Cars We Said Goodbye to Over the Past Decade

Remember the Volkswagen Beetle? Sure, everyone does, because it was produced for more years than all but a handful of other popular vehicles. But what about the Mazda2 — recall that one? Probably not. That relatively short-lived model is just one of the many cars and trucks that have been discontinued during the past 10 years. Some, such as the Mazda, are fairly forgettable. Others, such as the Dodge Viper, were considered classics before the last one rolled off the assembly line. Learn more about these cars and some of the other vehicles automakers have discontinued over the past 10 years.

The HHR, first sold as a 2005 model, was Chevy's answer to Chrysler's retro-styled — some say ugly — PT Cruiser, which debuted to much fanfare a few years earlier. Like that car, the HHR (which stands for Heritage High Roof) was pretty successful for an admittedly niche vehicle. Chevrolet sold more than a half-million of these kinda-sorta-crossover wagons over the vehicle's lifespan.

The Eclipse sports coupe was a Mitsubishi mainstay for more than 20 years (the first model went on sale in 1989). Initially produced in conjunction with Chrysler, the Eclipse — available as a hardtop or convertible — was also sold as the Plymouth Laser and Eagle Talon throughout the '90s. When the final Eclipse rolled off the assembly line in Normal, Illinois, it was sold at action for $35,000, with the proceeds benefiting the Japanese Red Cross.

Jeep owners are fiercely loyal to the brand. But when the Liberty appeared in 2002 as a replacement for the beloved, boxy Cherokee, the smooth-cornered SUV failed to impress. One auto writer called it the "worst redesign ever." That didn't stop plenty of Jeep fans from buying the Liberty over its 11-year run. Unfortunately, a Jeep Liberty doesn't hold its resale value as well as some other models, including the Jeep Wrangler Unlimited.

This two-door coupe and convertible enjoyed a fairly long run for the Swedish automaker, first arriving stateside as a 1998 model. For buyers accustomed to the boxy Volvos of old, the streamlined C70 was something radically different. As Volvo's designer Peter Horbury told reporters at the time, "This time we kept the toy and threw away the box." But like a lot of toys, buyers eventually grew bored with the C70, and Volvo put it out to pasture after the 2013 model year.

The funky FJ Cruiser SUV's retro-futuristic body was a real head-turner when it appeared as a 2007 model. Inspired by the classic Toyota Land Cruisers of the 1960s, the FJ Cruiser was a capable off-roader. With its fat side pillars, rear suicide doors, and bright color options, the FJ Cruiser was a head-turner, too. But the SUV market is a crowded one, and most Toyota buyers opted for the automaker's more conventional four-wheel-drive models. To commemorate the final production run, the company produced the FJ Cruiser Trail Teams Ultimate Edition, which featured a custom-tuned suspension and a signature "Heritage blue" paint scheme. (More painful for many: Toyota ended U.S. sales of the Land Cruiser after the 2021 model year.)

Honda resurrected the Insight name for the 2020 model year, but the current version bears little resemblance to the original, which appeared in 1999 as a two-seat hybrid promising up to 70 mpg on the highway. Although the Insight was the first hybrid vehicle to be sold in the United States, beating the Toyota Prius to market by a few months, it never caught on the way the Prius did. Honda put the Insight on hiatus from 2007 to 2010, and when it returned as a four-door, the new model bore an uncanny resemblance to the Prius. Buyers stayed away in droves, and the Insight disappeared from sight in 2014.

Was it a sedan, a wagon, or a crossover? No one seemed to know what to make of the Honda Crosstour, which looked like an Accord on steroids, when it arrived in showrooms as a 2010 model. Despite offering options such as four-wheel drive and a V-6 engine, the Honda magic didn't rub off on the Crosstour, and the company pulled the plug after just a few years.

When this car arrived in 2010, the economy was in the tank and drivers wanted to save money by driving cheap, efficient cars such as this one. Or so Mazda believed. In truth, Americans haven't been keen on small hatchbacks for years, and other cheap cars such as the Nissan Versa proved far more popular. The Mazda2 soon vanished from showrooms, and Mazda killed plans to sell a similar hatchback in the United States.

Back in 1984, Honda introduced a two-seat hatchback called the CR-X that could achieve an eye-popping 52 mpg. Flash forward to 2010, when Honda unveiled the CR-X's spiritual successor, the CR-Z. Like the '80s version, the CR-Z was a wedge-shaped two-seater; unlike the CR-X, this vehicle relied on a hybrid engine. It wasn't quite as fuel-efficient as the CR-X, but it was definitely more fun to drive … if just as impractical for many car buyers. The CR-Z "filled a niche no one even knew existed," as the editors of Motor Trend put it, and the car sold poorly.

Toyota launched its Scion brand to much fanfare in 2003, hoping its line of small, sporty cars would appeal to millennials. The company enjoyed initial success with quirky cars such as the boxy Scion xB. But many of those young drivers didn't stick with the brand when they got older and were looking to trade up, and sales declined steadily. Although Toyota decided in 2016 that it was the end of the road for the Scion name, the brand's iA, iM, and FR-S vehicles live on as rebadged Toyotas.

With a 400-horsepower V-10 engine, this low-slung two-seater was a direct descendant of legendary muscle cars of the 1960s such as the AC Cobra. When it debuted as a 1992 model, the Viper was as close to a Lamborghini as Dodge fans could get — no surprise, as the Italian automaker, then owned by Chrysler, helped develop the engine. At $55,000, however, the '92 Viper was a heck of a lot cheaper.

Believe it or not, the idea for the Smart car originated with Swatch, the Swiss watchmaker. But it took the know-how of German automaker Daimler to produce this pint-size two-seater, which arrived stateside in 2008. The Smart ForTwo was plenty cute, but it was also underpowered, cramped, and not particularly crashworthy. Once the novelty wore off, Daimler had a hard time selling more than a handful of ForTwos, even after adding a convertible option. The gas-powered model was discontinued here in 2017, and the electric version followed in 2019.

This bland, big sedan was touted as Hyundai's "luxury" model when it arrived in the United States in 2006, but in truth it wasn't much more than a bigger version of the Sonata. (Hyundai's true luxury car, the Genesis, arrived two years later.) Still, it capably filled a role in the South Korean automaker's U.S. lineup for more than a decade before the company finally decided to call it home for good.

Ford celebrated the arrival of the new century by unveiling an economy car, the Focus. This "world car" — so-named because it would be produced globally, not just for the U.S. market — actually got its start in Europe a couple years before arriving stateside in 2000. Over the years, the Focus lineup would include hatchbacks, sedans, wagons, as well as hybrid-powered and high-performance versions. But sales peaked in 2012, and in 2018 Ford announced that it was phasing out nearly all of its passenger car models, including the Focus as we currently know it. 

Launched in 2012, the C-Max was Ford's answer to Toyota's Prius. And while some reviewers said it was the better of the two hybrids, the C-Max never got the same respect as the Prius — or sold as well. (Part of that may be due to the fact that Ford inflated fuel economy estimates to make the C-Max look like it got better mileage than the Prius.) Although the C-Max lives on in Europe, the 2018 model was the last to be sold in the United States.

First appearing as a 2013 model, the ATS was Cadillac's attempt to woo young drivers from their BMWs with a compact luxury car. When it was rolled out, the ATS body was unique to the General Motors lineup, and the sedan's angular body and wedgelike headlights turned plenty of heads. A coupe followed for 2015. Unfortunately, the ATS' debut year proved to be its zenith, and sales declined every year thereafter.

This plug-in hybrid sedan was supposed to be the car that would save General Motors from financial ruin in the wake of the Great Recession and make it a leader in alternative-fuel vehicles. It didn't quite work out that way. Between 2011, when the car went on sale in the United States, and the end of production in 2019, only about 150,000 Volts were sold. (Toyota sold nearly as many Prius vehicles in 2011 alone.) The last Volt, which rolled off the assembly line on Feb. 19, 2019, now lives at the GM Heritage Center in Sterling Heights, Michigan.

Toyota's smallest Prius arrived in showrooms in 2012, but it never quite got the love that Toyota's bigger Prius enjoys. The Japanese automaker dropped the hatchback hybrid in 2019 (the wagon-like Prius V was discontinued two years earlier), despite its great mileage and how easy it was to park, according to reviewers. With just 99 horsepower, it wasn't exactly a hot rod. Its replacement was the Corolla hybrid.

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One of 2020's most notable car cancellations had to be the Chevrolet Impala, which traced its heritage back to the 1950s when Detroit's Big Three ruled the auto world. It 1965, it sold more than 1 million vehicles, setting a record, and was available in a variety of styles, including a station wagon. But this year's discontinuation isn't the Impala's first. It was initially shelved in 1985, came back and was discontinued again multiple times. So, who knows, it may be back again before long. For now, it's just another victim of the shift from sedans and toward SUVs and crossovers.