Many automakers have misread the market for something new and different.
Automotive history is littered with cars that seemed to be a good idea at the time, at least to somebody, but ultimately proved to be answers to questions nobody asked. And we don't have to go far back in history to find them. Here are 20 examples from just the past 20 years.
Did anybody really ask for a $100,000 Volkswagen luxury car, apart from VW major domo Ferdinand Piech who instigated it? Apparently not, for it lasted just two years (2004-05) in the North American market, with fewer than 2,500 units sold, and fell far short of sales targets in the rest of the world as well. Production of the vehicle, in a futuristic, transparent factory in Dresden, Germany, came to a final stop this spring. Ironically, there was nothing wrong with the car itself; in fact it was excellent. One wonders if its fate might have been different if had featured a Bugatti elephant on the hood rather than a humble VW badge in the grille.
At the other end of the economic scale, but just as audacious in its inception was the Saturn brand, represented here by the ION three-door coupe – one of the more unfortunate models to wear the planetary brand name. Inaugurated in the 1980s at the personal edict of General Motors' then-chairman Roger Smith, the Saturn brand's mission was to drive imports from the American market with its superiority. Needless to say it didn't happen. By the time the ION coupe arrived in 2003, it represented most of what was wrong with General Motors. The ION disappeared in 2007 and the brand followed it into oblivion in 2010.
Like the other two contenders for the world's top-selling brand, GM and VW, Toyota too has misread the market, at least in terms of the Scion iQ. While the micro-car achieved some success in Europe and other markets it found virtually none in North America where it proved to be just too small for most buyers, in spite of some relatively advanced technology and safety features. Might it have done better if it had been branded a Toyota, as it was elsewhere, rather than a Scion? We'll never know for it's gone as of 2016.
The iQ wasn't the only Scion to fall short of expectations. So did the brand as a whole. Intended to attract the "youth market" that considered Toyotas to be old people's cars, Scion achieved some initial success with the box-like xB model, which was spawned by the popularity of such anti-car cars in Japan. But it was a short-lived fad. And even the cultish niche buyers that adopted the first xB abandoned the second-generation models. The Toyota version of the Subaru BRZ, sold here as the Scion FR-S, attracted some buyers to Scion stores but it was not enough. The Scion brand disappears with the end of the 2016 model year.
Another automaker that tried to export Japan's "anti-car car" culture to North America, Nissan fared little better with its Cube, introduced here in 2009. Beyond just its box-like form, the Cube was hampered by asymmetric styling that gave it a bit of a Salvador Dali aura. It didn't work in Europe, where its sales were discontinued in 2011, and it hasn't done much better here, being withdrawn from the market in 2014.
The most successful of the uncategorizable cars that were the boxes they came in was the Honda Element, introduced in 2003. While it did have the attribute of holding a lot of stuff and being known as very dog-friendly, it wasn't particularly people friendly. And, with its semi-unfinished appearance, it was anything but pretty. It disappeared from the market in 2011.
Perhaps more disappointing for Honda was the fate of its Crosstour hatchback/sedan/utility vehicle – originally called the Accord Crosstour – introduced as a 2010 model. Seemingly patterned after the ungainly BMW X6, it was no more unattractive than the BMW but, perhaps because it lacked the roundel on its nose, it never acquired a significant following. It succumbed at the end of the 2015 model year.
Somewhat similar in concept was Toyota's Venza – more than a station wagon but not quite an SUV – which first went on sale as a 2009 model. Some critics labeled it a Camry station wagon although it was closer in terms of architecture to Toyota's Sienna minivan. While it achieved moderate success, it never became a core part of the Toyota lineup and production was terminated in 2015. Toyota could have learned a lesson from the fate of the Chrysler Pacifica.
No, not the new 2017 Chrysler minivan that revives the Pacifica nameplate; we're talking about the big station wagon/minivan crossover that wore that badge from 2004 to 2008. While it combined many of the best features of both those vehicle types in a comfortable and versatile package, it missed the stampeding bandwagon that would carry SUVs and later CUVs (which the Pacifica arguably was) to the forefront of the market. And so its future was doomed.
Another vehicle that defied traditional categorization, the Mercedes-Benz R-Class was one of very few Benz-badged vehicles that failed to succeed. While it looked a lot like a low-roofed minivan, the Alabama-built R-Class, introduced as a 2006 model, was closer to a station wagon in terms of function. Its neither-fish-nor-fowl persona never caught n in North America and sales ended here in 2012. Production continued in Alabama for other markets until 2015 when it was outsourced to AM General in Indiana, exclusively for the Chinese market where it still sells well.
Unlike its Outback sibling, which was derived from a Legacy station wagon to become arguably the first CUV (Crossover Utility Vehicle), the Tribeca was designed from the start to be an SUV. Given the burgeoning popularity of the vehicle type along with the Subaru pedigree, it should have been a guaranteed winner. It wasn't. Much of the blame for that lack of success might be attributed to a change in Subaru's styling direction introduced with that model in 2006. Looking a lot like a modern-day Edsel, it was quickly changed but the damage was done and the Tribeca never really recovered, finally succumbing in 2015.
It's hard to fathom what possessed Nissan to create a two-door convertible version of its highly successful Murano mid-size CUV in 2011. It's not difficult at all to understand why it went out of production just three years later. Now Land Rover is introducing a similar convertible variant of its popular Range Rover Evoque. Does nobody learn from history?
There was never any question as to what the Dodge Magnum was. It was a station wagon – long, low, sleek and just a little bit sinister in appearance. If anything could have saved the station wagon from extinction it should have been the Magnum. But it was hugely outsold by its Chrysler 300 sedan sibling so its production capacity was reallocated to a new Dodge Charger sedan. RIP Magnum, 2005-2008.
Defying all logic,BMW's reborn luxury-oriented Mini, introduced in 2000, has become a spectacular success. To keep it from becoming just a one-trick pony, the company has spun off a variety of models and body-styles, many of which have also been successful. One that was not was the distorted looking Mini Coupé, along with its Roadster sibling. Mercifully, it lasted only from 2011 to 2015.
Pursuing the sporty end of the market on a much grander scale, Cadillac introduced the luxury-sport XLR as a 2004 model. Based on the Corvette C5 architecture, it was also built in the Corvette plant, using a Cadillac powertrain. Alas, it failed to make an impression with the SL-Class buyers at which it was aimed and production was terminated amid GM's many other woes of 2009.
The XLR wasn't the only American two-seater to have a limited life-span. Ford's resurrected Thunderbird, introduced as a 2001 model, was arguably one of autodom's most tasteful retro design exercises. While it was beautiful to look at, however, it was quite ordinary in most other respects and the buyer base for such a car quickly became saturated. The Thunderbird flew back into extinction at the end f the 2005 model year.
Chevrolet's retro-styled SS-R pickup, with its unique retractable roof, suffered a similar fate. It was more a production version of a modern hot rod/custom truck than a throwback to any identifiable predecessor. But while such vehicles are great attention getters, the audience for actually owning them is limited, especially when they don't have the performance creds to back up their audacious looks, as was initially the case for the SS-R. It survived only from 2003 to 2006.
Imitation may be the sincerest form of flattery but it doesn't always breed success. Against all odds, Chrysler's '30s-styled PT Cruiser became wildly successful. So naturally GM had to copy it, even going so far as to hire the same designer, Bryan Nexbitt, for the job. The resulting Chevrolet HHR might even have been better looking than the PT Cruiser but it never had the same market cachet. It lasted just from 2006 t 2011.
The second and third generations of Cadillac's big Escalade SUV – 2002-2014 – also included pickup truck versions based on the Chevrolet Avalanche, with its open access from the rear seat to the bed. Whether any Cadillac buyer ever used that feature is doubtful but it cost GM very little to turn an Avalanche into a Cadillac as they shared most of the same parts under the skin so the EXT survived for more than 10 years.
If Cadillac had a pickup truck, Lincoln had to have one too. So, in spite of the dismal failure of the Blackwood in 2002, Lincoln introduced the Mark LT as a 2006 model – essentially a cross between the Ford F-Series pickup and the Navigator SUV. Another failed experiment, the Mark LT was axed after the 2008 model year.
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