The cars that killed the manufacturer

[durbster]

I was looking at the latest news about Tesla's Cybertruck, and how the whole project is basically that episode of The Simpsons where a company gets Homer to design a car. Elon Musk has now said that making it profitable and scaling its production is going to be really difficult so it could all be quite damaging for Tesla, financially speaking.

That said, despite the thread title I don't believe Cybertruck is going to kill Tesla - pre-orders suggest it'll sell well and their fans are pseudo-religious - but it got me wondering about models that had failed so badly that they threatened or even killed the manufacturer.

The first that came to mind was Vectra, which I thought had been so expensive to develop and ended up so far off its sales targets that it took Vauxhall to the brink, but after looking it up, it seems I was wrong.

Obviously there are countless low-volume sports cars and niche models but what about more established makers?

The biggest name I could find was Pontiac, where it seems the Aztec was so bad that it basically killed the brand. Any others?

[kambites]

I think the Saab 900 NG, whilst not being a bad car as such, started the downward spiral from "real" Saabs to what were essentially over-priced, rebadged Vauxhall Vectras.

[FMOB]

Delorean is one that springs to mind.

[GeniusOfLove]

Classic example is the NSU Ro80. Warranty claims on that disaster supposedly drove them to be acquired by VW in 1969.

[carinaman]

kambites said:

I think the Saab 900 NG, whilst not being a bad car as such, started the downward spiral from "real" Saabs to what were essentially over-priced, rebadged Vauxhall Vectras.

The 900NG was GM based, by that time SAAB didn't have sufficient funds or profitability to develop they're own platform. Look at the Tipo Quattro 9000/Thema/Croma/164, SAAB were having to share platforms before the 900NG

I think the Top Gear piece on the demise of SAAB said that GM gave them the platform for the 9-5 thinking scales of economy, reduced costs but that didn't work as SAAB then spent so much turning into a SAAB.

[SweptVolume]

The 2007 Fiat 500.

It was such an unbridled success that Fiat basically gave up on the rest of its range and made a living milking the cute little cash cow for all they could. Now it's at life end and they basically have nothing. I'm not sure the new 500 will catch the imagination of its intended market like the old one did with prices over £30k.

[GeniusOfLove]

carinaman said:

The 900NG was GM based, by that time SAAB didn't have sufficient funds or profitability to develop they're own platform. Look at the Tipo Quattro 9000/Thema/Croma/164, SAAB were having to share platforms before the 900NG

I think the Top Gear piece on the demise of SAAB said that GM gave them the platform for the 9-5 thinking scales of economy, reduced costs but that didn't work as SAAB then spent so much turning into a SAAB.

There must have been plenty of people (possibly not in decision making roles) at GM who knew full well their platforms were a billion miles off being appropriate for a car hoping to be sold as an econobox dustbin. SAAB only had two choices really, sell something hopelessly inadequate or expensively re-engineer the GM stuff into something that was still only barely competitive at launch and hope nobody minded too much. Neither way was a path to long term sustainability.

[gt40steve]

Edsel, a whole new brand with a big range of models only lasted three years, before Ford pulled the plug.

A car it turned out an already crowded market place didn't need. Too many quality issues. A grille design and name that were mocked.

So a brand that killed itself rather than a car killing a manufacturer but someone else beat me to the Ro80 !

[biggbn]

Citroens Traction Avant was rushed into production and forced the company into the arms of Michelin from memory.

[Monkeylegend]

Can't believe nobody has mentioned TVR yet.

[fatjon]

Not a car but the TVR speed 6 engine finished the company off.

[finlo]

Boo-urns said:

You could probably argue that the CityRover was the final nail in MG Rover’s coffin. Sadly the writing was on the wall already, but it was a bit of a PR disaster for Longbridge just when they needed a success. Had it have been a good car and made a decent profit, things could have been very different.

Wasn't it just a rebadged cheapo Tata that they chanced their arm on hoping nobody noticed?

[SkodaIan]

Boo-urns said:

finlo said:

Wasn't it just a rebadged cheapo Tata that they chanced their arm on hoping nobody noticed?

Yup. Not a good look when you're trying to salvage the reputation of a dying brand. It wasn't cheap either, at least to begin with.

I'd argue that the MG SV and the ZT V8 probably contributed more to finishing off MG Rover than the CityRover. Instead of spending money developing a successor to the ageing mass market "hot hatch" ZR and ZS (which were actually pretty good and sold fairly well), a lot of effort was put into developing niche "halo" cars which would never sell in any quantity even if they were good.

[dvs_dave]

Monkeylegend said:

Can't believe nobody has mentioned TVR yet.

As mentioned, the Speed Six engine warranty claims. But as it was fitted to every model they made at the time, the hemorrhaging was terminal.

The Stag (well, its engine) pretty much finished Triumph cars off too.

[Ussrcossack]

Not killed off but no longer imported to the uk, before implosion at some stage
Lancia
Lada,samara nail in coffin
FSO

There are others too who still manufacturer but don't import
Mitsubishi
Etcetera

[Jimbo.]

DeLorean?

[Johnspex]

I never understood the DeLorean idea. Why would you buy a car with an engine borrowed from another manufacturer, with no pedigree, no history, no racing past, with a body designed with a ruler and no French curves, a ridiculous stainless steel finish which showed every mark when you could buy a Porsche?

[williamp]

carinaman said:

kambites said:

I think the Saab 900 NG, whilst not being a bad car as such, started the downward spiral from "real" Saabs to what were essentially over-priced, rebadged Vauxhall Vectras.

The 900NG was GM based, by that time SAAB didn't have sufficient funds or profitability to develop they're own platform. Look at the Tipo Quattro 9000/Thema/Croma/164, SAAB were having to share platforms before the 900NG

I think the Top Gear piece on the demise of SAAB said that GM gave them the platform for the 9-5 thinking scales of economy, reduced costs but that didn't work as SAAB then spent so much turning into a SAAB.

My bold. I remember the top gear episode where they reviewed them. As someone whk always liked the idea of a saab, I remember hearing this and thinking this is why they were in the financiak trouble they were in. Goodness knkws what elxs fhe decidedgo do wifh suah a disregard to costs. Or cost/benefit ratio.

I know we all like the ideas of engineers over accontants, but you do need both.

[DB4DM]

Will, do you need a new keyboard?

[Jader1973]

durbster said:

The biggest name I could find was Pontiac, where it seems the Aztec was so bad that it basically killed the brand. Any others?

The Aztec was discontinued in 2005 and Pontiac’s demise was announced in 2008 and came in 2010.

GM Chapter 11 / the GFC killed Pontiac, not the Aztec.