Disappeared car brands: in the USA and in Europe

Only in the first two decades of this century, a dozen car brands have ceased to exist. Most of them disappeared in the USA and in Europe.

America has become the ancestor of “affordable mass car” concept. Therefore, it is not surprising that there the car brands appeared and disappeared especially actively. Perhaps one of the first significant losses was the disappearance of the Packard in the middle of the last century. In the 21st century, the automotive world accelerated, competition became tougher, and concerns started to think about the elimination of economically inefficient divisions. Some of them were very young, but some deserved names also disappeared.

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Oldsmobile is one of the oldest brands. It was founded in 1897. The owner, the General Motors concern, abolished the company in 2004. About 35 million Oldsmobiles were released for all the years of manufacturing, but at the end of the 20th century, sales fell, and the company did not manage to improve the situation.

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Oldsmobile was the first, but not the only victim of a reduction in GM in recent history. Pontiac cars were produced since 1926, and their story ended in 2010.

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In the same year, the GM brand Saturn also ceased to exist. It was only 25 years old at that time, so it can hardly be classified as significant loss. The idea of creating a separate youth brand in the mid-1980s seemed interesting, but the bid did not play. With the Saturn emblem other brand models of GM were produced, including the European Opel. Nevertheless, the buyers did not understand the new models. They preferred more familiar brands.

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The other two representatives of the big American trio had smaller losses. Ford broke up with the Mercury division. These cars in the hierarchy of the auto giant occupied an intermediate position between the available Fords and premium Lincolns. The glorious story, which began in 1938, ended in January 2011. Over the past ten years of the Mercury's existence, the demand for a large Grand Marquis sedan (similar to the Ford Crown Victoria) fell from 122.6 to 28.5 thousand units, for the Mountaineer SUV (also known as Ford Explorer) - from 46.5 to 5.8 thousand units.

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Well, Chrysler abolished the brand Plymouth, which existed from 1928 to 2001. It produced cheap cars, competing with the Ford and Chevrolet. Although at the end of its history, in 1997, the Plymouth released a stunning double retro Prowler sports car in retro style. After the closure of the brand, it was made with the Chrysler emblem the next year. The image model is gone without replacement.

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The British “Rover” has a long and complicated history. It became an automaker in 1904 and survived its own centennial anniversary just for one year. The company has changed many owners. In the 1990-2000s, it was the BMW concern, but could not bring the long-suffering English brand to the plus. Even an interesting novelty did not help - the sedan and wagon Rover 75. In the end, the Bavarians smashed their British asset: they left Mini to themselves, Land Rover left to the concern Ford, and the Rover itself went to the Chinese. The latter can produce cars, use technology, but not the name. So, today the legacy of "Rover" lives under the brand Roewe.

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Finally, the Swedish Saab. The disappearance of these non-trivial, fast machines with aviation genes is really worth pitying! A small company could not survive without joining anyone in the alliance, but collaboration with GM did not make the company successful. Chinese investment also did not save the situation. Founded in 1945, the brand went bankrupt and stopped the production of cars in 2011. Two years later, it resumed production. However, for the years 2013-2014 only 420 Saab 9-3 sedans were assembled. In 2017, an electric car was presented at its base in China and it was announced that there was an order for at least 150,000 copies. Since then, the fate of the project is unknown.

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