Cars don’t stay popular forever. Ones that used to be wildly popular are now starting to disappear from the market, replaced by more efficient or more wide-reaching models. The cars that defined many people’s childhoods are now disappearing from the road, never to return. Let’s examine 10 cars that were once best-sellers that have now been discontinued.
To populate this list we looked first at other published lists that detailed cars that were popular and have since been discontinued. Then, we corroborated that list with details from the manufacturers. The manufacturer statements allowed us to understand what the decision process was behind discontinuing the car models on the list.
Acura TL
Once a flagship model from Acura, the Acura TL was a luxury/sports car that was a beloved part of many people’s lives. Its popularity was due to the fact that many people considered it to be among the most reliable and safe luxury/sports car models on the market and it typically retained its value very well, even well past the point where most cars’ value would depreciate significantly. The TL had a decorated history that started with replacing the popular Acura Vigor model in 1995 as the flagship luxury/sports car model from Acura. The 2.5 TL model focused more on a sports car experience while the 3.2 TL model was a larger, more luxurious ride.
However, after the sales of the car slowed following the 2008 recession, Acura looked to replace it with a more economical model to produce. Despite its continued popularity, the company took a leap of faith and merged the Acura TL and Acura TSX models into the concurrent Acura TLX model we have on the market today.
AMC Eagle
If you wanted a passenger car with four-wheel drive in the 1980s, you probably owned an AMC Eagle. When American Motors Corporation introduced the Eagle to the market in 1979, it was the only passenger car to feature FWD. The Eagle had something for everyone. It could support a family and could off-road like a Jeep. AMC intended for the Eagle to be a one-generation wonder and intended to discontinue it in 1987. However when Chrysler eventually acquired AMC, the new parent company decided to continue producing Eagles due to its relative popularity at the time. Still, by the time the end of the design cycle for the Eagle came around, Chrysler decided not to renew it. It was discontinued in 1997 and the last new model rolled off the manufacturing line in 1998.
Chevrolet Nova
The Chevy Nova had two production runs in the 1900s. It was produced first between 1962 and 1979 and then renewed for a second run in the 80s. The 80s models were significantly less powerful than the original run. However, they remained popular until their full discontinuation in 1988. Chevy designed and built the Nova on the X-body platform and it was a top-selling Chevy model until 1968. Its revival in the 80s didn’t garner enough attention from car enthusiasts. The muscle car era had ended and the market was shifting to more fuel-efficient models, making the Nova less popular as the years dragged on. Due to the lack of interest in its revival, the Nova was put to rest for good at the end of the 1980s and is getting progressively harder to find on the used market in the 2020s.
Datsun 510
While by no means a luxury car, the Datsun 510 enjoyed considerable success and popularity among cost-conscious buyers during its run. While the car had the Datsun brand name, it was Nissan who made the car and its production marked a turning point in the company’s history. Prior to the 510, Nissan had only ever produced family cars with subpar speed and engines. However, the 510 models used I4 engines, known as the L-series, that made the car the fastest in its competition bracket. It carved out the niche for an affordable sports car, something that had previously only been a theoretical concept.
The 510 sold extremely well and encouraged Nissan to branch out into more affordable performance-focused vehicles. However, as the next production cycle began, Nissan decided they wanted to strengthen their name and dropped the Datsun name from their production lines. They shifted to marketing their cars under the Nissan name and discontinued previous cars under the Datsun name, replacing the 510 with the Nissan Stanza in 1982.
Cadillac ATS
Looking at more modern car models, we have the Cadillac ATS, which had a short production run of just half a decade. It was a compact executive car produced by General Motors and marketed by Cadillac between the years of 2012 and 2019. The car was relatively popular but remained unable to gain the foothold it needed in its competition bracket to be marketable long-term by a car company as big as Cadillac. More popular cars like the BMW 3-Series dominated the competition bracket in the market of the time, making it hard for Cadillac to produce the desired results with the ATS. Cadillac discontinued the ATS models after the 2018 production year.
Fiat 850
The Fiat 850 launched in the late 1960s and enjoyed considerable success among car enthusiasts and the general public alike. It was a small-scale “sports sedan” that had features for sports car enthusiasts and soccer moms, giving it a wide range of audience. Unlike the pony and muscle cars of the era, the Fiat was compact and affordable, making it perfect for families and cost-conscious consumers. It came in several variations, including a camper version. Business Insider states that buyers bought more than 2 million 850 units when combining all the different variations of the car .
Ford Focus
Another modern car that recently ended production is the Ford Focus. If you look around the streets long enough, you’ll probably still see quite a few Focuses out on the road as its production ended recently and there hasn’t been enough time for the remaining cars to degrade to the point of unusability. However, the Ford Focus ended its production run in 2018. So, it is starting to become rare to see and will only get less common as time goes on unless it gets a revival. Ford sold the first Focus models more than 20 years ago in the summer of 1998 and it enjoyed considerable popularity until its discontinuation. In more recent years, Ford has made a commitment to producing more electric vehicles, meaning the combustion-reliant Focus no longer had a place in their lineup.
Honda S2000
The Honda S2000 was an extremely popular starter roadster for the duration of its production run. It enjoyed a decade of popularity from its first year in 1999 until its discontinuation in 2009. Like many of the early 21st-century cars on this list, Honda didn’t discontinue the S2000 due to lack of interest or an ending production run. Conversely, the S2000 won “Best Affordable Sports Car” twice and consistently ranked in the top 10 in expert reviews during every year of its production. However, the recession in 2008 hit Honda hard, and the company made the difficult decision to discontinue the S2000 in response to the economic situation of the time.
Lamborghini Aventador
The Lamborghini Aventador was one of the company’s most popular cars. It was first introduced in 2011 and enjoyed a decade of prosperous production, selling more units than all of the other V-12 variants combined. However, Lamborghini ended production, after a brief hiccup, to focus on designing hybrid and electric cars. A hybrid successor to the Aventador was in the works several years ago, featuring the hybrid V-12 engine. The last year of sales for the final Aventador model was 2023 and the car is now out of production officially.
Lotus Esprit
The Lotus Esprit is an iconic symbol of the 70s and 80s. The car was a star in several iconic movies of the era, including Pretty Woman , and James Bond: The Spy Who Loved Me . While the car was most popular during the late 1900s, production for it continued until 2004, when Lotus ended the production for good. Lotus had been struggling financially for a while and producing the Esprit supercar was becoming more costly than it was profitable.
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