Failures that should of been successful

[capriceman]

I was thinking about the list of cars that where failures but should of been successful.

the short list

please add or comment

Aztek

looks are out there but the versatility is amazing.

Thunderbird

should of had more power but a very nice car.

SSR

Too slow and pricey but again very nice car. A dream on the back roads.

The GTO sorta but it still sold.

Theres a bunch out there but these are the top 3 in my book.

[CSpec]

I don't think the SSR was a dream to drive... it was extremely heavy.

[regfootball]

the aztek is successful for me cuz there's one in my garage, but yes, its BF ugly so that's why it failed.

my neighbor got an SSR last fall. He hasn't taken it out of the garage yet this year. maybe soon. SSR was heavy and pricey.

tbird really missed the style mark. it missed the hot period of retro and it didn't have any contemporary lines. tbird will become sought after over time i think. even if it wasn't popular new.

Edited April 17, 2007 by regfootball

[balthazar]

>>"The SSR holds the road like no other truck I've driven, begging the question: Is this a truck or a sports car? The line has been totally blurred."<<

Another opinion.

Everything is overweight today. SSR is only 400 lbs more than one 2-seat roadster. Or look at it this way: about 300 lbs heavier than my all-steel '59 Buick coupe.

Edited April 17, 2007 by balthazar

[Camino LS6]

The only real failure in this list is the Aztek as it was intended to be a volume product, the others never were.

[aaaantoine]

When I see the Thunderbird I am reminded of Ford's blatant American Idol advertising. In the first or second season, Simon pulled up in a Ford Thunderbird. I'm sure all sorts of wealthy brits would drive a T-bird instead of... Oh, I don't know... A Rolls Royce, a Bentley, a Land Rover, a Jag-u-ar, an Aston Martin...

[Drew Dowdell]

I'll add,

This was the closest any W-body came to seriously challenging the Accord or Camry. Unfortunately had the 3800 at the start, but the 3.5 "shortstar" certainly made up for any perceived deficiency later. Interior was conservative but tasteful...nothing any Camry owner would get upset about. Marketed terribly, but still one of the best and most competitive mid-sizers that GM has built even to this day. Only the Aura has matched it in my opinion.

While not exactly a sales failure, it never did as well as GM hoped. Towards the end they were selling for Civic money. Though it shares it's platform with the Pontiac Grand Am, somehow quality seemed higher.

To this date <pre-08 CTS> still one of the best efforts from GM in the entry-lux market. More on the softer side of the luxury spectrum this Oldsmobile was direct competition for the ES300 and Infinity I30. This particular model hurts GM in a strange way. While I like the looks of the Lucerne, I prefer the Aurora and even feel that the Aurora's interior was of better design and quality. It should be telling that the base V6 in the Aurora from 2001 still manages to out class the base V6 from a 2006 Lucerne. Again, to this date, still one of the best interiors GM has produced, only to be eclipsed recently by the SRX interior MCE.

[enzl]

The only product mentioned that I would agree is a surprising failure is the SRX, as it is both excellent and in a growing (crossover) segment.

The Aztek was bad as a concept, worse in execution.

The Olds Intrigue, while the best W by far, was the canary in the coalmine for the death of Olds. It was the attempt to redefine Olds as an Import fighter that led to its demise. With an image much like Buick, the Olds image wasn't reflected in its showrooms at the end, thus hastening its demise, despite the goodness of the Intrigue and the Aurora. The family sedan was in the process of being displaced by the SUV as a family vehicle, thus the shrinking marketplace for the Intrigue was even smaller than GM product planners had envisioned.

The T-bird and SSR were both victims of badge snobbery in their price range and further evidence of the limited market for 2 seaters. Both were also hurt by being mediocre products, as the SSR is a service queen and the T-bird a wet noodle structurally.

Edited April 17, 2007 by enzl

[bowtie_dude]

The XUV

Quadrasteer

Edited April 17, 2007 by bowtie_dude

[Camino LS6]

The XUV

Quadrasteer

Both were great ideas! Not sure why they failed, I have the feeling (justified?) that GM just didn't try hard enough with these innovations and cancelled them prematurely.

[enzl]

Honda S2000 comes to mind.

Would have thought there's enough Honda fans who are past their Civic Si stage. Perhaps it would have been better in an Acura dealership?

[aaaantoine]

The XUV was a great idea, but otherwise overpriced. Fortunately, the other model of Truck/SUV crossover design - the Avalanche - remains a success.

I know little of Quadrasteer's popularity. But I'm pretty sure that was also a price issue.

[91z4me]

The T-bird should have been a vert for Jag rather than a Vert for Ford. It would have had a much higher margin and the conservative and classy styling could have made it a real MB competitor. But it would have needed the 4.2 V8 and the SC4.2 from the start.

[VenSeattle]

The T-bird should have been a vert for Jag rather than a Vert for Ford. It would have had a much higher margin and the conservative and classy styling could have made it a real MB competitor. But it would have needed the 4.2 V8 and the SC4.2 from the start.

Nah... They should have made the Mark X concept. That would have brought much-needed prestige to Lincoln while preserving Thunderbird at Ford.

The Mark X could still bring prestige to Lincoln IMO.

[Camino LS6]

Nah... They should have made the Mark X concept. That would have brought much-needed prestige to Lincoln while preserving Thunderbird at Ford.

The Mark X could still bring prestige to Lincoln IMO.

[Drew Dowdell]

It's a shame that the DEW98 platform is nearly dead.

[Robert Hall]

I'd like to have seen Ford build that Lincoln convertible. I had a Thunderbird as a rental a couple of years ago, it was a pretty nice car..

[MyerShift]

To mine eyes, these were all faliures BECAUSE of the styling.

Aztec is as lovely as a rolling dustbin.

SSR is an awkward blend of truck, retro, and sport coupe.

Thunderbird is retro.

[Robert Hall]

To mine eyes, these were all faliures BECAUSE of the styling.

Aztec is as lovely as a rolling dustbin.

SSR is an awkward blend of truck, retro, and sport coupe.

Thunderbird is retro.

The T-bird looked odd in profile, I thought..it's got a big cab-forward style windshield resulting in a rather short nose, but a long deck, and the nose is taller than the rear (the body tapers front to back in profile)...

[Drew Dowdell]

The T-bird looked odd in profile, I thought..it's got a big cab-forward style windshield resulting in a rather short nose, but a long deck, and the nose is taller than the rear (the body tapers front to back in profile)...

The original had that same taper.

[Camino LS6]

It's a shame that the DEW98 platform is nearly dead.

I agree, very nice cars were built on it. Too bad Ford always left some critical detail out each car, dooming them unecessarily. (Too little power in the T-Bird, no manual in the V8 LS...)

They were on the right track, just didn't follow-up when they needed to.

[Camino LS6]

The XUV was a great idea, but otherwise overpriced. Fortunately, the other model of Truck/SUV crossover design - the Avalanche - remains a success.

I know little of Quadrasteer's popularity. But I'm pretty sure that was also a price issue.

Yeah, Quadrasteer was very expensive at first. Later GM dropped the price WAY down but I guess the damage was already done. I wanted one pretty badly.

[tmp]

Aztek

The concept was much better. In shifting it to the minivan platform it became bloated, the concept was smaller.

Thunderbird

Was a very nice car that Ford spent so much time announcing and not getting it to market that by the time it finally did show up I delt like i had had one and returned it when the lease expired.

SSR

Too big and too heavy and not powerful enough. Maybe should have been done on a car platform

XUV

Once again, IMHO too big. Great concept, though. If they ever do a CTS shooting brake, it should have that roof.

Mark X

Another in a decade-long line of concepts from Lincoln that should have been and never were.

[Intrepidation]

What platform was the SSR based on?

[bowtie_dude]

What platform was the SSR based on?

Isn't it the GMT360 (Trailblazer/Envoy)?

[FAPTurbo]

Yeah, Quadrasteer was very expensive at first. Later GM dropped the price WAY down but I guess the damage was already done. I wanted one pretty badly.

I've met owners who swear by it, and love it, and where almost heartbroken when GM announced it was discontinued. It was a very good idea, and gave the HD an edge over the Super Duty.

[Camino LS6]

I've met owners who swear by it, and love it, and where almost heartbroken when GM announced it was discontinued. It was a very good idea, and gave the HD an edge over the Super Duty.

When it first came out, I watched a QS-equipped truck parallel park - it was nothing short of amazing.

If I remember right, you couldn't get it along with plow prep so I had to let it slide.

[Flybrian]

The XUV concept would've translated very well with a manual midgate and weatherproof, manually-operated canvas top on the SWB Envoys.

[Camino LS6]

The XUV concept would've translated very well with a manual midgate and weatherproof, manually-operated canvas top on the SWB Envoys.

Agreed, the LWB models just looked wrong to begin with (XUV or otherwise).

[91z4me]

Agreed, the LWB models just looked wrong to begin with (XUV or otherwise).

Yep, and the XUV looked to tall. Even compared to the other LWB 360s. I guess it had to do with the rear hatch area motors.

I wouldn't mind getting one and cutting off the rear cover area and making it like a smaller Avalanche.

Edited April 18, 2007 by 91z4me

[Dsuupr]

Old school;

Citation; Great idea for the time, and not bad looking (it was afterall the 80s). If only GM could have figured how to produce quality vehicles back then.

Corvair; Same as above. It could be one of the hot ones today if they had gotten the quality right.

1988 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme; Beautiful car, great suspension, same problems as above.

I think in the past GM made some of the greatest cars around. If it wasn't for their quality woes they would still have a line up of people buying them today.

[thegriffon]

… should of … should of …

"Should of"?

… should have … would have …

… should have … would have …

… should have …

… would've …

… could have …

[capriceman]

So I didn't pass English, Got a problem?

The Corvair was killed by Nader and "Unsafe at any speed"

GM really never had a quality issues, the cars ran fine. They had the Corporate issues, "How to make and save more money." So we got stuck with lifeless blandmobiles.

Technically the Fireo should be on this list as well. However the Dealers are the ones that jacked the prices so high no one want them.

[91z4me]

Sigh...

So I didn't pass English, Got a problem?

The Corvair was killed by Nader and "Unsafe at any speed"

Then why did GM continue to make it AFTER the book was published and the federal investigation was finished.

GM killed the Corvair because while popular at first it just wasn't as economical as the front engined vehicles.

Technically the Fireo should be on this list as well. However the Dealers are the ones that jacked the prices so high no one want them.

No the Fiero was killed because of inter company competition and over production. The market was saturated after the first couple of years.

[loki]

Technically the Fireo should be on this list as well. However the Dealers are the ones that jacked the prices so high no one want them.

the REATTA... should've been a RWD.... if buick ever gets a kappa, i nominate REATTA for it's name

chop/sketch contest idea?

Edited April 19, 2007 by loki

[thegriffon]

GM built a rwd Reatta, but it was totalled by a journalist.

[91z4me]

GM built a rwd Reatta, but it was totalled by a journalist.

Was it you?

[balthazar]

>>"The Corvair was killed by Nader and "Unsafe at any speed""<<

Then why did GM continue to make it AFTER the book was published and the federal investigation was finished.

GM killed the Corvair because while popular at first it just wasn't as economical as the front engined vehicles.

GM stopped Corvair product engineering after "Unsafe" came out, but continued production until demand dwindled due to product age. R&D and tooling was already paid for; running assembly for 5 years only amortized those costs. Corvair was actually pretty well built- my buddy has owned 4 or 5 with no complaints.

Economy of operation was not much of a concern with gas at 39 cents per or whathaveyou. Still, a 'Vair was good for low 20s MPG and there wasn't a big selection of cars that got better.