What cars do you consider 'brilliant failures'?

[edkwon]

What i'm referring to are great production cars (wether its technological innovation, performance, power, style, build quality, originality, etc) that should have sold well, but we're sales failures and died premature deaths.

To keep this simplified and keep overly weird/obscure/irrelevant suggestions out, the criteria are

1. a regular production car that went for sale in any major world market (not a concept or prototype or 'special edition' of a normally successful production model

2. no race cars

3. no intentional 'limited edition' production cars (of course they have low sales figures, duh)

4. can be basically from any era starting from the 1900s

5. not from a normally low volume, boutique manufacturer (again, automatically low sales figures, a no brainer)


My first two suggestions are the

VW Phaeton - a terrific luxury sedan, full of great technologies and capabilities, basically destroyed by it's badge and consumer prejudices



The Tucker Torpedo - a car from the 1940s with an air-cooled flat-6 rear engine, disc brakes, fuel injection, alloy wheels, directional headlight, and drag coeff <0.3. Might have been the start of another major car manufacturer but the whole company folded amidst a scandal.

[Shawn]

This is probably going to be the most cliched answer, but what comes to my mind right now is the Honda NSX.

A failure for a variety of reasons, mainly the brand prejudices mentioned above with the Phaeton and its lack of brute power against it's competition. Well, if nothing else it looked awesome.

[KaJuN]

A true car of the times: a gas-saver that showed you didn't have to be boring to be economical.



Early problems with fires (caused mainly by owner neglect) were quickly solved but the car could never shake the bad reputation. Coupled with the fact that it was rather limp-wristed and less practical compared to the more popular Camaro/Firebird and the Fiero had serious trouble competing in the market. Rumors claim that if the car had stayed in production just a few more years it could have seen upgrades that would allow it to rival the Corvette. That may also have been a reason for GM killing it off because I don't think they would like anything in their own feet challenging their venerable flagship sports car. It's a real shame because I think it was one of the best looking cars of the 80s.

[Tim0r]

Originally Posted by edkwon

VW Phaeton - a terrific luxury sedan, full of great technologies and capabilities, basically destroyed by it's badge and consumer prejudices

To me it always felt as if the Phaeton had been destroyed mostly by the Press who started the whole "ZOMG ITS A VW FOR BIG MONIEZ" bullshit. When you pound that opinion into people's heads 24/7 its bound to sink in. We all know VW is a premium brand by now, owning a Golf basically tells people that you belong to the new successful generation of yuppies. People looking for something cheap have long been looking elsewhere.

[A.Fonz]

Triumph Stag (1970-77)



If ever there was proof that British Leyland was the most frustrating car company on earth, that Stag was it. The designers produced a car that looked stunning, and it was based on the Triumph 2000 platform, meaning that it was also inexpensive to build. This should have freed up some money for proper development, but sadly the accountants forgot to tell the workers. The Stag, which could eaily have been fitted with BL's Rover V8 engine, instead got its own alloyhead V8, effectively created by welding two Dolomite 1500 units together. The result was a reaction between the steel block and alloy head, which led to blown head gaskets, overheating and a warped top of the engine before most had covered 80,000 km. Many owners did what BL should have done and put their own Rover V8 engines in - with remarkably successful effects. Like most Bl cars, the Stag wasn't immune from the rust bug. Corrosion soon worked its way into the sills, rear quarter panels, boot lid and front wings, while the firewall edges and fuel tank were also weak areas. The Stag could've been a brilliant sucess story, but, as was the case when British Leyland was involved, it turned into an unreliable, underdeveloped financial nightmare.

[The Fishman]

The Ford Motor Company.

[fbc]

Originally Posted by Shawn

This is probably going to be the most cliched answer, but what comes to my mind right now is the Honda NSX.

A failure for a variety of reasons, mainly the brand prejudices mentioned above with the Phaeton and its lack of brute power against it's competition. Well, if nothing else it looked awesome.

Seconded. the NSX. So sad the people just didn't 'get' it.

[vikiradTG2007]

Originally Posted by Shawn

This is probably going to be the most cliched answer, but what comes to my mind right now is the Honda NSX.

A failure for a variety of reasons, mainly the brand prejudices mentioned above with the Phaeton and its lack of brute power against it's competition. Well, if nothing else it looked awesome.

It remains and will always remain a car that was helped in development by a F1 legend.

[Suedschleife]

The Smart Roadster had Brilliant handling but was let down by pricing policy and the low powered engines.

[Adunaphel]

NSU Ro80

It was bound to come up here. It was way ahead of it's time, most people consider it being too far ahead, which was one of the reasons for it's downfall. The other being the initial problems with the rotary engine, which were not helped by clueless dealers. It featured a lot of things that we still use today, and were very rare to see on a production car in those days, let alone combined in one car. The list includes all-round discbrakes, independent suspension all-round (front McPherson struts and rear semi-trailing arm suspension, both of which can be found in 90% of modern cars), power-assisted rack-and-pinion steering (as opposed to the then more common recirculating ball system), a semi-automatic gearbox with vacuum operated clutch, and a very aerodynamic exterior design, which influenced lots of aerodynamic cars of the 1980s, most notably the C3 Audi 100.

[Shawn]

Originally Posted by vikiradTG2007

It remains and will always remain a car that was helped in development by a F1 legend.

Well, obviously it will remain as such.

But that's one of my favourite things about the NSX... can't help but feel there's a little (or a lot) of Senna in that car.

[Vltros]

For me are both the Renault Avantime and the Renault Velsatis.





Sold as high-end Renaults, you will hardly see one except if you are in france.

[Adunaphel]

^ I see both on a regular basis and i don't live in France, nor do i go there often.

[watto]

Originally Posted by The Fishman

The Ford Motor Company.

Do you work for GM?

[Nikodemus]

Originally Posted by Vltros

For me are both the Renault Avantime and the Renault Velsatis.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi..._bleu_side.jpg

http://www.autocity.com/img/actualid...ift_1749_5.jpg

Sold as high-end Renaults, you will hardly see one except if you are in france.

Exactly!

Renault Avantime (2001-2003)
~8500 produced

Exterior is exactly what the concept car in 1999 promised, interior slightly too dull. Silly people won't just understand how jolly awesome it is. It's a definite future classic.

Vel Satis is still in production so it's not that much of a failure

[NooDle]

The Renaults mentioned above. The Avantime, I've seen several so i'm not conviced its a real "failure"
the Vel Satis though, I live nearer to France than Adu and I've never ever seen one in the metal.

Sadly I also agree on the smart Roadster. It was mostly let down by the crap gearbox and the fact that it's boot is non existant

[public]

Of course, the DeLorean DMC-12. A car for the future that took far more years to produce than it was in actual production (1981-1982)...



It was planned to become a volume seller, but was too fat, too expensive and the anti-smog equipment crippled the performance.

[Shawn]

How about this, the Buick Reatta?





That dash is totally tubular.

[tone76]

The Leyland P76



A very roomy, comfortable and - in V8 guise - powerful family sedan designed and produced in Australia by BL. Unfortunately, it was released in 1973 in the midst of the first Oil Crisis, and many people didn't know what to make of its shape. It caused BL's Australian operation to shut up shop in 1974.

Honourable mention: Mitsubishi 380



Think modern day Leyland P76. Roomy, comfortable and relatively powerful for a V6. It was also released during what some say is an Oil Crisis (it was released in 2005, just as oil prices started heading up in a big way). Unlike the P76, the 380 was actually quite well made. However, its failure to sell caused Mitsubishi Motors to pull out of manufacturing in Australia earlier this year.