cars at a good price. Fuel prices have clearly had a massive impact on the car market in Australia as fuel economy becomes a critical factor in the buying decisions of many consumers.

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[Source: CARSguide.com.au]