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Automakers invest a lot of time and resources in the development of new models. Take the Porsche Taycan, for example. Porsche spent years and hundreds of millions of dollars on the Taycan’s development, which is crazy considering that Porsche didn’t know how its fans would react to its first electric vehicle. Thankfully, the Taycan turned out to be a huge win for Porsche as it’s one of the most popular electric sports cars in the world.
However, not every car turns out like the Taycan. The sad fact is that most car models end up being failures that didn’t recoup the manufacturer’s investment. Let’s explore ten American cars that manufacturers had a lot of hope riding on but ended up failing miserably.
10/10 Pontiac Aztek
Like other GM brands, Pontiac was going through a terrible time in the late ’90s. To save itself from bankruptcy, Pontiac decided to take advantage of the sharp rise in the demand for SUVs in the US by developing a new model – the Aztek.
Pontiac actually had a good idea with the Aztek – it was supposed to be an affordable mid-sized crossover SUV for families looking for a practical and capable daily driver. However, most people never got to know how good the Aztek was since they couldn’t get past its horrid design. To this day, the Aztek tops most charts of the ugliest vehicles ever made.
9/10 Lincoln Blackwood
Ford’s Lincoln brand is in charge of building luxurious versions of normal Ford models. After the success of the Navigator, Lincoln decided to try its luck again on a luxury version of the popular Ford F-150 SuperCrew, resulting in the Blackwood.
The Blackwood was initially a huge hit, as it had luxury features gearheads had never seen before in pickup trucks. However, it didn’t take long for gearheads to notice its flaws. When trying to make the Blackwood more luxurious, Lincoln made it unusable as a pickup truck, leading to a collapse in sales.
8/10 2002 Ford Thunderbird
When Chevrolet built the Corvette in 1953, Ford couldn’t just sit and watch its biggest rival taking all the glory – and money. Ford rolled up its sleeves and started building a worthy competitor. Two years after the Corvette’s introduction, Ford unveiled the Thunderbird. The Thunderbird was a huge hit at first, but for some strange reason, Ford decided to ditch its beautiful two-door convertible body style and turned it into a four-door sedan.
A half-century later, Ford decided to revive the Thunderbird in its original two-door convertible design hoping gearheads would love it. Unfortunately, this decision failed miserably as the 2002 Thunderbird was ugly.
7/10 DeLorean DMC-12
In the history of the American auto industry, few men are as important as John DeLorean was. DeLorean was a visionary who was involved in the development of some of the most iconic American cars, including the Pontiac GTO. After his stint at GM, DeLorean established a company in his name to build world-beating supercars.
The first and last car built by the DeLorean Motor Company was the DMC-12 – a wedge-shaped sports car that looked like it was built by aliens. The DMC-12 received so much praise that DeLorean slapped a $25,000 price tag on it. However, when gearheads learned that the production version of the DeLorean had a woeful 130-hp Peugeot V6, demand collapsed and the company went under soon after.
6/10 Cadillac Allante
In the ’80s, Cadillac needed a new sports car model to help maintain its position as the top dog in the US luxury car market. Cadillac’s plan was simple – to merge European design and American performance. The result was the Allante.
Cadillac hired Pininfarina to design and build the Allante, and the Italians didn’t disappoint as the Allante looked great and had outstanding build quality. Unfortunately, due to the shipping costs involved, the Allante became too expensive and eventually flopped.
5/10 Chrysler TC By Maserati
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A wise man once said it’s never a good idea to mix business with friendship. If only Chrysler head Lee Iacocca and his friend Maserati owner Alejandro de Tomaso listened to these wise words, the woeful Chrysler TC By Maserati would never have become a reality.
The TC was a failed attempt to combine European design with American power. Admittedly, the TC looked much better than most American sports cars of the day. However, since it had the outdated K-car platform, it was bound to fail.
4/10 Fisker Karma
Before Elon Musk took over the electric vehicle industry with Tesla, Henrik Fisker looked like the man to do it thanks to his Fisker Automotive brand. Fisker caused a lot of excitement in the auto industry when it unveiled one of the first plug-in hybrids in 2008 – a sports sedan known as the Karma.
The Karma went into production three years later and was initially praised for having a beautiful design that looked like the concept car. However, it had terrible build quality and would often suffer from battery fires, leading to massive recalls. Many also felt a $100,000 sticker price was too expensive for a car that could only hit 125 mph. The Karma only stayed in production for a year.
3/10 Chrysler Crossfire
When Daimler and Chrysler joined forces at the turn of the century, the first order of business for the new company was to build cars that integrated the best elements from both sides of the company. The first such vehicle was the Chrysler Crossfire, which is a sports car based on the Mercedes-Benz R170 platform.
The Crossfire started as a great idea, but some decisions turned it into a failure. For one, many felt it was ugly compared to other sports cars. On top of that, the Crossfire was based on the Mercedes-Benz R170 platform which was outdated at the time of its introduction. Chrysler finally discontinued the Crossfire in 2008 after not hitting its sales targets.
2/10 Cadillac XLR
Cadillac is the GM division responsible for building some of the best luxury vehicles in the world. Cadillac has had its fair share of hits and misses over the years, and the XLR is a perfect example of the misses.
The XLR debuted in the early 2000s as a luxury version of the C6 Corvette. The XLR was based on the C6 Corvette but had a unique design and lots of luxury features not found in the Vette. However, the XLR was heavier and had 80 ponies less than the Corvette, giving it a poor driving experience.
1/10 Chevrolet SSR
The SSR is a vehicle that often leaves us wondering what the heck Chevrolet was aiming for. It’s hard to tell what kind of vehicle the SSR was, as it looked like a weird pickup truck and sports car combo. Whatever it was, it sure was ugly.
The SSR did have some positives. For one, it was powered by a 6.0-liter V8 making 390 ponies – the same engine in the C6 Corvette. It also had many luxury amenities, including keyless entry, power windows and door locks, leather bucket seats, SRS airbags, cruise control, and many others.
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