V-8s See Modest ’15 Gain, But Smaller Engines Prevail

The U.S. light-vehicle market remained focused on smaller displacement engines and those with fewer cylinders in model year ’15, despite a modest upswing in V-8 powerplants.

The V-8 gain was in line with a surge in demand for large pickups and SUVs prompted by falling gasoline prices and the introduction of several redesigned models with more fuel-efficient engines.

A WardsAuto survey shows engines with six or fewer cylinders powered 82% of U.S.-market cars and light trucks in the ’15 model year, including imports, down three points from 85% in ’14, but still matching the market’s 6-year average of 83%.

Virtually absent from the ’15 tally were the 5-cyl. engines that all but disappeared after being abandoned by General Motors along with its compact pickups in ’13 and by Volkswagen in ’15, when it replaced its five-banger with a new line of turbocharged 4-cyl. engines in all but a handful of applications.

In WardsAuto’s latest study, the only 5-cyl. engines offered were a 3.2L turbodiesel installed in less than  36% of Ford’s new Transit vans, a turbocharged 2.5L gasoline-fueled engine powering 28% of Volvo’s SC60 CUVs and 60-Series cars and VW’s old naturally aspirated 2.5L gasoline engine that went into just 0.4% of its Beetle, Jetta and Passat models before being mothballed.  Collectively, the I-5 accounted for just 0.3% of ’15-model LV volume.

I-3s, on the other hand, earned more credibility, with installations rising 144%, thanks to the introduction of a 1.0L turbocharged variant in the Ford Fiesta and a 1.5L turbo in the Mini Cooper along with the 1.2L naturally aspirated engine powering the Mitsubishi Mirage. Previously, only the low-volume Smart car offered an I-3.

Overall, 3-cyl. engines powered 1.5% of ’15 cars, but held only a 0.1% share of the total LV market due to its absence from the light-truck field.

V-8 usage increased to 17%, a 4-year high that bested ’14’s 15% rate and the 16% garnered in ’13.

The modest gain was due to the large-pickup and SUV segments, where its volume increased 32.7%   to a 27.1% ’15-model installation rate from 24.1% a year earlier. The number of cars powered by a V-8 fell 1.7% in ’15, to a take rate of 3.5% from 3.7% in ’14.

Engines with six cylinders powered 31% of ’15 model year LVs, the lowest percentage in the last six years, below the 32% rate posted in ’13 and ’14 and well under the 37% share seen in model years ’11 and ’12.

Although still low volume, the number of ’15-model LVs with no engine at all, i.e. EVs, increased 155% over the prior year, accounting for 1.0% of the market, up from a 0.002% in ’14, due in part to the introduction of new models by BMW, Mercedes, Mini and Smart. It was the first time in the three years WardsAuto  has included  EVs in its powertrain survey that those models exceeded 100,000 units, more than double the prior year’s count, with Tesla alone accounting for nearly half the industry volume. 

Additionally, four of six previously established EV models sported gains, ranging from more than 250% for the Nissan Leaf and 228% for Fiat 500e to 53% for market-leader Tesla. The diminutive Chevy Spark EV also saw a 77% increase.

However, EV market gains were not mimicked by their hybrid cousins.

Hybrid volume fell 20.4% in ’15, the second annual decline from the record number seen in ’13, with low fuel prices making the more fuel-efficient, but more expensive powertrains less appealing to many prospective buyers. Hybrids accounted for just 2.2% of total LVs in ’15, down from a peak of 3.5% two years earlier and 3.0% in ’14. Appearing in the survey for the first time were just under 3,500 hybrids with turbocharged engines working in conjunction their electric motors.

At the same time, turbodiesel engines, after falling to a 3.9% market share in ’14, rose sharply to 5.4% last year, thanks to a 76.4% increase in light-trucks, where new variants appeared for the first time.  Diesel-car volume, on the other hand, fell 18.3% in ’15, even before VW’s much-publicized emissions difficulties came to light.

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