The botched US LHD conversion was partly to blame. Left hand side foot well was a lot smaller than the right side of the car, compromising comfort and pedal positions. And the requirement to raise the position of the gas tank above the bumper to meet California crash standard mean the size of the fuel tank had to be cut by half.
They were cool cars and the Chevy SS was too. The GTO's styling didnt help it as they looked too much like 90s 2 door Cavaliers to me. The G8 and Chevy SS wasnt advertised well.
@@autochatter I remember knowing about the SS at the time, and saw exactly one advertisement run for it during a Fox broadcast of NASCAR. i.e. it aired a few times during that broadcast, and I never saw it again. I then later saw just ONE SS at a Chevrolet dealer parked off to the side, for about $49k while a completely optioned out Malibu was $37k, and they had every color combination and trim level. The average buyer would have wondered why this SS car was so much more expensive when it didn't look much different than a Malibu. It didn't have heated or ventilated seats, Android auto or adaptive cruse control, auto high beam, rear skylight, wireless phone charger and many other options. They had to know what the SS truly was to want to pay the extra $12k.
The GTO actually started to pick up in sales in '06 when they dropped the car. They were actually drawing BMW buyers according to an article I read about the surprising bit of uptick in sales.
@@dmandman9 it was a very good handling car. Even the early 5.7 had decent power and would carve corners almost like the Vette. The 6.0 version was even better plus the rear seat was actually usable for real people.
The SVX and the Reatta still look good. That side profile of the Black Reatta marketing looks so promising. It's always a shame it never came with a turbo v6 or manual transmission to live up to its very sporting looks.
it was another mis step by gms management. it could have been a good cheap gt car with the right parts. heck that ill fated turbo quad 4 would have been a great option. SEE (motorweek oldsmobile Quad 4 Prototypes) a turbo quad for reportedly made 250-280 hp depending on tuning.
The Holden Monaro/Pontiac GTO was successful. General Motors Holden only got panel presses made that could only cope with 40,000 stampings before they were worn out. All were sold out before the end of the donor vehicle's lifespan (VT-VZ Commodore). A successor was designed and a concept was shown at the Australian Motor Show (Holden Coupe 60) based on the next generation V car (VE Commodore, Chevrolet SS) but the GFC, the termination of Pontiac and GM's bankruptcy killed it. But it did spawn the new generation Camaro!
@@muppetb.lansing8374 Yes, I agree. The VE chassis was also designed to have many variations like a Crewcab, a Cabchassis, Coupe 60 sharing the doors and front with a proper Sports Ute, and a decent SUV called The Nullabor
FYI, GM was planning a retro-GTO concept to replace the rebadged Holden before the entire Pontiac Motor Division was scrapped during the Great Recession of the late-2000's.
When I was in high school in the 88/92 timeframe, I saw a Merkur double spoiler XR4Ti in a Doctor's office park as I walked home. I have to admit that I love the looks of it even nowadays.
Interesting car though, it was a rally homologation car featuring a bunch of Isuzu's highest tech AWD driveline technology and a longer travel suspension. They did find their niche at least. They were also pretty quick off the line and worked very well in terrain most SUV's weren't made for. Sad Isuzu, like SAAB and Suzuki were involved with GM in this country, for an importer, being tied to GM is the kiss of death.
The Saab 9-7X was by far the best looking version of the Trailblazer, I called it the Saablazer and the Saab 9-2X the Saabaru. The Saab visual treatment made both cars look sooo much better. While the 9-7X never got a great deal of attention, I believe that the 9-2X is highly sought after today, even more so than the same year Impreza.
The first year of Cadillac Cimarron/Pontiac J-2000 had a carburetor. Winter in Detroit (the cars were made in tropical Brazil) caused the choke to flood the engine after it had been run and then turned off for about an hour (choke was set for a richer start caused by the cold, but the engine wasn't cold yet). The plugs fouled and the car had to be towed to the dealer for new plugs. Subsequent years featured fuel injection. It also had an electric motor that drove a pump that powered the power brakes. That pump wore out around 75,000 miles. The diminutive Pontiac T-1000 available about the same time had a starter relay that was so chintzy they would routinely fail, stranding the car. After replacing 2 or 3 of them, wiser owners kept a spare in the glovebox for a quick, simple replacement. You are unlikely to see either of these cars anywhere today. A buddy had a Volkswagen Fox in 1985 (also made in Brazil). The heater was so underpowered it produced more heat on Medium fan than on High speed. While driving on a very snowy day the driver's windshield wiper was so flimsy it fell off (making it very difficult to drive!).
The Pontiac GTO-Holden Monaro is an Opel Omega in disguise, much like the Cadillac Catera. The Monaro was based on the Holden Commodore that in turn was based on the Omega. The Omega essentially manages to appear in the failed countdown twice!
@@pokest225 I meant the one prior. Sure wish the last wagon had made it to Colorado dealers. All we got was a visit from the Spyker folks. I've only ever seen 3 sedans in the wild.
The dual plane wing on the XR4Ti is functional, (the design of the car was the result of the aerodynamic Probe III concept) but the style was polarizing for American buyers. Ford switched to the single plane wing in an attempt to attract buyers, even though it wasn't as efficient.
It mimiced the wing on the same era Mercury Capri GT. I seem to remember EXP GTs getting a double wing as well, though that may have been custom one-offs.
I'm an American. I absolutely loved the dual plane spoiler on both the XR4ti and the Mustang SVO. I'd love to have either car but I personally think the XR4ti is even more special than the Mustang. I actually almost bought one in about 1992 or 1993. I wish I would have.
@@brian5o I bought a used 87 in 1992 at a huge discount. The cars lost value quickly. Loved that car and it actually held up well. It’s demise for me was a move to Phoenix. Lacking an intercooler it didn’t do well in desert heat.
Here in the UK the Cimarron was known as the Vauxhall Cavalier and in mainland Europe as the Opel Ascona , available as a 2/4 door saloon,5 door hatchback and a Holden designed estate car. All shared the GM (j platform) and were available with a wide variety of different engine's , this model was a great selling car and helped to severely topple Ford's dominance in the European market , the Omega model replaced 2 models (Senator Carlton/Omega (a) ) and this model sold reasonably well
I remember a cousin’s boyfriend/husband buying a new XR4Ti - I thought it was cool. I’ve had two Saabs and three Volvos - all pre-GM & pre-Ford, respectively.
Subaru also made another flop after the SVX, the Tribeca. The Ascent wasn't Subaru's first attempt at making a three-row SUV. When the Tribeca first came out, people hated how the front end looked. So Subaru fixed it at the facelift but to a point that it looked too generic and was forgotten instantly by everyone. Heck, the facelifted Tribeca looks like the type of SUV you'd lose at a parking lot. Fun Fact: Right before GM sold their 20% share of Subaru to Toyota, there were plans of making another three-row Saab called the 9-6x. It was a facelifted Subaru Tribeca but with the usual Saab grille instead of the generic looking Subaru one.
I liked the SVX and GTO and think the T Bird would’ve sold a little better with a V8 and manual option but then it would’ve competed with the Mustang. I’m surprised you didn’t mention the Eagle Talon, that was definitely the lowest sold of the Eclipse, Laser and Talon clones.
@@TooLooze I did the same with a NEON when they first came out. Someone had done something to drain the battery so it wouldn't start. I ended up buying a Dakota.
The Thunderbird did come with a V8, and they also had plenty of non-V8 performance heritage, such as the supercharged V6 and even turbo inline-4 models. In the 90s, the supercharged V6 models were faster than the V8s.
The GM brass pleaded to Cadillac president Ed Kennard to delay the introduction of the Cimarron until the 1983 model year so they could tweak it up to differentiate from the other J cars.
One thing I really enjoy about this channel is that I learn so much additional information about shared platforms, who owns what, who sold what to whom, who rebranded what and years sold until. Fascinating.
During Chryslers purchase of AMC the main things they wanted was jeep and all of the engineers Renault brought on. The eagle premier was reworked in to the lh cars and the lx platform. Also the bravada was the 1st gmt 360 truck introduced, and had its own distinctive body ,until it was rebadged as a Saab and Buick.
I'm still fascinated by how, in one fell swoop, Chrysler's buyout of American Motors killed the last domestic competitor to the Big Three (until Tesla came along) and pushed Renault out of the U.S. market, clearing the way for Peugeot's exit in 1991. Now the only French car you can buy in America is the million-dollar Bugatti.
@@stevenmaginnis1965 depends on what u mean as french, nissan/ mitsubishi 50% french ownership wise and nissan and mitsubishi share platforms and engineering with renault. and with stellantis we will see french cars reworked as chryslers.
Yup. The lack of a manual was certainly an issue. As was the challenge of getting people to into a Subaru dealership to buy an expensive luxury car. The car itself was great.
That Subaru was one bad-boy car, though. Worked at a detail shop, and just across the parking lot , another business owner had one. We did detail it . Subaru was extremely innovative. Albeit in a strange way. Very cool series. 🚗🙂
All of these made me facepalm. 80% was "what were the makers thinking", 20% was "what were buyers thinking". The Subaru SVX and the Pontiac GTO were great cars, but nobody bought them because reasons.
The biggest reason the Chevy SS didn’t sell was GM. They never really advertise it. It was more on an agreement to import the newer Commodore after GM dropped Pontiac. It was supposed to be the LS3 powered G8 which they made less than 1100 I think.
It's high price didn't help either, or the fact that it basically looked like a rental car Chevy Malibu. It was also the first Chevy "SS" car that wasn't an offshoot of a particular model, like the Chevelle SS, the Impala SS or the Camaro SS. Just calling it a Chevy SS was sort of weird.
@@242HPI agree they should have named it the Caprice SS, but that name was relegated to the commercial chassis Caprice PPV (which was another Holden import) only sold to law enforcement. Really strange times at GM the late 2010's were.
Excellent! You did a great job with the list a the video footage as well. Well narrated too. I was smiling and laughing and was like yeah... that is true. Sadly, GM made some mistakes indeed. I loved how well put together the video is and all the information too. I am a GM fan, but facts or facts and truth is truth.
Australians were told the Pontiac failed because it didn't have enough vents, scoops, chrome and other useless panel decoration to suit the U.S market. We couldn't believe it.
I had a 1983 Mercury LN7 that I truly enjoyed and truly miss. I'd love to see a video of this highly underappreciated vehicle. Mine has a ¹.9l 4 cylinder engine and a 5 speed. I could drive from McGuire Air Force Base in New Jersey to Buffalo, New York on a tank of gas, which at the time(1987) cost me a total of $27.00!!!
I remember the Merkur Scorpio when you. I personally liked it. However I never remember seeing any advertisement for it. The only reason I knew it existed was I happen to see it in a dealership showroom. Ford did market the XR4Ti more. I like that one as well, although it basically was a mustang underneath.
A non-luxury car that failed: the Subaru Tribeca. It had adequate power for a midsized crossover with a 6 cylinder engine. However, it was smaller than the crossovers it tried to compete with (Highlander, Pilot etc), and as a result it had a much smaller second and third row than the competition. Also, the styling was controversial in 2006 and 2007. Subaru redesigned it for the 2008 model year, but it didn't help much. Fuel economy wasn't great either compared to other 6 cylinder AWD crossovers in its segment. By 2014 Subaru pulled the plug on the Tribeca and didn't make another three row crossover until the Ascent in 2018.
The SAAB 97x internal structure was substantially different from the others oddly enough. The GM bunch wasn't too happy when the SAAB engineers improved it, but obviously increased the cost.
Catera commercials used to urge folks to "Lease a Catera" it caught a tv script writer's fancy and some tv program had a character named "Lisa Catera".
It was actually a package of the commercials themselves that used the pun: The announcer would say "Lease a Catera from..." (insert regional Cadillac dealer network name, then a brief pause) "Who IS Lisa Catera??" - while the animated duck shrugs its wings.
T bird was sad. It was a good looking car The Reatta was good looking too but they developed it as both front and rear wheel drive to decide which to pick and went with the fronts. if it was rear wheel drive it probably would have done better
I definitely remember the Subaru SVX. As well as many of the other cars featured in this video. Ah, the 80s, 90s & early 2000s what an interesting time for cars.
the t bird should've had at least some simulation of tailfins . the xr4ti (dual plane ) looked really good to me , except i thought the headlight/grille area needed something to jazz it up a bit .
You forgot the Sterling! As someone who had the uncanny knack of working for dealerships that sold failed marques, this one stands out to me above the rest for the very fact that EVERY one we tried to unload from the car hauler needed a jump start. They came factory with a battery draining electrical problem (British, go figure!) and I remember salesman running for the jump box just so they could take a customer on a test drive. I believe we only sold this brand for 2 years. I also got to experience Merkur and Eagle.
The Thunderbird reboot failed because Ford picked the wrong version of the brand to reboot. They picked the 55 and should have gone with the 60. People wanted the grills like were found on the PT Cruiser and the HHR. The 60 would have that but the 55 didn't. Also, how sure are you that there are 10 cars? You seem to jump from 3 to 1 so...where'd 2 go?
The Cadillac CT6 needs to be here. Introducing a full size luxury sedan in 2016 was dumb, especially when the market was clamoring for something like the XT6, which didn’t debut until 2019
fun fact, if the catera had lived say...a year longer, it would've gotten the corvetta V8, because they were planning to do this for the opel in europe to push it more upmarket and make it more profitable (the V8 cost less to build than the V6 for instance)
Nice list on the Flops! Maybe in the Future you'll finally make a video on the Lincoln LS, And as for Subaru SVX, I think there's a Matchbox Casting based around that model, And Matchbox makes a lot of Castings based around real life cars Like the AMC Eagle & Many other real life Car Models.
I remember the cadillac cimarron as a kid. I thought it was pathetic. We used to drive by Casa De Cadillac alot and there was a brown/yellow combo one sitting on the side of the main buidling. It was new. I think they were ashamed they had to sell them.
I bet you could do a companion series, "Failed Engines of the 80's" The Chrysler Lean Burn 400 was such a dismal excuse of a motor that never should have been released to production. Especially when Detroit had the Smokey Yunick engine, that had great drivability, met current emission standards without catalytic converters and had great mileage.
Would love a video on Australian cars like the Holden Commodore and the Ford Falcon. Maybe the AU falcon would make a good video? The most memorable failure of ford Australia. Or maybe the VT commodore which sold well here. Would really enjoy this
The Cimarron had to be one. The crazy thing was GM knew the 3 series was out already and launched with a 4 banger and could have at least made the V6 standard.
I would love to see you do an episode on the Mercedes Benz 560SEL. I owned a 1989 model and it was the nicest driving car I've ever owned. Out was like driving silk. The seats were simply magical. It had heated and electrically reclining rear seats as well as the front. The body style stood out even at a significant distance. I really miss that car.
The Cadillac Cimarron and the Lincoln Versailles are two cars that I would love to have right now. They may have been sales flops for other people, but I want them anyway.
I was dating a girl at the time the Merkur 1st came out, she thought XR4TI was actually a word which she pronounced: “zuh-RAH-tee” Like “Maserati” minus the “Ma”. True story!
At launch With the Neiman Marcus Edition, Ford wanted to create a very special, very limited number of cars that would stand out as the most cherished of the new Thunderbirds. The Neiman Marcus Edition Thunderbird stands out with a number of one-of-a-kind design elements setting it apart from other 2002 Thunderbirds. The car features a black body finish with a removable silver top, creating a striking, elegant style for the modern dream car
