Every car manufacturer wants to sell as many cars as planned. This is why they are designing and manufacturing exotic cars with the intent to tickle aficionados fancy. But in the automotive industry, they can’t really have it all. Simply, it isn’t probable.
But come to think of it, the title “best and worst selling cars” is really a misnomer. Usually, the "worst" sellers are those with the lowest sales volumes and often the highest prices.
Mercedes-Benz’s lowest-selling car in 2006, the limited-production SLR McLaren coupe, was also, at $453,000, far and away its most expensive, says ABC News. The same can be said for Dodge’s $82,000 Viper sports car and Land Rover’s $77,000 Range Rover sport utility vehicle.
But some high-priced cars are a constant source of sales disappointment. These include Acura’s flagship RL sedan, the sales of which declined 35% to 12,000 units in 2006. Acura’s lowest-selling vehicle, the RL had sales in 2006 that matched only 37% of the sales of Mercedes’ flagship sedan, the S-Class, the report continued.
ABC News notes:
A car’s sales plummet when it is phased out of production, but sales also tend to decline when an automaker overhauls a nameplate, either because customers forego the old model and await the new one, or because the automaker ends the old model’s production before building the new one.
Conversely, some potential buyers may see such laggards as ripe for discounts because they know the dealerships want to get rid of them. Knowing what the successes are is equally helpful because they usually indicate what the company does best–or at least knows how to sell best.
Sports cars, such as Nissan Motor’s 350Z two-door, are fairly low-volume, and therefore, low sellers. But this does not mean they are failures. After all, the world’s most desirable cars–Ferraris, Bentleys, Rolls-Royce’s , etc.–are low-volume models.
As you observe, automakers’ bread-and-butter vehicles are well protected. They are constantly upgraded to suit the changing needs of customers. But this is done without compromising the original blend they have loved since the vehicle’s inception. Automakers have to constantly satisfy the customer’s appetite for tested, rare and luscious auto treats.