Econobox is a

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

informal

slang Slang is vocabulary (words, phrases, and linguistic usages) of an informal register, common in spoken conversation but avoided in formal writing. It also sometimes refers to the language generally exclusive to the members of particular in-gro ...

term for a small, boxy, fuel-efficient economy car with few luxuries and a low price.

History

1973-1978 Honda Civic 5-door hatchback 01

Econoboxes first came to prominence in the United States due to the

1973 oil crisis The 1973 oil crisis or first oil crisis began in October 1973 when the members of the Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (OAPEC), led by Saudi Arabia, proclaimed an oil embargo. The embargo was targeted at nations that had supp ...

. Japanese automakers were leaders at producing smaller, fuel-efficient cars, as well as enjoying generally higher reliability and build quality than their US counterparts, so their offerings such as the

Honda Civic The is a series of automobiles manufactured by Honda since 1972. Since 2000, the Civic has been categorized as a compact car, while previously it occupied the subcompact class. , the Civic is positioned between the Honda Fit/City and Honda Acc ...

generally outperformed their American competitors such as the Chevrolet Vega and Ford Pinto. The best-known American econoboxes were the 1970s/80s Chevrolet Chevette, Ford Pinto, Ford Escort and the Dodge Omni/ Plymouth Horizon. Japanese econoboxes include the

(in particular the first and second generations) and the Datsun B-210. Other cars such as the

Chevrolet Sprint The Suzuki Cultus is a supermini car produced by the Japanese manufacturer Suzuki from 1983 to 2016. The nameplate is currently used as a rebadged second-generation Suzuki Celerio in Pakistan since 2017. It was first presented at the 25th Tok ...

Geo Metro The Geo Metro is a marketing and manufacturing variation of the Suzuki Cultus available in North America from 1989 through 2001 as a joint effort of General Motors (GM) and Suzuki. In the US, the Metro carried a Geo nameplate from 1989 through ...

, Yugo and Chevrolet Aveo as well as the

Ford Festiva The Ford Festiva is a subcompact car that was designed and manufactured by Mazda for Ford between 1986 and 2002. Festiva was sold in Japan, the Americas, and Australia. The name "Festiva" is derived from the Spanish word for " festive". It was not ...

and Ford Aspire were considered econoboxes. Amongst the econoboxes were sold by American brands, many were manufactured in foreign countries. American car manufacturers in North America have typically had a hard time making money off of econoboxes, and they consider them "loss leaders" that only existed to meet CAFE fuel economy standards. So, over the course of time, American car companies shifted from manufacturing econoboxes themselves, and partnered with a foreign manufacturer to build them. An example of this is the American Ford Escort: the Escort replaced the Pinto in 1981, and was manufactured by Ford until 1990. The Escort built from 1991 to 1996 however was built using a Mazda "B" series. Chevrolet did the same using its "GEO" line, to sell cars built by Suzuki and Toyota. Chrysler did as well, using cars built by Mitsubishi.

Today

The term "econobox" is not often used for describing new cars, partly due to the boxy styling of economy cars declining at the end of the 1980s. Many long-running nameplates that obtained their start as econoboxes have since moved upscale. For example, the Austin Mini and VW Beetle have been revived as enthusiasts luxury cars, rather than cheap transportation for the masses. Meanwhile, the

Toyota Corolla The is a series of compact cars (formerly subcompact) manufactured and marketed globally by the Toyota Motor Corporation. Introduced in 1966, the Corolla was the best-selling car worldwide by 1974 and has been one of the best-selling cars in ...

, Mazda 3 and the

started as subcompact econoboxes but are now on the high-end of the compact size line.

References

{{reflist, 30em Automotive industry in the United States Slang Automotive terminology