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10 tarnished halo cars
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In the current issue of Automotive News, Ford executive Mark Fields is asked whether Lincoln needs a "halo car." He smartly ducks the question: "We want to make sure every vehicle we bring out with Lincoln is a halo car."
Many automotive terms have become anachronistic or simply defunct over the years -- rumble seat, four-on-the floor, carburetor -- but for some reason, the notion of the "halo car" survives. It's a car with a stylish design or unusual features meant to draw customers into a showroom but not generate a lot of sales -- or make a lot of money.
While halo cars may look heavenly when they are conceived, as often as not they end up as fallen angels. They are dismissed as automotive curiosities that failed to capture public imagination, while creating an effect exactly opposite to the one they were designed for: damaging brands rather than lifting them. Here are some classic examples of tarnished halos:
Chrysler Crossfire 2003-2007
Conceived as a tribute to the ill-fated merger of Daimler-Benz and Chrysler, 80% of the Crossfire's parts came from Mercedes, and the car itself was assembled in Germany. But just as Chrysler itself never warmed to the Daimler takeover, customers never warmed to the Crossfire's mixed parentage, leaving huge inventories of unsold cars. After peaking at 35,700, annual sales dribbled down to 2,000 before Chrysler, in a pre-bankruptcy restructuring, ceased production.
Pontiac Solstice/Saturn Sky 2005-2009
These two roadsters were supposed to inject a much-needed jolt into the flagging Pontiac and Saturn brands, and GM launched them with all the thunder that a failing automaker could muster. Yet even the imprimatur of design guru Bob Lutz couldn't fend off harsh comments from car reviewers who found them dynamically inferior to the long-established Mazda Miata and incapable of carrying any baggage than could fit in a number 10 envelope. Touted as instant classics, they are now little more than curiosities -- poor relatives to the 60-year-old-and-still-going-strong Chevy Corvette.
Lincoln Blackwood 2002
A luxury pickup (or was it a Ford F-series with a Lincoln badge?), the Blackwood made a splash at the Detroit auto show in 1999 and figured to coast in the wake of the hugely successful Navigator. Only available in -- what else -- black over black, it featured a power-covered bed made of plastic composites and decorated with artificial burled blackwood. Alas, production problems with the bed and the lack of a compelling sales proposition (luxury pickup?) sent the Blackwood to the great garage in the sky after just 15 months of production that yielded 3,356 trucks.
Ford Thunderbird 2002-2007
After suspending production of the by-then supersized original Thunderbird in 1997, Ford revived the T-Bird in its old roadster body style five years later. But the attempt to trade on half a century's worth of nostalgia never caught the attention of middle-aged customers, and enthusiasts were turned off by the sloppy engineering. Ford let the T-bird fly the coop after a truncated five-year run.
