2018 Discontinued Cars Reaffirm Shift to Trucks & SUVs

Discontinued cars … it seems like there are an inordinate amount of them this year, especially in the wake of Ford’s recent announcement that it will no longer sell cars except the Mustang and Focus in North American beginning in the near future. Out of the 14 discontinued cars already announced, only three – the Volkswagen Touareg, Jeep Patriot and Infiniti QX70 – fall into the crossover/SUV category. One other, the Nissan Quest, is a minivan. All the rest are cars.

 

Some are universally well-known, while others just never seemed to catch on with consumers. But ultimately, the drop in gas prices and improvement in overall fuel economy have led customers to more often choose crossovers, pickup trucks and SUVs. This trend began in late 2014/early 2015 and has continued to the current day. Ford is even bringing back the Ranger pickup for the 2019 model year and the Bronco SUV for 2020.

 

Complete List of Discontinued Cars

Buick (Verano)

Chevrolet (SS)

Chrysler (200)

Dodge (Viper)

Hyundai (Azera)

Infiniti (QX70)

Lexus CT 200h

Mercedes-Benz (B-Class Electric Drive)

Mitsubishi (i-MiEV and Lancer)

Nissan (Quest)

Smart (ForTwo)

Volkswagen (CC and Touareg)

 

As mentioned earlier, customer preference toward trucks and SUVS has been obvious for a long time; that’s why, in recent years, Dodge has shrunk its lineup of cars down to only the Charger and Challenger. Through March of this year, the top-selling vehicle in the United States (according to Reuters) were: 1. Ford F-Series; 2. Chevrolet Silverado; 3. Nissan Rogue; 4. Ram Pickup and 5. Toyota RAV4. It isn’t until the sixth slot where the first car shows up on the list – predictably, it’s the Toyota Camry.