Gone and soon forgotten? The Dodge Caliber will soon vanish from the fleet.
Don’t look now but some old and familiar nameplates – perhaps one parked in your garage – won’t be around much longer.
Automakers plan to drop a number of models that aren’t cutting it over the next couple years, sometimes to bring in a renamed replacement but in many cases simply to abandon a market niche that isn’t generating enough sales to justify the cost of an update.
Among the many products that manufacturers plan to eliminate is the once-popular Chrysler Town & Country minivan. In fact, the Detroit maker has been steadily paring back its range of people-movers as sales slide and competition increases.
A dozen or more products will quietly vanish from the market over the next several months as industry assembly lines re-tool for the 2013 model-year. Among those also heading off to the automotive rust heap are:
- The Hyundai Veracruz, a big SUV hammered by fuel prices – and a general lack of customer awareness;
- The Kia Sedona, a perennial also-ran;
- The Lexus HS250h, a poorly conceived hybrid standalone model that never created the demand of the better-reviewed Lexus CT200h;
- The Mercedes-Benz R-Class, not quite an SUV, not quite a minivan, and not quite able to connect with U.S. buyers;
- The Mitsubishi Eclipse, the most recent incarnation of the sporty coupe failing to connect with once-loyal buyers;
- The Mitsubishi Galant, a largely forgotten player in the U.S. midsize market.
There'll be plenty of new models filling the holes, including the Dodge Dart, which will replace the unloved Caliber.
Other models rumored to be going away include the GMC Canyon and Chevrolet Colorado, though they’ve actually gained sales momentum ever since Ford killed its own compact pickup, the Ranger.
Dodge will kill the Caliber come the new model-year, and dealers are asking why that didn’t happen soon enough. But the maker isn’t walking away from the compact segment where it has barely been a player for a number of years. Instead, it is adding the new – and very well-reviewed – 2013 Dart sedan, bringing back a nameplate that’s been off the market for nearly four decades.
Mazda is dropping the CX-7 but replacing it with an all-new crossover dubbed the CX-5. That CUV is the first product from the Japanese maker to make full use of the new SkyActiv system – which includes not only an all-new high-mileage powertrain but a much lighter and more aerodynamic body that, in combination, will give the gas-powered CX-5 mileage more on a par with a conventional diesel vehicle.
Not all products that leave the U.S. market vanish entirely. The Mercedes R-Class will live on abroad. And the Ford Ranger, which was abandoned for 2012, lives on in much of the rest of the world thanks to an all-new compact pickup. Ford currently has no plans to bring that replacement to the U.S. – but hints it will regularly review that decision.
For those who worry that the range of offerings from the typical U.S. brand might be shrinking fret not. The big trend in the business is product proliferation. Most manufacturers are expanding their product line-ups. Take Toyota, which now has an entire “family” of Prius-badged models, including not only the original hatchback but the bigger 2012 Prius V and two new 2013 models, the compact Prius C and Prius Plug-in.
Mercedes is in danger of running out of letters among its alphanumeric offerings, with Americans soon to get the A-Class subcompact, among other new models. BMW has a range of new models of its own coming over the next several years, starting with its new coupe-like 6-Series Gran Coupe, which will arrive in U.S. dealer showrooms mid-year.