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AMC Gremlin

A subcompact car is an automobile in a vehicle size class smaller than a compact car but larger than a city car (and known as superminis in Europe). This is also known as the B-segment class. Such cars usually have four or more seats and in North America, subcompacts are usually considered to be those cars that have a wheelbase of 2.54 metres (100 inches) or less or between 85 ft³ (2400 L) and 99 ft³ (2800 L) of interior volume (though popular usage of the term frequently ignores these boundaries). Subcompacts/superminis are most commonly sold in Europe and Japan where they enjoy enormous popularity, and are reasonably popular in North America despite people often preferring American and Asian sedans.

In North America, this type of car was first seen in the 1950s with the introduction of the Nash Metropolitan and a number of imported models notably the Volkswagen Beetle and various small British cars. The subcompact did not see wide adoption until the 1970s with the introduction of such cars as the Ford Pinto and Chevrolet Vega, which were produced by American automakers in response to the growing popularity of small imported cars especially from Volkswagen, Nissan-Datsun, and Toyota. Today numerous models of subcompacts are sold, including the Toyota Yaris, the Nissan Versa, the Honda Fit, the Scion xA, the Kia Rio, the Chevrolet Aveo, and the Hyundai Accent.

In 1971, Ford and GM introduced their subcompact models, with AMC's Gremlin having been the first introduced in April 1970. Notably, the Gremlin did not fit the mold of the typical subcompact, which was powered by a 4 cylinder engine, but was an abbreviated AMC Hornet, which was a compact car. Of the four large American companies that were making cars at that point, only Chrysler did not develop a domestic subcompact car, electing instead to import models produced by its British and Japanese affiliates (the Plymouth Cricket and Dodge Colt respectively). Chrysler would not have a domestic subcompact until the 1978 Dodge Omni and Plymouth Horizon twins. Ford later added its European supermini, the Ford Fiesta, to its North American lineup for the 1978 model year, but it was only available for three years until the larger sized Ford Escort replaced both the Fiesta and the Pinto.

Although they were all strong sellers in their time, none of the early domestic subcompacts are well thought of today, with the AMC Gremlin, Ford Pinto and Chevrolet Vega placing 4th, 3rd and 2nd, respectively, in Car Talk's "Worst Car of the Millennium" contest. The 'winner' was another subcompact, the Yugo.

However, some luxurious subcompacts like the Mercedes-Benz A-Class are not sold in the US, but they are for example, sold in Mexico.

Subcompacts are more popular in developing countries not because of their size, but of their cheaper price. For example, Volkswagen has always had a large presence in Brazil, and is one of the mainstream manufacturers there. Brazil had developed its own Volkswagen cars, based on German Volkswagen models. Examples of these are the Volkswagen Golf, Polo and Fox.

The term "subcompact" has also changed in some countries as some sedan versions of these are still called subcompacts.

Argentina designs and produces sedan versions of subcompacts like the Volkswagen Polo, Renault Clio Sedán and the Chevrolet Corsa Sedán. These subcompacts are exported to other countries for example Mexico. General Motors builds its Opel Corsa in Mexico as the Chevrolet Chevy C2. That means previous generation of Corsa (Chevy, with a facelift Chevy C2) and the Brazil version are sells in the same dealer.

• List of recent subcompact cars
• Car classification
• Mini SUV
• Supermini car
• Vehicle size class

• Official US government car size class definitions
• Subcompactcars.com