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Chevrolet City Express Leaves The Small Van Segment Over Disappointing Sales

After Ram announced that the ProMaster City lives on for the 2019 model year with a minor nip-and-tuck job, Chevrolet took a step back from the small van segment by announcing the discontinuation of the City Express. How did it all happen, you ask?
Chevrolet City Express discontinued 11 photos
Photo: Chevrolet
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Bearing in mind sales peaked at 10,283 in the first full year on the market, it appears that Chevrolet kept the City Express on life support for far too long. A rebranded version of the Nissan NV200 built in Cuernavaca, Mexico, the van has been phased out of production in February 2018 according to insider information.

Automotive News is citing dealers who themselves quote a spokesman from General Motors regarding this matter. The automaker refused to comment on the possibility of a replacement, though chances are General Motors will stay away from this segment for the time being. Ram and Ford are laughing so hard right now, aren’t they?

Despite this turn of events, Nissan "remains committed to the compact van segment” with the NV200. The Japanese company controls 25 percent of the compact van segment in the United States of America, “which dropped 9.5 percent in 2017 and has shrunk another 7.1 percent this year.”

Even though the Chevrolet Express and GMC Savana are as old as dirt, General Motors doesn’t intend to discontinue those two models because they remain the only offerings in the full-size van segment. You know, that part of the market that has been slowly but steadily replaced by the full-size SUV in the past two decades.

The automaker’s website lists the City Express as discontinued, “but if you’re looking for a commercial vehicle to meet all your business needs, Express Cargo Van is the ticket.” That’s quite the jump considering the size and pricing point of the two models, let alone the fact that General Motors also has mid- and full-size pickup trucks to suit everyone’s needs.
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About the author: Mircea Panait
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After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well.
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