Cars that never sold well

Cars that never sold well

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Discussion

papa3

1,407 posts

186 months

Wednesday 28th June 2017
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Vauxhall Sintra.

the griffin

81 posts

190 months

Wednesday 28th June 2017
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Vauxhall Signum as already said, maybe not noticed because the front of these look like the Vectra.
Also Vauxhall VX220 less then 2000 made but who would buy one over a Lotus?

I did and I also have a Signum!

Leins

9,421 posts

147 months

Wednesday 28th June 2017
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darkyoung1000 said:
The Corrado is a car that VW would gladly write out of its history.
About 9000 sold in the UK between 1989 and 1996 across all model types IIRC.
Possibly something to do with the price at the time, and being sold concurrently with the MK2 Scirocco up until 1992 didn't help!
Not the sales success they were hoping for despite being a good car.

Cheers,
Tom
The UK was one of the better markets for the Corrado IIRC. Calibra sold much better though I think

Nickbrapp

5,277 posts

129 months

Wednesday 28th June 2017
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The Ford Focus electric. It's been on sale since 2013, I've not seen a single one.

The Ford minded hybrid, didn't know it existed until I saw one the other day, it was a saloon only too, leading onto the mondeo saloon, I've seen 2.

The Mondeo villiante ive seen 4 or 5 of and 1 smax. Looking forward to the fiesta one I think will be quite neat, a flop but a nice flop

Dabooka

281 posts

104 months

Wednesday 28th June 2017
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I remembered the Suzuki X-90 on my drive in to work today, that was a unmitigated disaster across the globe.

On a side note, the Suzuki Kizashi referenced earlier was limited to just 400-500 imports anyway, so expectations were always low. Actually pretty nice cars, just lacked the 'essential' touch screen and with relatively high VED. I'd almost be tempted if they still did them.


JimbobVFR

2,680 posts

143 months

Wednesday 28th June 2017
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Pothole said:
No idea why, they look like a cracker.
The A2 was horrendously expensive though. Mines a 2002 1.4 diesel and would have been about 17K new!

I believe they've managed to lose money on everyone they sold despite the price.

It is a cracking little car though.

ericmcn

1,999 posts

96 months

Wednesday 28th June 2017
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Merry said:
One of those is my Mrs'. A saloon no less. Which must be rarer.
Ahh, but is it a manual spec B.....

MJ85

1,849 posts

173 months

Wednesday 28th June 2017
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ukaskew said:
Mercury00 said:
Shockingly the Nissan Note has been canned and production stopped now. I see millions about, I wouldn't have guessed it was a failure.
That's the most surprising thing to come out of this thread for me. Why?! They're everywhere! I had one as a courtesy car recently, really nice bit of kit I'd happily own as a commuter/family car. My wife even said she'd get one next.
The Wiki page mentions it is to allow a ramping up of production of the Qashqai, instead.

bmw320ci

595 posts

225 months

Wednesday 28th June 2017
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Citroen XM/Estate 878 ever registered and only 4 left by the looks of it

https://www.howmanyleft.co.uk/vehicle/citroen_xm


generationx

6,645 posts

104 months

Wednesday 28th June 2017
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s m said:
LanceRS said:
2172cc said:
Escort RS2000 Mk5/6 or better still the 4x4 version.

Come to think about it , they also did a Mk5 Mexico as well.

Edited by 2172cc on Tuesday 27th June 20:43
I used to have a Mk6 RS2000 fwd. a great fun car to drive and would keep up with most things on a decent B road. I think that they suffered from low headline power figures, being quite pricey new and mostly from looking exactly the same as every other Ford Escort in the showroom.
A pity, it really was a surprisingly good car apart from the rust.
I have noticed that the later Mk6 ones, when tested by mags, did seem a bit more 'leisurely' than the Mk5s

<picture>
I´ve got a broken Mk5/facelift (oval nose hole). In its day it was a really nice car to drive but it´s a bit too grown up to be a hooligan hatch. Now terminally rusty and several electrical woes.

Oh and the Mk5 "Mexico" was something like a 1.4L with a sticker. It never, ever should have been called that!

Dazed and Confused

979 posts

81 months

Wednesday 28th June 2017
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Mercedes B-Class.

LotusOmega375D

7,581 posts

152 months

Wednesday 28th June 2017
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I know Lotus are never common, but they should feature in this thread.

Lotus Carlton/Omega: failed to reach sales forecast with only 284 RHD + 666 LHD over 3 years or so.

How about the 2006 - 2010 Europa? Hardly ever see them except at car shows.

And as for the 3-11... Word is they've stopped taking orders on that one already, despite getting nowhere near the "limited" 311 examples predicted.

Tucker1

104 posts

177 months

Wednesday 28th June 2017
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Anybody mentioned the Lotus Europa S Turbo yet?

Never sold in any numbers at all, nothing to do with being a bad car, just that it didn't fit into any particular category. Not comfortable enough to be a GT yet similar money to a Cayman, but not focused enough to be an out and out track car in standard set up. Very early cars initially had some poor fuelling which along with the fact it was no Cayman, nor Exige attracted some poor press reviews.

I had one for four years and absolutely loved it. Mine was the re-launch 225 Lux Touring press car AU07HDO, I bought directly from a guy who worked for Lotus Sport. I ran it as a daily for all that time in all weathers, totally reliable, fun to live with and cost nothing to run. I've never known a car draw such positive attention wherever I took it. Even sold after 4 years for a profit, was gutted to let it go but at the time needed funds for a house build.

ambuletz

10,692 posts

180 months

Wednesday 28th June 2017
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suzuki kizashi. Poor sales meant it was discontinued with no replacement. 2.5litre with a CVT box. Only 14 on sale on AT


Dog Star

16,079 posts

167 months

Wednesday 28th June 2017
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Peugeot 605 - very good looking car compared with the competition; suffered from looking a bit too much like the 405 (which was no bad thing). Saw a couple in France last week.

greggy50

6,161 posts

190 months

Wednesday 28th June 2017
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Jaguar XE strikes me as a bit of a flop

I probably see about 10 A4's or 3 Series for every Jag I see on the road...

I have a DS DS5 as a company car and have one ever seen one other on the road as its a £32k new which is far too much for a Citroen.

Podie

46,630 posts

274 months

Wednesday 28th June 2017
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bmw320ci said:
Citroen XM/Estate 878 ever registered and only 4 left by the looks of it

https://www.howmanyleft.co.uk/vehicle/citroen_xm

My old man test drive one. Felt sick from the ride and didn't get on with the fourth pedal (parking brake)... bought a Pug 605 instead.

Dapster

6,877 posts

179 months

Wednesday 28th June 2017
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Leins said:
darkyoung1000 said:
The Corrado is a car that VW would gladly write out of its history.
Not the sales success they were hoping for despite being a good car.
Tom
The UK was one of the better markets for the Corrado IIRC. Calibra sold much better though I think
It may well have sold poorly but history will record it as one of the finest front driven drivers cars ever. I can not think why it didn't sell better - perhaps because the Golf GTi offered so much for so much less - the Corrado was more cramped, more impractical and had a shallower boot, and cost more. Not even the intrigue of the G60 engine or the later VR6 would save it. I had a 16v 1990 in tornado red back in '96 and it was one of the best cars I've ever had.

bodhi

10,333 posts

228 months

Wednesday 28th June 2017
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gtidriver said:
bodhi said:
Any of the original BMW 1 Series with a 6 cylinder engine - 125i/135i Coupe and 130i Hatch. Think they barely got above 1000 of each variant sold in the UK, compaed to the eleventy million 118d's they sold.

However useful for those of us who managed to find one, as they aren't really going down in value - 125i prices look very similar to when I bought mine 3 years ago.
Theres only 5 125i autos for sale on auto trader. I have one which is better specd than all the ones for sale,Could this be my first car ive bought and not lost a packet on??
Considering prices haven't really budged in 3 years I'd say there's a very good chance of that!

Teebs

4,265 posts

214 months

Wednesday 28th June 2017
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greggy50 said:
Jaguar XE strikes me as a bit of a flop

I probably see about 10 A4's or 3 Series for every Jag I see on the road...

I have a DS DS5 as a company car and have one ever seen one other on the road as its a £32k new which is far too much for a Citroen.
I think Jaguar are slowly catching up. See more and more on fleet plates than before.