I know we've had kinda-Utes but it's not the same. The Ford Maverick, Hyundai Santa Cruz, Honda Ridgeline, Ford Explorer SportTrac, Chevy Avalanche, Chevy Silverado EV and the Electric Hummer Truck are all SUTs or Sport Utility Trucks. What we need are true Sedans with truck beds in the back
I’m still waiting on more ELR and Volt ownership stories. I love the idea of the Volt architecture. If the SSR didn’t have a carpeted bed it would be the perfect weekend car for Home Depot runs, car shows and autocross.
@@jewishcrusader3939Correct, the Ram 1500's also come with the same eTorque mild hybrid system. It works ok until the alternator/belt drive motor goes bad which happens around 100k.
2:52 ok yeah the cough is warranted because it looks atrocious but the SSR doesn’t get appreciated for how batshit insane it is. LS-powered, RWD, 6-speed, hardtop-convertible, 50’s retro-modern styled, PICKUP TRUCK. Three years is an admirable production run for such a coke and amphetamines-fueled shotgun wedding baby of a machine
9:43 technically, that was only the GMT400 based 1st generation; 2001 saw the Escalade move to the GMT800 platform where its success as a luxury SUV took off like a rocket.
The Cadillac CT6-V lasted for 2 model years, 2019 to 2020. In actual fact, it probably had the shortest availability run, as deliveries began in Oct 2019, and CT6 was canned in Jan 2020. So you only had a 3-month window to actually buy these cars. The CT6-V has a bespoke Blackwing twin turbo V8, never to be offered in another car again. Production number clock in at around 1500, making it about as rare as the F40.
Isuzu Axiom 2002-2004 Was even in a movie (Spy Kids 1) Plus they touted the 2004 model as being the first production vehicle with a direct injection engine that sold for under $100,000.
On a similar note, the Isuzu Vehicross, only 1999-2001 in the U.S., sort of predecessor to the crossover but also pretty odd looking. They even got Joe Isuzu back to advertise for it!
That must be some marketing nonsense where they twist statement cause Mitsubishi had gasoline direct injection engines in the 1996 Galant, the 1997 Carisma and the 1999 Pajero Jr, and they were definitely nowhere near 100K. Maybe first in America, although I thought the Galant was sold there, the other two probably weren't they were pretty small, maybe first in a SUV?
But there were cars before it that had direct injection and were cheap. Mitsubishi had their GDI engines and Renault had the iDE. Also, BMW was preparing to roll out the N series of engines which had direct injection.
6:00 Actually, KIA officially announced to stop producing Mohave just a few weeks ago due to changing their manufacturing line from mohave to tasman, which is a new pick up only saling for AUSTRALIA . It means no more mohave and frame body SUV doesn't exist in kia :(
It's still a surprise they managed to keep it in production for so long (too bad they ditched petrol engines around 2019). And with body on frame pick-up there's still hope that they might design suv based on it (to compete with Fortuner, MU-X, Everest and Terra).
@@Kierdziol Well since Mohave was the only option for someone who needs body on frame SUV except ssangyong(nowdays, it's named KGM) which was almost bankrupted few years ago. And It would be hard to expect next generation of frame body SUV cause Hyundai and kia group is now mainly focusing on NEV platforms not traditional ICE cars :(
@@gtr9794 If their truck suceeds (which would be hard to do with such competitive market), designing suv based on it shouldn't be that much resources consuming. SsangYong, while going near bankrupcy several times still managed to make at least one body on frame suv (and pick-up derived from it). However with their new owners they're also heading in direction towards ev.
The Lincoln Blackwood essentially had a huge trunk that was perfect for what its customers would use it for. It could hold 4 full size golf bags and 4 large suitcases. Its problem was that people don't buy trucks bases on what they need, they buy trucks based on how cool they make you look. And even though people were never going to use the bed to haul anything, it was painfully uncool to look like you were never going to haul anything.
Well, it was already being made and sold and had been for 3 years here in Australia but by the time it got announced for you guys Pontiac was already on the chopping block, it’s a shame it probably would have been quite popular. Same for the Monaro or the GTO for you guys it was already over halfway through its production cycle by the time you guys even got it.
@@Gengargamer2_ Going to be honest, no it wouldn't, it would be like the SSR a niche enthusiast vehicle that in the year 2008-10 would sell like shit on a hot day
@@nickrustyson8124 Well, look at the ssr. It's ugly, pretty small, and not a very useful bed since it is so skinny, plus its price wasn't very competitive. The VE ute might not have been that successful. It's hard to tell, but there is every chance it would have well enough for it to continue to be sold in the states, and considering the population difference and it still staying in production with the units sold over here, it may have stuck around for a while longer and even into the VF model.
Very interesting. But you forgot one of the most famous short run cars. The 1958-1960 Edsel. Built by the Ford Motor Company. This division of Ford was only 3 model years.
The G8 is the one that hurts the most. Even though it was just a rebadged holden, it was a great vehicle and importing the ute variant would have helped a lot.
China market: Wuling Baojun RM-5. Launched Sept. 2019. Dead by mid-to-late 2020. In fact, SAIC affiliated brands had a lot of car models with extremely short shelf life.
A cool little bit about the Pontiac G8, when pontiac went down, us aussies got a version of the commodore called the "SS V Special Edition" which was essenitally a pontiac g8 but without the pontiac badges- quite the terrible look.
Except the G8 was based on the International, hence why the International package was produced. When they were building them I was so frustrated that we were building such a low spec car for export. I was told by management at the time that they are doing this is GM HO doesn't (Didn't) want it to compete with the new Cadillac and the SS & SS-V would have. When they visited we didn't even attempt to show them the Calais. The profit margin on the Cadillac was huge compared to virtually breaking even on the G8. From memory it was 23% compared to 5% but it was a long long time ago.
The G8, a rebadged Holden, was rebadged again into the Chevy SS from 2013 to 2017. So while the Pontiac badged Holden was discontinued, the platform itself was revived in America only 4 years after 2009.
I thought it was a problem with my wifi but now it's just weird. I mean this whole channel last uploaded 9 years ago and now uploaded a new video. Also there is just so many lags in the video overall...
The Hyundai Entourage Minivan was only in production for 2 years the reason they sacked it was they did not want to do the re-badge thing and also because of slow sales.
The Vaneo also had the problem that they marketed it under Mercedes-Benz Nutzfahrzeuge (commercial vehicles), meaning that you wouldn't usually stumble upon it in a Mercedes-Benz passenger car showroom. And if you were looking for a Sprinter or Vito the chances of stumbling upon a Vaneo and thinking 'I need that!!' are very slim. Maybe if they did a cargo version it would have made more sense.
There’s one car which is even rarer than the 9-4X. 2011 Saab 9-5 Sportcombi was produced for less than 6 months, only 37 cars were made. Nowadays it costs around 100k
You forgot one very special car! The east-german Trabant 1.1 had a production run from may 1990 to April 1991 because it was too expensive, the factories were being closed, and because the berlin wall had fallen. It only produced 39,474 units in that time, and (almost) nobody bought them!
One of my favorite cars ever made was the Pontiac Can Am. Not many people know much about the car, nor even know of its existence. The Pontiac Can Am was on sale in January 1977 (1977 model year) for less than a month before it was taken off the production line. According to Pontiac, they sold anywhere between 1,000 to 1,400 before cancelling it due to production and quality control issues. It had similar appearance and performance to the 1977 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am, and 1977 Pontiac Grand Prix.
Missed opportunity to mention that the Cadillac ELR was produced for 4 years but only sold for 2 model years, 2014 and 2016. That's right, 2014 AND 2016, not through. It was only sold for two *nonconsecutive* model years, the latter of which came with a massive 25%+ price cut and far more features.
What's funny about Lincoln is that they tried TWICE to sell Lincoln-ified F150s and failed. Ford realized that people eyeing luxury trucks don't want a luxury badge and would rather pretend to be working class. Now we have F150s that are more expensive and sell better than most Lincolns
Great video! I liked that you even included rebadges, I think it gives a nice perspective on how some cars do really well in some markets but terribly in others, but personally I wouldn’t consider them to be failures, only if they fail everywhere haha but I think they deserve to be included as honorable mentions hahah The astra for example is very popular in Europe and Brazil and particularly in Brazil it was sold for decades. There’s still a ton of them around 😂
Isuzu vehiclecross was produced from 1999 - 2001 in the united states with 4,153 units. In japan 1997 - 2001 had 1,805 units. In total 5,958 isuzu vehicross were made.
The Cadillac ELR wasn't ahead of its time. It was a very poorly rebadged Chevy Volt, a hybrid economy car wearing a Cadillac skin, proving they never learned their lesson from the Cimarron.
as a guy living in germany, i can say that we do see quite a few vaneos left here. Sometimes when i go to poland, i see even more of them. My family also owned such a car for almost 10 years, and it was a very practical 7 seater van. After 2016 however the car got more and more issues, which us (as mechatronics) were more and more struggling to repair aswell as funding the parts required. The engines were the exact same ones as in the first generation A-Class, making them pretty painful to repair. Our vaneo was a 1.7l CDi and then totally gave up in 2018 with cracked pistons and no compression. Edit: The main problems of these vehicles are rust, suspension, and injectors. Because most of them have been roughly used and not treated well
Another very short lived car you may not have heard of is the Lonsdale YD41/45. Essentially a rebadged Mitsubishi Sigma, it was offered in the UK only from 1982-83, and no examples are known to survive today. Really good video as well, the style just works and your presentation skills are top notch. Nice.
3:24 the g8 is one of the best and most underrated cars of the last 20 years. Fight me on it , I feel in love with my g8 after 5 minutes behind the wheel . It's a shame
Not sure if I missed it, but the NADM Mazda2 rebadge-based Yaris hatch was marketed for only the 2020 model year, before it got axed. Oddly, Puerto Rico was the only market to get the Mazda2 hatch of that generation.
The fact that this channel has come a long way from a simple Mac startup sounds video from a decade ago is pretty amazing in and of itself. The production quality of this video (except for the change in audio quality due to the removal of copyrighted music by RU-vid's terrible AI) is outstanding and out of nowhere. I can't wait to see where this channel goes from here.
The Talbot Tagora was on sale for about 18 months between 1981-1983 Found at the bottom of the chest when PSA Group bought Talbot off failing Chrysler in 1980 only to find out it was competing with PSA's very own Pug 505 after it went on sale... Then how about the Yugo Sana ? Possibly the shortest run of RHD imported cars ever into the UK.. and the only car ever officially sanctioned to death by the United Nations... Staying with RHD oddity, Delorean built a tiny handful of production to launch RHD versions of the DMC 12 just before the Thatcher government pulled the funding of the Northern Ireland plant In Australia Leyland where just about to launch the Force 7 sports coupe only for parent British Leyland to pull their plughole of dome on them... resulting in the 60 .... yes 60 production cars being scrapped !! Thankfully a hand full where saved by collectors.. Great channel
I own a 2009 Saturn Aura, one of Saturn's last models. It's essentially a restyled Chevy Malibu, and it certainly is one of the cars of all time. I didn't know it was possible to make suspension that is BOTH vague AND harsh on a vehicle that isn't a dump truck, but here we are.
I used to work for the Chrysler Newark, De plant when they built the Durango/Aspen. Saturn also had a production plant in New Castle (Boxwood) Del. that also closed down in the recession. There was a lot of unemployed former autoworkers in Delaware in the late 2000’s
The bed of the Lincoln blackwood was not useless, it was just not built for typical pickup usage. It was essentially an elongated trunk made for luggage or golf bags. And to that regard, it was actually quite spacious and usable. But I do have to note the irony that it receives criticism for not having a "usable" bed, but the average pickup truck owner on the market rarely, if ever, uses their bed for anything other than groceries, luggage, Costco bulk runs, or at best the occasional large appliance or piece of furniture. But are they regularly hauling lumber, piles of mulch, or cinder blocks in their beds? NOPE.
Granted there was a 2 year gap between the first gen and the second gen, which I would imagine that is what he is getting at, personally I wouldn't even included it because it's still being made today
nice vid. the tribeca was more like a 'pre-facelift' than a separate generation but hey, suburu made it a whole separate generation... most likely due to wanting to separate itself from the backlash, even intentionally removing the 'B9' designation.
Latin American markets, specially Brazil is full of examples. Volkswagen Apollo (Rebadged 3doors Ford Orion) was sold between 1990 and 1992. Fiat Oggi (127 Saloon/Sedan Version) sold between 1983 and 1985. Volkswagen 1600 Brasília 5Doors 1977 - 1979...
The original Toyota Solara, (re-born 2 door camry) ran just 1999. The lights and bumper were slightly redesigned for 2000. The whole body was redesigned for 2001-2008.
To go into the more uncommon brands, there was also the infamous Facel Vega 6 Facel Vega was a luxury brand in France founded in 1954 The Facel Vega 6 was sold only during one month, starting in September 1964 until Facel Vega went bankrupt in October 1964, at only 44 units
rip saab. their advertising was questionable but their cars were not only gorgeous, but extremely quirky and nice (or at least that's what people say. never tried one unfortunately)
Honorable mention: Mazdaspeed6/Mazda 6 MPS 2005-2007 out of the US and only 2006 & 2007 in the US Roughly 15,000 made total worldwide and about 8000-9000 of those sold in the US
In Brazil we had a curious case with the Dodge factory. Opened in June 1998 to produce the Dakota pickup truck, it ended up being caught by the merger of Chrysler and Mercedes-Benz and was closed in 2001, with production stopping in April. Interestingly, that same year saw the launch, including presentation to the press, of the double cabin versions (until then only single and extended cabins were made) AFTER production had ended. In total, just 11,659 vehicles were produced in just under three years. Despite this, they are still highly valued on the used market, especially the versions with a V8 engine.
The rarast Saab was the wagon version of the Saab 9-5 you showed. I believe 50 were made. In the 80's, they also built the Saab 90 which combined the front of a 99 and rear of a 900. It was only sold in Sweden and for a very brief time.