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Exclusivity sells cars but sometimes it’s not intentional.
Even mass-market companies like Honda, Toyota and Volkswagen have released cars that remained low-volume models. Some were largely overlooked by their target audience for a multitude of reasons, like BMW's exquisite 507 (pictured). Others were quickly canceled for cost reasons, like Volkswagen’s Australia-bound Beetle-based buggy. Join us for a look at some of the rarest cars made by mainstream brands.
For consistency, we’re only including street-legal production models built by the factory. We’re leaving out cars launched as limited-edition models (the Bugatti Centodieci, for example), coachbuilt models, race cars not designed for street use, prototypes and concepts. Let's take a look:
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Alfa Romeo: 33 Stradale (18 built, 1967-1969)
The 33 Stradale introduced in 1967 took performance to an entirely new level, even for a company like Alfa Romeo that’s firmly rooted in racing. Closely related to the race-winning Tipo 33, it was one of the first supercars thanks in part to a 227bhp V8 engine that lowered its 0-60mph time to under 6sec. Stylists even fitted it with head-turning butterfly doors like the ones McLaren uses today.
Stuffing race-proven technology in a street-legal package came at a high cost and the 33 Stradale was more expensive than the Lamborghini Miura. 18 units were made by hand before production stopped.
Alfa Romeo manufactured 12 examples of the Zagato-designed TZ2 but all were sent directly to the track. As for the 1992-1994 RZ, you’ve to 278 cars to choose from if you’re in the market for one.
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Audi: Quattro (11,452 built, 1980-1991)
The innovative Audi Quattro is best known for dominating the rally scene during the 1980s but it was also a regular-production model that spent over a decade in the company’s line-up. Its high price (especially compared to the 80-derived Coupe it was based on) embedded it in a niche and it was a rare sight even when it was new. Audi sold 11,452 examples of it between 1980 and 1991.
The cheaper, front-wheel drive Coupe available between 1980 and 1988 found 174,687 buyers. For context, Audi sold 23,905 examples of the first-generation R8 between 2006 and 2014.
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BMW: 507 (252 built, 1956-1959)
Influential importer Max Hoffman (1904-1981) convinced BMW’s management to design the 507 for the American market. He confidently expected it would boost the brand’s image as a purveyor of sports cars in what was then the world’s largest and most lucrative market. Although his plan had merit, it failed because the 507 was far more expensive than he anticipated. It nonetheless ended up in the hands of celebrities like Elvis Presley (1935-1977), who owned two.
BMW canceled the 507 after making 252 examples between 1956 and 1959. It then turned its attention to designing high-volume cars like the 700 and barely avoided running out of money. It largely stayed away from triple-digit production figures until it released the M1, which it should have produced jointly with Lamborghini, in 1978. 453 examples of it were made, including 399 street-legal cars.
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Chevrolet: SS (12,860 built, 2013-2017)
Chevrolet’s rear-wheel drive, V8-powered SS was a Holden Commodore in disguise. It was manufactured in Australia and imported to the United States where it was boldly positioned as a modern-day muscle car for the entire family. The addition of a six-speed manual transmission for the 2015 model year should have broadened its appeal among enthusiast circles but sales stayed low. Chevrolet canceled it in 2017, when Holden discontinued the Commodore, after selling 12,860 units.
Other notable low-volume models, like the Corvair 95 pickup and the SSR, outsold it with 20,650 and 24,150 sales, respectively. As of today, there’s no indication Chevrolet will fill the gap left by the SS.
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Citroën: Bijou (207 built, 1959-1964)
The elegant Bijou is a true automotive oddball. Citroën developed it for (and manufactured it in) England using a platform that underpinned millions of cars for decades. The glassfibre body hid a frame, an air-cooled flat-twin engine and other components shared with the 2CV. At the time, executives hoped offering a coupe with a more graceful design than the 2CV’s would help them increase their share of the British market. It could have worked but it didn’t. 207 examples of the Bijou were built in Slough, England, between 1959 and 1964 though some sources claim 211 is the correct number.
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Ferrari: 365 California (14 built, 1966-1967)
Pininfarina was put to work designing the most exclusive Ferrari ever made: the 365 California. Unveiled at the 1966 Genever motor show, power came from a 4.4-litre V12 engine, which could take the car to 152mph. The rarity of the model makes them very valuable – one was sold in 2013 for $3 million.
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Fiat: 8V (114 built, 1952-1954)
Nothing about this curvaceous GT suggests it was born under the same roof (and created by the same man: Dante Giacosa) as the Fiat 600. And yet, the Italian firm positioned the 8V at the very top of its range between 1952 and 1954. It was developed as a halo model that would help Fiat reconstruct its image after World War II by renewing ties with its motorsport heritage. Its 2.0 V8 fell on the right side of Italian regulations that taxed large-displacement engines and put 104bhp under the driver’s right foot in its most basic state of tune.
The few motorists in a position to buy a car like the 8V in the early 1950s preferred to be seen in something more prestigious than a Fiat. Production ended after 114 examples were made. Many ended up in the hands of coachbuilders like Pininfarina so one- and few-off variants are common.
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Ford: Durango (about 212 built, 1979-1982)
Ford used the Durango nameplate before Dodge put it on an SUV. This trucklet started life as a Fairmont Futura, which was an unremarkable coupe that shared its Fox platform with the third-generation Mustang. Los Angeles-based National Coach Works converted it into a pickup by chopping off the back half and adding a tailgate before sending it back to Ford, which injected it into its sales network. It was sold by Ford dealerships in the United States and covered by the same warranty as a Fairmont.
Executives hoped the Durango would fill the gap left by the Ranchero in the Ford range. It didn’t; no one knows precisely how many examples were built but most sources agree on 212.
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Honda: P800 (1079 built, 1966-1967)
Honda introduced a city-friendly pickup named P800 in 1966, nearly four decades before it released the original Ridgeline in the United States. It was an evolution of the L800 van, which replaced the L700, and it was aimed largely at commercial users on the Japanese market. Production lasted a little over a year.
7275 examples of the L800 were built but only 1079 buyers took home a P800. This figure makes it rarer than the S500 (Honda’s second production car) and the Vamos, which logged 1363 and 2500 sales, respectively. No one knows how many P800s remain today but the number is undoubtedly tiny.
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Hummer: H3T (2738 built, 2008-2010)
General Motors-owned Hummer turned the H3, its smallest model, into a four-door pickup named H3T in 2008. It wasn’t designed for construction sites; it was more at home exploring the great outdoors with a pair of kayaks strapped to its roof. The H3T was the most affordable Hummer and it likely would have become the company’s most popular model had it been given the chance to prove its mettle.
It’s instead remembered as Hummer’s least-common truck. 2738 examples were made between 2008 and 2010, compared to about 11,000 units of the mammoth H1 and 150,000 examples of the mid-level H2. Production ended after General Motors announced plans to close the brand in 2010.
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Jeep: CJ-6 (50,172 built, 1955-1975)
The original, Brooks Stevens-designed Jeepster released in 1948 is often considered part of the Jeep range but it was sold as a Willys-Overland, the firm’s parent company. Although 19,132 examples of it were made between 1948 and 1950, calling it Jeep’s rarest model wouldn’t be historically accurate.
The CJ-6 instead takes the crown. It was a stretched version of the CJ-5 developed for motorists who needed 20 additional inches of sheet metal between the axles. As it turns out, few did. Jeep sold 50,172 units of the CJ-6 during a production run that lasted for two decades.
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Kia: Elan (1056 built, 1996-1999)
Kia purchased the rights to the M100-generation Elan from Lotus and launched the car in 1996 after making several modifications to it. It redesigned the rear lights (Lotus used clusters sourced from Alpine) and replaced the Isuzu-built 1.6 engine with a 1.8 it had in its parts bin. 1056 examples of the Kia Elan were built. Most were sold in South Korea but some made it to England and Japan.
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Lamborghini: Silhouette (54 built, 1976-1979)
Italian design house Bertone helped Lamborghini transform the Urraco into the targa-topped Silhouette introduced in 1976. The two models shared many components under the sheet metal but the Silhouette was marketed as a standalone model, a strategy which allowed the firm to flaunt a new model without designing one from the ground up. 54 units were built, a figure which makes it little more than a foot note in the company’s history, but it’s significant as the first open-top Lamborghini sold to the public.
The Silhouette is consequently rarer than some of Lamborghini’s limited-edition models. The hybrid Sian introduced in 2019 is limited to 63 units, for example.
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Lincoln: Blackwood (3356 built, 2001-2002)
Based on the Ford F-150, the Lincoln Blackwood was so unpopular that it was exclusively sold during the 2002 model year in the United States. The Mexican market welcomed it back for the 2003 model year but Lincoln canceled it after making 3356 examples. It flopped because it wasn’t nearly as versatile as it looked. Lincoln notably offered it only with rear-wheel drive and a carpet-lined cargo box.
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Mercedes-Benz: W188 (760 built, 1951-1958)
Called W188 internally, the 300 S occupied the top spot in the Mercedes-Benz line-up when it made its debut in 1951. It shared some parts with the four-door W186 but it was much more luxurious and correspondingly far more expensive. An updated model called 300 Sc arrived in 1955 with more chrome and fuel injection, among other upgrades. Its price went up accordingly, and it was a rolling status symbol.
The W188 was the most expensive Mercedes money could buy in the 1950s. 760 units were built between 1951 and 1958, including 314 coupes and 446 convertibles. It’s rarer than the vaunted 300 SL (W198), which found 3258 buyers from 1954 to 1957.
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Porsche: 912E (2092 built, 1976)
We’ve excluded the 959, which Porsche built 337 units of largely for homologation purposes, and chosen to highlight the 912E sold during the 1976 model year. The nameplate made a quick comeback in the United States to pick up where the 914 left off and give buyers a cheaper alternative to the 911.
Like the original 912, the 912E used a Volkswagen-sourced air-cooled flat-four engine. The 2.0 was fuel-injected (hence the E) and tuned to 86bhp. It was otherwise very similar to the 911 so the two coupes delivered nearly the same sharp, nimble handling. Porsche sold 2092 examples of the 912E in the United States during the 1976 model year and replaced the model with the 924 in 1977.
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Saab: Sonett (six built, 1955-1957)
Saab engineer Rolf Mellde built the first Sonett in a barn. He wanted to create a light, simple sports car the Swedish company could race across Europe. Five additional examples were built before Saab canceled the project after new regulations allowed it to compete with a modified production car.
Another one of Saab’s obscure models is the 9-4X, a Cadillac SRX-based SUV introduced at the 2010 Los Angeles motor show. 814 units were built in General Motors’ Ramos Arizpe, Mexico, factory before Saab filed for bankruptcy. The second-generation 9-5 estate is even rarer; it never entered series production.
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Subaru: R1 (10,501 built, 2005-2010)
Subaru made only 20 examples of its first car, the 1500, in 1954 but the model never progressed beyond the prototype stage so it doesn’t belong in this story. The numerous special-edition WRX STi variants are off limits, too, so its least-common car is the R1 marketed as the 360’s spiritual successor between 2005 and 2010. It took the form of a tiny, two-door city car that complied with Japan’s kei car regulations. Only 10,501 examples of the R1 found a home during the five-year production run.
Another one of Subaru’s low-volume models is the Traviq, a badge-engineered variant of the seven-seater Opel/Vauxhall Zafira people-mover sourced from a General Motors factory in Thailand. About 12,000 units of it were sold on the Japanese market between 2001 and 2004.
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Toyota: BXD20 Mega Cruiser (149 built, 1996-2001)
Historians puzzlingly disagree about how many examples of the Toyota Mega Cruiser were built between 1996 and 2001. Most cite 149 as the correct number but we’ve also seen 151 and 132 listed as correct. What’s certain is that this Hummer H1-like off-roader with military roots cost as much as a mid-engined Honda NSX on the Japanese market, which partially explains why production was so low.
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Volvo: P1900 (67 built, 1956-1957)
Volvo’s first sports car, the P1900, was so unsuccessful that we’re frankly surprised it wasn’t its last. Its development was commissioned by then-CEO Assar Gabrielsson (1891-1962) after he visited the United States in 1953 and noticed the rising popularity of glassfibre-bodied cars. California-based Glasspar reportedly helped Volvo design the P1900’s body and taught the firm how to reliably build it.
Shaping glassfibre was extremely expensive and Swedes had little interest in a two-seater roadster. The idea of top-down, wind-in-your-hair cruising was far more appealing in Hollywood than in Abisko. Volvo consequently sold 67 units of the P1900. Its successor, the P1800, was never offered as a convertible.
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Volkswagen: Country Buggy (1956 built, 1967-1968)
Volkswagen is a mainstream, volume-oriented manufacturer by definition. Most of the cars it makes are counted in millions rather than hundreds or thousands but there are some rare exceptions.
Its Australian division developed a Beetle-based open-top model named Country Buggy that looked a little bit like a locally-brewed Kubelwagen. Its creators envisioned it as an outback-wise car that would suit the needs of farmers, surfers and soldiers alike. They wanted to make it amphibious, too, but executives in Germany vetoed their request to keep costs in check. Making the Country Buggy remained overly expensive so only 1956 examples were built before Wolfsburg pulled the plug on the project.
Other low-volume Volkswagen models include the Type 147 van (about 6100 built), the SP2 sold in Brazil (around 11,000 built) and the terrifically simple EA489 (approximately 2600 built).
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