Trump's huge car move announced

As a sweeping array of changes hit America’s new car market, Donald Trump has declared he wants to see the return of station wagons and even the introduction of US-built but Japanese-style city cars.

Many enthusiasts might like to see the same here in Australia - but can it work?

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“We can bring choice to consumers,” said Duffy.

According to the Transportation Department, as reported by Reuters, increasingly tight fuel economy rules in the country resulted in unanticipated results including almost eliminating the production of station wagons.

Duffy frequently referred to the previous administration’s target to tighten fuel economy rules to a target of 62mpg (around 3.8L/100km) for new vehicles, which he described as "impossible".

US President Donald Trump said Kei cars, which he saw in Japan, were “really cute” and they should be able to be built and sold in the USA.

“If you go to Japan and South Korea and Malaysia and other countries, they have a very small car,” President Trump said. “Sort of like the Beetle used to be - very small but really cute, and I said, 'how would that do in this country?' And everybody seems to think ‘good’ but we’re not allowed to build them.”

“So I’ve authorised the secretary to immediately approve the production for those cars. Some of them are really beautiful actually,” he said.

Duffy added: “He gave me the directive to clear the regulations on this to which we have — so if Toyota or any other company wants to make smaller, more affordable cars, fuel efficient, we have cleared the deck so they can make them in America and sell them in America.”

“It gives people a chance to have a brand new car as opposed to a car, which maybe isn’t so great,” said Trump.

To do so will require altering the US-market’s FMVSS standards (a sort of equivalent to Australia’s design rules, which also prevents many similar small cars from being sold in Australia due to not meeting minimum safety standards).

But will changes to these standards actually see the resurgence of wagons and small cars in the US?

The taste for SUVs and pick-up trucks is driven by customer demand rather than emissions or design standards.

According to Road and Track demand for station wagons peaked in the 1970s in the USA, but have since fallen to a little over one per cent of the market, nearly all of which is the Subaru Outback, (which is defined as an SUV in Australian sales reporting).

It’s the same story in Australia, while a few manufacturers offer station wagons, they primarily remain a niche vehicle.

Wagons remain popular in Europe. In fact, the last US-branded wagon, the Buick Regal X which we knew as the Holden Commodore ZB, was built in Germany.

Chinese brands are starting to roll out wagons. Nio, Zeekr and BYD offer ambitious mass-market wagon models as a point of difference. Zeekr said it has sold 300,000 station wagon variants in just a handful of years.

Small city cars (including Japanese ‘Kei’ class vehicles) are a hard sell to American and Australian consumers where larger SUVs are preferred.

The segment previously had many options in Australia, including the Suzuki Alto and Ignis, Holden Barina Spark, Mitsubishi Mirage, Nissan Micra and Volkswagen Up!. All were withdrawn primarily for languishing sales or ageing out of safety requirements.

It’s hard to see such vehicles having an impact on the SUV-obsessed US market, but they may have a brighter future in Australia.

The mini Kia Picanto’s sales have been on the rise, and BYD is launcing the Atto 1 EV for $23,990 (before on-roiad costs). Honda has put its hand up to offer a sportier version of its N One hatch in 2026.