Yahoo Autos The modern cars already vanishing from our roads
- 1/42
We’re just over two decades in and already there are some 21st century cars that are heading towards extinction.
When did you last see a Renault Vel Satis, a Suzuki Kizashi or a Rover CitiRover? And how many times is Cadillac going to try and relaunch its range in Europe?
Here are the desperate last rolls of the dice, half-baked segment busters hoping to snare indulgent middle class whims, tentative ventures into alternative propulsion systems, children of unfortunate alliances and plain old turkeys – all populate our gallery of 21st century misfits:
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Autocar - 2/42
Behind the data
A few notes on these numbers:
They’re taken from the excellent website howmanyleft.co.uk, which uses DVLA data that is not always 100% accurate - hence there occasionally being more examples of surviving models than were apparently sold in the first place. The cars featured are typically those of which there are no less than a 1000 remaining. In many cases, the survivors are far fewer.
There are also some absentees we can’t extract. The Peugeot 407 Coupe (pictured), never a big seller, may be endangered, but it can’t be identified among the 407 saloons and estates. And Saab’s fine, if flawed, 2011 9-5 can’t be separated from its predecessor. The numbers mentioned include both those currently licensed and registerd as Statutory Off Road Notification (SORN) - still in existence but on private land at present.
Autocar - 3/42
40: Mini Clubvan
Launched: 2012
Total sales: 1020
Numbers left: 779
A cute throwback to the Minivans of the 1960s, and equally useless as a meaningful load carrier. A fine example of a vehicle that sits in a niche within a niche, this is the BMW Group’s one and only car-derived van. And it’s rare.
Autocar - 4/42
39: Chrysler Delta
Launched: 2011
Total sales: 794
Numbers left: 726
A crass, UK-market rebadging of yet another off-target Lancia, and heroically expensive at launch - pricier than an equivalent BMW 1 Series in fact.
Autocar - 5/42
38: Vauxhall VX220
Launched: 2002
Total sales: 1892
Numbers left: 359
Also available from other brands, the aluminium-chassis, composite body, mid-mounted engine and terrific styling made a modest hit of the VX220. The opportunity to buy the real thing from Lotus inevitably limited its impact, despite it looking better than the Elise.
Autocar - 6/42
37: Lotus Evora
Launched: 2009
Total sales: 850
Numbers left: 756
It wasn't the huge seller it should have been. Its big problem is Porsche, and a price that rose sharply in real terms, over the years. Its high survival rate is impressive.
Autocar - 7/42
36: Infiniti FX
Launched: 2010
Total sales: 663
Numbers left: 632
Bigger than EX30/37 and a still more striking SUV, but clearly not striking enough.
Autocar - 8/42
35: Dodge Avenger
Launched: 2009
Total sales: 1085
Numbers left: 377
This miserable US rentacar device came with a raucous Volkswagen diesel to take your mind off some dubious Detroit plastics. An arrival triggered by Chrysler’s madcap scheme to relaunch Dodge in the UK, a surprising number of Avengers survive.
Autocar - 9/42
34: Ssangyong Kyron
Launched: 2006
Total sales: 1102
Numbers left: 239
A largish SUV of curiously interesting style.
Autocar - 10/42
33: Citroen C6
Launched: 2005
Total sales: 781
Numbers left: 382
A more impressive car than its XM predecessor, the C6 sold even more slowly, the market for big saloons from mass-makers almost dead. The C6 attrition rate is much lower than for the XM – it's vastly more reliable, and already almost collectable.
Autocar - 11/42
32: Vauxhall VXR8
Launched: 2007
Total sales: 561
Numbers left: 436
The intention was never to sell many of these muscular rebadged Holdens, and so it transpired. Instantly collectable, as the survival figures indicate.
Autocar - 12/42
31: Rover CityRover
Launched: 2003
Total sales: 8666
Numbers left: 176
An increasingly desperate MG Rover struck a keen deal to buy the Tata Indica, a rudimentary but serviceable hatchback, which it then (lightly) tarted up and attempted to sell for too much money. More interesting as a paragraph of history than a historical artefact.
Autocar - 13/42
30: Peugeot Ion
Launched: 2011
Total sales: 396
Numbers left: 365
The least unsuccessful of the Mitsubishi-based EV trio, and sales only ended recently.
Autocar - 14/42
29: Infiniti Q70
Launched: 2013
Total sales: 366
Numbers left: 375
A large and shapely model carrying much kit. To limited avail - but impressive survival rates.
Autocar - 15/42
28: Fiat Croma
Launched: 2005
Total sales: 1020 - estimated
Numbers left: 189 (NB: Contains a handful of first-generation Cromas)
Dull, even less successful. An ill-starred child of the ill-starred GM-Fiat tie-up at the start of the century; its sister car was the Vauxhall/Opel Signum, which was better but still unsuccessful.
Autocar - 16/42
27: Subaru B9 Tribeca
Launched: 2006
Total sales: 685
Numbers left: 285
Tribeca is an exclusive suburb of New York City. The B9 Tribeca is more exclusive than Subaru planned, and its numbers are being sharply reduced now due to the major thirst from its flat-six petrol engine and frightening annual road tax bills.
Autocar - 17/42
26: Suzuki Kizashi
Launched: 2013
Total sales: 340
Numbers remaining: 292
A compact, sporty saloon for the US, the big-engined, sharp-chassis Kizashi momentarily seemed a good idea for the UK. But only momentarily.
Autocar - 18/42
25: Proton Impian
Launched: 2001
Total sales: 2324
Numbers left: 143
Impian: it means ‘dreams come true’ in Malaysian, but not in this case. But it was Proton’s first in-house car with Mitsubishi engines, and Lotus sprinkled some chassis stardust to sweeten the deal.
Autocar - 19/42
24: Infiniti M30D/35h
Launched: 2010; 2011
Total sales: 74; 240
Numbers left: 55; 210
Infiniti’s slow-selling diesel and hybrid M cars.
Autocar - 20/42
23: Cadillac BLS
Launched: 2006
Total sales: 597
Numbers left: 189
One of Cadillac’s bolder attempts to crack Europe, the BLS was a freshly iced slice of Saab 9-3 cake. There was even an estate. Nerdy factoid: this was the only Cadillac not sold in the US, the only one made in Europe and the only one with an Italian diesel engine.
Autocar - 21/42
22: Mitsubishi I-MIEV
Launched: 2009
Total sales: 277
Numbers left: 210
From this imaginative machine were spawned two French-flavoured variations in the Citroën C-Zero (a name to tempt fate) and the Peugeot iOn. None of the trio has sold well, although the EV market was tiny 10 years ago.
Autocar - 22/42
21: Citroen C-Zero
Launched: 2011
Total sales: 237
Numbers left: 204
Citroen’s brief flicker of EV life, along with its two dim Mitsubishi and Peugeot cousins.
Autocar - 23/42
20: Lexus IS-F
Launched: 2008
Total sales: 232
Numbers left: 182
An exciting Japanese take on the BMW M3, but only for 232 individuals.
Autocar - 24/42
19: Infiniti G37
Launched: 2009
Total sales: 207
Numbers left: 161
A 3 Series scale Coupé and cabriolet, more interesting used than new.
Autocar - 25/42
18: Infiniti Q60
Launched: 2014
Total sales: c200
Numbers left: 173
Another attempt at the 3 Series, this time even rarer. And dead already.
Autocar - 26/42
17: Renault Avantime
Launched: 2002
Total sales: 393
Numbers left: 147
A luxury MPV coupé is about as useful as a garden shed with a bidet. But the Avantime has fans, who have a club. Partly conceived to occupy the Matra factory previously building the Espace, it achieved neither that nor the establishment of a new segment.
Autocar - 27/42
16: Renault Vel Satis
Launched: 2001
Total sales: 1284
Numbers left: 109
Renault’s last ambitious, expensive and spectacularly ineffectual attempt to beat the premium players. The Vel Satis was undeniably different and unexpectedly well-made, but instantly joined the sizeable car park of French cars that are too strange to sell.
Autocar - 28/42
15: Infiniti EX30/37
Launched: 2009
Total sales: 174
Numbers left: 148
It’s hard to know which Infiniti is which, so bland is its naming system. This one is a not unattractive SUV, and was even available with a diesel. But that wasn’t enough, its risible sales an unfortunate portent for the brand which has now closed down in the UK.
Autocar - 29/42
14: Aston Martin Cygnet
Launched: 2011
Total sales: 154
Numbers left: 127
This oddball, super-luxury city car was reputedly sired from a conversation between Aston's Dr Ulrich Bez and Akio Toyoda, and is one of the rarer Aston Martins, though not of the familiar sort. Amazingly, Cygnets are now worth more than the earliest examples of the V8 Vantage.
Autocar - 30/42
13: Cadillac CTS
Launched: 2005
Total sales: 299
Numbers left: 105
A small saloon by American standards, of very small sales.
Autocar - 31/42
12: Chevrolet Volt
Launched: 2012
Total sales: 130
Numbers left: 110
This car was meant to trigger a low-emission revolution. A revolution following the well-worn wheel-tracks of the Toyota Prius, it’s true, but the plug-in Volt brought more. But not to Britain. And its Vauxhall Ampera brother scored only 1288 sales, both models strangled by prices considered too high.
Autocar - 32/42
11: Hyundai XG
Launched: 2000
Total sales: 698
Numbers left: 28
A mid-size Korean businessman’s saloon best deployed in Seoul.
Autocar - 33/42
10: Renault Fluence
Launched: 2012
Total sales: 79
Numbers left: 44
An electric Megane saloon, the Zoe’s bigger brother had memorably ferocious low-speed acceleration, and an equally ferocious appetite for amps. A high price and the desirability of an extension lead soon killed it. The recent EV boom has lifted prices, though.
Autocar - 34/42
9: Maybach 57&62
Launched: 2003
Total sales: 81
Numbers left: 35
Daimler’s ill-judged attempt to counter BMW’s audacious acquisition of Rolls-Royce and Volkswagen of Bentley. Maybach was an almost unknown brand, but the main problem was this limo’s forgettable styling – it looked like a stretched Rover 75, but without the elegance. A few stretched egos bought them, though.
Autocar - 35/42
8: Cadillac SRX
Launched: 2006
Total sales: 55
Numbers left: 28
A fast vanishing large luxury American SUV, of not-so-large sales.
Autocar - 36/42
7: Smart Crossblade
Launched: 2003
Total sales: 27
Numbers left: 17
Silly roofless, windscreen-free city car for sun-seeking, draught-loving, parking-constrained urbanites of unlimited cash resources. Of whom there are surprisingly few, these numbers suggest. Further deterrents to a sale included left-hand drive only, a high price and the need to house it undercover.
Autocar - 37/42
6: Hyundai Grandeur
Launched: 2005
Total sales: 39
Numbers left: 21
Grandeur is usually a rare commodity, and so it proves with this ambitiously labelled Hyundai.
Autocar - 38/42
5: Cadillac STS
Launched: 2008
Total sales: 31
Numbers left: 23
A slightly larger American saloon than the CTS, but of even smaller sales.
Autocar - 39/42
4: MG XPower SV
Launched: 2004
Total sales: 36
Numbers left: 19
MG Rover’s most ill-advised adventure (and there were many), the De Tomaso-based SV was ugly, unfinished and virtually unsaleable at ambitious 911-rivalling money. It was quick, though, and its carbonfibre panels were of exceptional quality, unlike the interior.
Autocar - 40/42
3: Infiniti M37
Launched: 2010
Total sales: 13
Numbers left: 13
Petrol-powered M37 represents Infiniti’s slowest seller of the lot.
Autocar - 41/42
2: Mia Electric
Launched: 2013
Total sold: 18
Numbers left: 12
This weird French cross between baby car, bus and van had a central driving position, sliding doors, electric drive and a range that more or less coincided with the moment when you’d had enough. It handled, though.
Autocar - 42/42
1: Cadillac XLR
Launched: 2007
Total sales: 3
Numbers left: 3
An American convertible with sales that can only be described as tiny. If you ever spot this car out in the wild, you should start buying lottery tickets in quantity as you are clearly very lucky. One of the biggest unicorns in the UK.
Autocar
