Often here on the pages of Techprincess we talk about highly successful cars, capable of selling thousands, and sometimes millions of specimens, and making the manufacturer profit. As we all know, however, success cannot come without missteps, in life as well as in the automobile industry. For this reason today to Auto for Dummies we talk to you about some of the most memorable auto flops of the last 30 years, cars that, for technical solutions that are too avant-garde, too bold lines or simple bad luck, the houses that created them would prefer to leave locked in a memory drawer. Ready to know 10 of the biggest flops in the automotive world of the last three decades? Warning: you might be very surprised.
Cadillac Allanté, the car flop from the largest assembly line in the world
Years of production: 1987-1993Examples produced: 21,430
Let’s start immediately with a bang talking about one of the most famous flop cars. Unforgettable on the road, sold in very few specimens and with an assembly that is nothing short of crazy, the son of the sparkling 80s: Cadillac Allanté. The Allanté is an American car with very strong Italian genes, born to break the dominance of the Mercedes-Benz SL among the luxury two-seater convertibles but which paid off General Motors, owner of the Cadillac brand, only with a huge flop.
The year is the 1985. The world moves with the Concorde, the mobile phone begins to become popular and in America the most popular car among the wealthiest classes is the Mercedes-Benz SL. The German two-seater, with timeless aesthetics, the quality and comfort of a luxury sedan but also the performance and driving experience of a sports car, was the first choice for those who wanted speed, comfort and quality.
General Motors thus decided that German rule had to end. For this reason, to fight the very popular Teutonic rival he chose to to build a two-seater roadster on the antiquated floor of its sedans, Buick Riviera and Cadillac Eldorado in the first place. The front-wheel drive, the 4.1-liter V8 engine and only 170 HP and the chassis carried on since 1965 with a few modifications did not put the Allanté in an excellent starting position. To make matters worse there was incredibly complex car assembly procedure, which in retrospect is almost impossible to understand.
In short words, Cadillac commissioned the design of the car, its first two-seater since 1955, a Pininfarina. The Turin designer was also committed to assemble the bodywork only. To meet the supposedly large American demand, Pininfarina built a special factory in San Giorgio Canavese, near Turin. Here, the Allanté bodies were built, completely assembled and equipped with interiors and electrical systems. Hence, the madness: the assembled bodies were brought from San Giorgio Canavese to Turin Airport, where a Specially equipped Boeing 747 for the transport of 56 bodies at a time.
The plane then left for Detroit, where three miles from Detroit City Airport was the factory where the Italian bodies were assembled to the already assembled mechanics. This process, very expensive and crazy even to imagine, allowed Allanté to “boast” the title of longest assembly line in the world, with its 7,403 km. Needless to say, the car, to compensate for this madness, it was significantly more expensive than the other Cadillacs and even the rival Mercedes SL. Also, despite being the flagship of General Motors, paid duty in performance, quality and comfort. After 6 years and just over 21,000 units produced, in 1993 Allanté was withdrawn from the market, with all due respect to those who imagined the Turin-Detroit axis.
FIAT Duna, the Italian car flop
Years of production: 1985-1991Examples produced: 91,000
“The FIAT Duna it is the alarm of itself. “,” What is the name of a Dune with a sunroof? Dumpster. ” These are just two of the jokes you may have heard about one of the most vilified cars of recent decades, the FIAT Duna. The three-volume version of the beloved FIAT Uno, born for the emerging markets of South America, was practical and robust, but certainly not beautiful. On the contrary. The lines of Giorgetto Giugiaro’s Uno collided with a trunk that seemed to have been added in a second, or rather, in a third moment.
Arrived in Italy in 1987, the Dune hit everyone, but for the wrong reason. Its lines are nothing short of clumsy and un advertisements in which it was even buffered limited its sales: although economical and practical due to its size, the Italians (and the Europeans below) land they preferred other more graceful FIATs, like the Uno itself, the Regata or the Tipo, released in 1988. In addition, the Duna was made in Brazil and subsequently exported to Europe: for this reason, the quality was at times not up to European standards. If the Duna sedan was a real hole in the water of sales, the station wagon version, called Weekend, was much more successful. The qualities of practicality and robustness of the Duna met a line that was always not very graceful, but decidedly more digestible.
Most of the 91,000 Dunas sold in Europe were in fact weekends, many of which in the indestructible DS diesel version. If the Weekend convinced the public (to an ever lesser extent, it should be remembered, compared to the contemporary Regatta and Tipo), the sedan never took off. FIAT, to convince customers to buy it, for a period included in the (discounted) price also a new TV and a dishwasher. The operation Ok, the price is right but it was not enough, and led FIAT to close the imports of Duna in 1991. Six years of difficult career, which allowed her to boast the “much coveted” popular recognition of the ugliest car ever. Poor Duna.
FIAT Stilo, the Italian built in the Teutonic style that risked having FIAT shut down
Years of production: 2001-2010Examples produced: 789,000
Let’s stay in Italy to talk about the best-selling car on our list, the FIAT Stilo. For many, the Stilo is still today a discreet, robust and reliable car, which does not deserve the nickname “car flop”That many give it. In reality, however, the compact that was to beat the Golf was a real one bloodbath for the Turin-based company, which lost over 2 billion euros with the Stilo. The real problem with the Stilo was FIAT’s desire to beat its German rivals in their own field: the technology. The award-winning company Bravo / Brava, launched in 1995, had only moderate success, and failed to repeat the success of the 1988 Tipo.
For this reason, FIAT prematurely retired the Bravo after only 5 years, to launch the new car that aimed to beat the Golf in terms of technology. and of quality. The Stilo was in fact available in three bodies (3 Doors, 5 Doors and family, the Multiwagon), and led to the debut of cutting-edge technologies: Cruise Control with radar, parking sensors, color screen navigator, sun roof, electronically controlled power steering and instrument panel with digital screen. In addition, the Abarth version, equipped with a 170 bhp 2.4 5-cylinder engine, was only available with the Selespeed automated manual gearbox. Along with these technologies, the Stilo offered lots of space and a dashboard covered with soft plastic, unique in the early 00s and found only on the luxurious Audi A3.
Unfortunately, however, these technologies had several problems. On the one hand, all these solutions increased the weight, which worsened driveability and consumption. In addition, thereliability it was really problematic, so much so as to force FIAT to abandon most of these technologies on the occasion of the 2005 restyling. From 2005 to 2010, the Stilo was sold in much simpler trim, without screens, cruise control and cutting-edge technologies. THEFinally, the too Teutonic and cold style convinced little outside Italy, e the driveability was worse than the old Bravo due to the torsion beam rear suspension, a step back from the independent ones of Bravo.
FIAT had planned to sell 200,000 Stylus a year, to recover the very high development costs. Only 790,000 were produced in 9 years. Due to the enormous design costs, then, the Stilo is still today the most expensive car ever developed by FIAT. Because of this, the Turin-based company lost 2,410 euros for every Stilo sold: in total, the Stilo cost FIAT 2.1 billion euros. Due to the huge economic flop caused by the Stilo, FIAT risked bankruptcy in 2004, saved by the state. For this reason, the Stilo despite having been produced in almost 1 million units is remembered as the biggest flop in FIAT history.
Jaguar XJ220, the flop car you don’t expect: the fastest in the world not wanted by anyone
Years of production: 1992-1994Examples produced: 282
After three “normal” cars, one would expect to find another particular car but with little following, like all the following ones. In fact, it is not common to see the beloved supercars fail, especially today where we see supercars and hypercars selling for double their original price every day. Yet it wasn’t always like that, as you know well Jaguar. We are at the end of the 80s. Jaguar, after difficult years, returned to winning at Le Mans after the overwhelming victories of the 1950s. The prototypes that won at Le Mans, however, despite wearing the Jaguar on the bodywork, were actually cars made and conceived by TWR, Tom Walkinshaw Racing, the legendary British manufacturer specializing in racing cars.
Jaguar, however, saw these winning cars too far from its series production. Some Jaguar workers, in their spare time, thus decided to develop a home-built racing car, such as the C-Type and D-Type of the 1950s. Thus was born in 1988 the prototype of the Jaguar XJ220. The car had a crazy line, a central V12 engine and a all-wheel drive system similar to that of the contemporary Porsche 959. After its presentation, Jaguar garnered the public’s love, with over 1,200 people putting a £ 50,000 down payment on the project.
L’auto, however, was very complicated to make. The four-wheel drive, never used by Jaguar, came abandoned soon, It is in the 1990 there was the collapse of the Supercar market. In addition, America and Europe introduced some new anti-pollution regulations, which greatly penalized the multi-fractionated and large-displacement engines. Already…