Shift to Compact Cars In Full Swing For '81

With the domestic manufacturers' shift towards smaller, front-wheel drive vehicles in full swing, movement by fleets towards smaller vehicles has been accelerating according to a new car acquisition survey conducted annually by the National Association of Fleet Administrators (NAFA).

According to NAFA, six out of every 10 new cars to be ordered by NAFA members in the coming model year will be compacts and subcompacts. "The actual breakdown of new car orders for the 1981 model year will be subcompacts, 10 percent; compacts, 50 percent; mid-size cars, 35 percent; and large cars, five percent," NAFA reported in its monthly bulletin.

Responses to the survey were garnered from 100 fleets operating 79,433 passenger cars and NAFA reports that these fleets plan to acquire approximately 31,000 new cars during the 1981 model year.

The survey also found that along with the smaller new cars, fleet administrators are also switching to smaller powerplants. "Nearly every fleet reported that it was making major changes in its engine specifications - four cylinder engines in compacts and subcompacts; six cylinder engines in mid-size and large cars. Three fleets said they were switching to diesels for their large cars. One fleet manager summed it all up when he commented, 'sixes instead of eights, fours instead of sixes.'"

Standard transmissions are beginning to make a comeback as fleets seek to boost their own fuel economy. According to the NAFA survey, 13 fleets are planning to order at least some of their vehicles with manual transmissions, a departure from previous surveys in which practically every car was specified with automatic transmission.

The survey also found that four-door sedans remain the popular fleet choice as 57 percent of the new cars that will be acquired during the 1981 model year by the respondents will be that body style. NAFA reports when these sedans are combined with the five-door hatchbacks, these two models will account for three out of every four new car orders. Two-door sedans and three-door hatchback will account for 17 percent of the new cars ordered during 1981, while station wagons will take five percent and sport models, one percent.

"Specialty" cars will be ordered by 17 fleets, while 11 fleets said they plan to acquire some imports during the coming model year. As has been the practice in the past, the NAFA survey results are divided into business-related categories which include the following groups; Insurance, Drug & Cosmetic, Manufacturing-Industrial, Manufacturing-Consumer, Chemical & Petroleum, Food & Beverage and "Other".

In the Insurance Group, 17 fleets responded. These fleets operate 19,360 passenger cars of which 11,230 are company owned and 8,130 are leased. Currently, 59 percent of the vehicles are in the compact category and as a result, NAFA reports that only six fleets in this group plan to make major changes in car size for 1981. Five of these fleets said they were switching to compacts while the sixth said it would be using more mid-size cars.

Compacts and subcompacts will account for more than 70 percent of the new car orders from this group, while 27 percent will be mid-size and only one percent large. Middle-of-the-line models will account for more than 90 percent of the acquisitions, and four-door sedans and five-door hatchbacks will encompass 63 percent of the orders. Thirty-five percent of the orders will be for two-door sedans and three-door hatchbacks while station wagons will take the remaining two percent.

Specialty cars will be ordered by one fleet in the group, while two other fleets said they will acquire a "handful" of imports. Responses in this category, according to NAFA, showed a shift to four cylinder powerplants in compacts and subcompacts and to six cylinder engines in mid-size models. No fleet in this group plans to acquire vehicles with manual transmissions.

Cars acquired by the Insurance Group, according to the survey, are completely equipped in all size categories. Power steering, automatic transmission, and air conditioning are specified for all units, although one fleet reported that compacts and subcompacts ordered do not include power brakes as standard equipment.

Four fleets ordering mid-size cars are equipping these models with cruise control and two fleets ordering compacts are doing likewise. Of the 17 fleets responding in this category, 12 offer drivers a limited choice of make and model while five fleets give the driver no choice.

In the Drug & Cosmetic Group 13 fleets with a total of 9,679 vehicles responded. Of the number of cars involved in this category, 880 are company owned, while 8,799 are leased. Major changes in car size are planned by six of the fleets, three indicating a shift to compacts and three to subcompacts.

New car orders in this group are distributed mainly between compact and mid-size cars which will take 46 percent and 32 percent of the orders respectively. Subcompacts will account for nine percent of the new car orders, while large cars will take 13 percent. As for body style, five-door hatchbacks will account for 39 percent, four-door sedans, 20 percent, two-door sedans, 26 percent and three-door hatchbacks, six percent.

More than 75 percent of the vehicles will be ordered as middle line models, with another 20 percent being top line cars. Only a few vehicles will be bottom-of-the-line models.

Major changes in engines during 1981 will be made by six fleets in this group, with four fleets going to four cylinder powerplants in their new compacts, while the other two fleets will use six cylinder engines in their new mid-size models. Three fleets indicated that they will order some standard transmissions in subcompact and compact models.

Power brakes, power steering and air conditioning will be found on all cars ordered in this group, while five of the 11 fleets ordering mid-size cars will also equip these vehicles with cruise control, as are four of the seven fleets ordering compacts. Drivers in 11 of 13 fleets are offered no choice at all. Seven fleets allow some additional equipment to be added to the vehicles at the driver's expense.

NAFA received 22 responses in the Manufacturing Industrial Group. These fleets operate 17,764 passenger cars, of while 5,461 are company owned and 12,303 are leased. Changes in car size will be made by 13 fleets; three moving to subcompacts, eight adding more compacts, two adding more mid-size cars to their fleet. As a result, 20 percent of the cars to be acquired in this group during 1981 will be subcompacts, 53 percent will be compacts, 22 percent will be mid-size units and five percent will be large cars.

The Manufacturing-Industrial Group will order a quarter of its cars from the bottom-of-the-line, the largest such number from any group. One-third of the total will be top line models while 40 percent will come from the middle.

More than 80 percent of the new cars ordered by this group will be four-door sedans and five-door hatchbacks. Thirteen percent will be two-door sedans and three-door hatchbacks while station wagons will account for another five percent of the orders. A few specialty models will be ordered by four fleets and one fleet said it would acquire some imports. Manual transmissions will be specified on some models by five fleets, two of which are ordering subcompacts, two ordering compacts and one ordering mid-size cars.

According to the survey, most fleets in this group ordering compacts will equip them with four cylinder engines, while mid-size models, in general, will be powered by sixes. Two fleets said they are going to equip mid-size and large models with diesels.

Among the standard equipment found on compact and mid-size vehicles in this group are power steering and power brakes. Air conditioning will be found on all these units except in one fleet, while two fleets ordering subcompacts will not specify power steering and power brakes. Cruise control will be found in nine fleets ordering large cars, in 10 fleets ordering mid-size models, seven fleets with compacts and four fleets with subcompacts.

Four fleets in this group do not permit driver choice of make and model, 18 offer a limited choice of make and eight allow a choice of model.

In the Manufacturing-Consumer Group, 14 fleets operating 9,939 passenger cars (6,206 company owned, 3,723 leased) responded, and according to NAFA this group will order the fewest number of subcompacts in 1981 (two percent) while 46 percent will be compacts and 52 percent mid-size.

Of the 14 fleets in this group, six are planning major changes in car size, with four moving to compacts and two switching to mid-size units. Top line models account for 41 percent of the orders, 58 percent will come from the middle and only one percent will be bottom line cars. The most popular body style in this group is the four-door sedan, taking 70 percent of the orders while five-door hatchbacks will account for eight percent. Fifteen percent of the orders will be for two-door sedans and three-door hatchbacks while it is anticipated that station wagons will take six percent.

None of the fleets in this group will equip their new vehicles with manual transmissions although six fleets said they would equip their compacts with four cylinder engines. All fleets acquiring mid-size and compact models will equip them with power steering, power brakes, automatic transmission and air conditioning. Nine of the 13 fleets ordering mid-size cars will equip those models with cruise control while five of the seven fleets ordering compacts will add that option to their new cars.

The driver is allowed a choice of make in 10 fleets, five of those allow a model choice while four fleets allow no choice.

A total of 10,655 passenger cars operated by 12 fleets are represented in the Chemical & Petroleum Group. Of that number 4,327 are company owned while 6,328 are leased. According to NAFA, "This is the only group participating in the survey that is planning to increase the percentage of mid-size cars it will acquire in the coming year - 63 percent of the new cars orders." Compacts are a distant second at 29 percent, large cars will take six percent and subcompacts only two percent.

A third of the fleets in this group said they are switching to compact cars, while two fleets said their major move is to mid-size models.

Many of the new vehicles ordered in this group (45 percent) will be top line models, while 36 percent will be from the middle of the line and 19 percent bottom line. The most popular body style in this group is the four-door sedan which will take 83 percent of the orders. Nine percent will be two door sedans and station wagons and five-door hatchbacks will garner four percent each of the new car orders. None of the fleets in this group reported plans to acquire imported cars during 1981.

Smaller engines will be used in many of the cars ordered by this group with those fleets ordering mid-size cars moving from eights to sixes and in fleets going to compacts, the shift will be from six to four cylinder engines. One fleet indicated that their new mid-size and large cars will be equipped with diesel engines. All fleets except one will specify automatic transmission. The one fleet ordering manual gearboxes will use them on mid-size cars.

Standard equipment for cars in this group include power brakes, power steering and air conditioning. Five of the nine fleets ordering large cars will also use cruise control as will five fleets ordering mid-size models and two fleets specifying compacts. Drivers are allowed a choice of car make by 10 of the 12 fleets in this grouped while three of these fleets also allow model selection. None of the fleets in the Chemical & Petroleum Group allow the driver to add extra equipment.

In the Food & Beverage Group, nine fleets operating 8,833 passenger cars responded. Nearly 70 percent of the vehicles to be acquired in 1981 by this group will be compacts. Four fleets reported that they are planning a major switch to compacts. Mid-size cars will account for 29 percent of the orders, while large cars will only take two percent of the orders.

Of the new models to be acquired, 60 percent will be from the top of the line, one of the highest percentages of any group, 28 percent will be middle line and 12 percent bottom line. As with several other groups, four-door sedans are the most popular with 73 percent of the orders for that body style. Five-door hatchbacks will take 19 percent, two-door sedans only five percent with the rest divided between three-door hatchbacks and station wagons.

Smaller engines will be ordered by five fleets with three ordering four cylinder powerplants in compacts and two fleets going to six cylinder engines in mid-size models. Only one fleet plans to equip some of its new cars with manual transmissions.

All new cars in this group will be equipped with power brakes, power steering and air conditioning with all but one fleet specifying automatic transmission. Only two fleets ordering mid-size and two fleets ordering compact cars plan to equip their new units with cruise control.

Six of the nine fleets in this group allow the driver to select the make of car, five permit model choice and four let the driver add optional equipment, at the operator's expense.

The "Other" group, a miscellaneous category, garnered 13 responses from fleets operating a total of 3,257 passenger cars. Of that total 1,261 are company owned and 1,966 are leased. According to the survey, "these fleets are from a broad range of industries that do not fit into NAFA's established industry categories. They include publishing, retail services, catalogue merchandising and natural resources."

Major changes in new cars to be acquired are planned by eight of the 13 fleets with one moving to subcompacts, five to compacts and two to mid-size vehicles.

In this group, nine percent of the orders will be for subcompacts, 43 percent for compacts, 34 percent for mid-size and 14 percent for large cars. About half will be middle line units, 20 percent top line and 31 percent will be bottom line models. Four-door sedans will account for 62 percent of the orders, five-door hatchbacks will take 12 percent, two-door sedans, 14 percent and station wagons will take 11 percent. Changes in engine size are planned by five fleets with three fleets moving to six cylinder engines in mid-size cars, and two fleets ordering four cylinder powerplants for compacts. Four fleets said they plan to use manual transmissions in mid-size and compact units. All cars ordered by this group will be equipped with power steering, power brakes and air conditioning. Cruise control will be ordered by five of the seven fleets acquiring large cars, seven of the nine ordering mid-size and six of the nine acquiring compacts.

Ten of the 13 fleets in the group offer operator a choice of the make of car they wish to drive, while seven extend the choice to the model desired. Five fleets allow drivers to add additional equipment to the vehicle.