Showrooms are inundated with fresh products and new car sales are on the rise.
With so many options to consider, its easy to get caught up in looking at all the new-and-shiny sheet metal. But what’s sexy today often seems ugly any tired only a few years later. Many automakers continue to push outdated products beside new entries, even as sales slow to a crawl.
These are the top 10 vehicles that are still in showrooms, even though they probably shouldn’t be.
It’s easy to see who the winner is among Scion’s product portfolio. The FR-S is the only car with improving sales, while the rest of the lineup seems to be suffering a slow death.
SEE ALSO: Five-Point Inspection: 2013 Scion xD TRD
Take the xD as an example. It debuted in 2008 to replace the xA, but its quirky style and aging design are both looking tired in today’s market. As Toyota is forced to make tough choices about the future of its youth-minded niche brand, the xD seems like one of many models living on borrowed time.
Looking at the Lincoln retail site, it’s hard to see the Navigator as anything but a dinosaur. If the Ford Expedition is a Brachiosaurus, the Navigator is a Long Neck in outdated party clothes.
It fits into the Lincoln lineup with all the grace of a Billy goat in roller skates. Worse still, it’s a redundant product because of Ford’s luxo-truck trims like the King Ranch Expedition.
It’s one of the worst-selling vehicles in Volvo’s lineup. That fact is only made more painful by the fact that this is also the company’s flagship sedan. With little time left in its lifecycle, it’s easy to understand why buyers are shying away.
SEE ALSO: 2010 Volvo S80 Review
The Swedish sedan will get a mild facelift for 2014, but it’s difficult to imagine that being enough to stop its current sales slump. Remember: the current generation arrived in 2006.
Another relic of what the automotive landscape looked like a decade ago, the Nissan Armada is still for sale.
Nissan is working to improve its trucks, but for now the Armada and the Titan pickup it’s based on don’t really make sense. Plagued by poor fuel economy and a dated design, the Armada is better left untouched.
The company has been focused on building fuel efficient family sedans that use continuously-variable transmissions. The all-new Altima, for example, is been generally well received. Hopefully Nissan poaching former Ram truck boss Fred Diaz will pay off.
The Avenger nameplate returned to production for the 2008 model year and has remains with little change since then. In a segment where almost every automaker is offering new product, Dodge’s mid-size sedan is taking shallow breaths on life support.
It shares a platform with the Mitsubishi Galant ,which is still for sale as a 2012 model despite exiting production.
SEE ALSO: 2011 Dodge Avenger Review
Base models use a 2.4-liter four cylinder engine and a four-speed automatic. For some perspective, the new Jeep Cherokee uses a nine-speed automatic unit. V6 models step up to six speeds, but it’s still difficult to understand why Dodge is so reluctant to pull the plug. That is, until you realize that the Avenger is actually one of Dodge’s best-selling products. Go figure.
It’s OK to chuckle a little. The Tribeca has been, and always will be the ugly duckling in Subaru’s stable.
Overall the Japanese automaker is doing remarkably well. Sales keep stacking up to break records. In fact, recent reports suggest the company is being forced to re-evaluate its brand direction because niche status might not befit a brand with such growing popularity.
SEE ALSO: 2011 Subaru Tribeca Review
The brand’s future is still shrouded, but one thing is clear: the Tribeca should have been voted off the island long ago. Through the first seven months of the year, Subaru has sold a paltry 994 units.
As crossovers continue to woo style-conscious parents with high-capacity needs, the minivan segment continues to see products drop. Volkswagen no longer sells the Routan, and Ford’s Windstar hasn’t seen a showroom floor in years.
Kia’s Sedona is one of the few remaining products. Sales numbers lag miserably behind the Grand Caravan. It might have something to do with the starting price, which at $25,900 is almost $6,000 more expensive than the Chrysler products it stands beside.
Kia dropped the Sedona for 2013, but promises that there will be a new version for 2014. Maybe it will be more competitive.
Did you know Mitsubishi sells a hatchback version of the Lancer? Now you do. Remarkably, the Lancer Sportback managed to avoid the chopping block while Mitsu was making minced meat with most of its product line.
The biggest hurdle Mitsubishi faces with trying to sell this car is that there are so many new compact hatchbacks customers can choose from for the same price. While there isn’t anything necessarily wrong with the Lancer Sportback, it can’t compete with better equipped compact hatches that cost the same.
Consider yourself special if you bought a new Eos this year. Spread across Volkswagen’s U.S. dealer network, sales through the first seven months average to just over four units since New Year’s Day.
It really shouldn’t come as much of a surprise, either. The Eos is one of the most expensive vehicles in VW’s portfolio. With a starting price around $36,000 including delivery, it’s easy to understand why so few end up taking one home.
For some perspective, the Beetle convertible costs about $10,000 less to start, albeit with the regrettable 2.5-liter five-cylinder engine.
The only thing more confusing than the Toyota Land Cruiser’s persistent lifespan is the fact that sales are actually up over this time last year.
Yes, its an extremely capable off-road vehicle, but here’s the rub: it’s only about $3,000 cheaper than its Lexus LX counterpart.
SUVs with capability overkill are becoming harder to sell every year, and the EPA-rated 15 mpg average can’t be helping that case.