Here’s More Proof That Three-Door Cars Are Dying
The last three-door variants of ordinary, everyday cars are being dropped from line-ups across the industry, as the UK’s buyers move towards more practical options.
Volkswagen’s sister company Seat has discontinued the sportier ‘SC’ body style from the Leon range. It has also discounted all of its remaining three-door cars in the UK, in a low-profile sell-off to clear forecourts of cars that buyers apparently just don’t want any more.
It’s not just to do with the general trend towards SUVs, either: the three-door Range Rover Evoque is among the cars to have been quietly dropped due to poor sales.
Seat has recently also canned the three-door Mii, while Volkswagen ended the very likeable Scirocco and Beetle. Three-door Polos and Ups are for the chop (although some are still available), while the three-door A3 has already disappeared and both Audi’s A1 and Volkswagen’s Golf will soon be limited to five-door or estate bodies. The Skoda Citigo three-door will soon expire with the change to the next all-new model.
Vauxhall has recently killed the handsome Astra GTC. Kia, meanwhile, is reshaping the Proceed, formerly a sharp three-door version of the Ceed, into a five-door shooting brake.
Meanwhile, sports cars and the occasional outlier like Range Rover’s SV Coupe will carry on using the sleeker three-door layout. As we’ve already written, we’ll miss it among the more accessible end of the market.
Source: Autocar
Comments
Not going to lie, I don’t mind. Scirocco is a sad story because of the heritage, but all others on the list were meh from the get go.
everyone’s crying about killing off manual gearboxes, 3-door versions, a bloody internal combustion engine even, but let me tell you a secret - there’s plenty of all those on the second-hand market, and always will be ;) yay
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Mazda have the right idea 5 doors but with the look of a 3 door wonder why this didn’t catch on as much ?
It’s impractical. The rear doors can only be opened when the front doors are also open. If you are any taller than 5’8” and you want to get in the back you’d have to tilt the front seat forward just like you’d have to on a 3 door. It’s basically a 5 door except it doesn’t have any of the benefits of a 5 door.
Maybe a Veloster style layout?
I love 3-door hatchbacks and I had a few, most recently a Mk7 Golf
And I’m sad
3-door hatchbacks are cool, they look good and give you some sense of… freedom? Freedom not to care about having to have rear doors. Feeling that although I want a practical car, I bought it for myself, not for the passengers that I’m gonna carry.
3-door hatches also somehow feel more cosy inside. There is plenty of space, yet the interior feels like it wraps around you.
I’m also scared that coupes might be the next target.. we already see four-door saloons with sloped-down roofs labelled as “coupes” and massive SUVs
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