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Nothing is set in stone in the automotive industry.
Car companies need to find a delicate balance between keeping their customers happy and staying true to their roots, while keeping up with ever-changing market trends and government regulations around the world. This explains how an idea that sounds utterly outrageous can turn into the status quo in a few short years. Or, alternatively, how a good idea ends up swept off the table, binned, salvaged and binned again.
Join us as we look at some of the most notable turn-arounds and what fueled them.
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Volvo’s never-made Amazon hot rod (1960s)
The Volvo Amazon looked a lot like an American car. It could have sounded like one, too. “There were plans to put a V8 in the Amazon,” the company wrote in a press release celebrating the model’s 60th anniversary. Technical specifications weren’t made public but Volvo noted it looked at fitting the Amazon with a truck engine modified for use in a passenger car.
Five prototypes were built and tested in Sweden before Volvo decided not to add a V8 to the Amazon line-up. The project was axed for several reasons. Decision-makers notably worried that the gap between the four-cylinder-powered model and the V8 would be too large.
Note: Volvo 121 pictured.
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Alpine’s bad timing in America (1987)
Renault officials believed they could sell about 1500 examples of the Alpine GTA annually on the American market. They allegedly allocated 180 million francs to the development of a US-spec model. It featured pop-up headlights, it wore bigger bumpers on both ends and it came with more equipment including leather upholstery and A/C. The trade-off was that the turbocharged PRV V6 made 180hp due to mandatory emissions-related equipment. In comparison, the V6 in the European-spec car generated 200hp.
Production started shortly before Renault announced plans to sell its 46-percent stake in American Motors Corporation (AMC) to Chrysler. The sale signaled the end of its presence in the US and made building a US-spec GTA completely unnecessary. Most historians agreed 21 examples of the car were built. None made the trip across the Atlantic.
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McLaren’s reluctant race-winning F1 (1995)
McLaren developed the F1 strictly as a road car. “To my thinking, the ideal car is one in which I could get in the driver’s seat and be out for a drive in downtown London, and then want to continue straight on to southern France,” explained technical director Gordon Murray. Racing was not part of the program.
Racing teams prodded and begged McLaren for a track-ready version until the company caved. The investment paid off almost immediately. The F1 took first place overall in the 1995 edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, beating better-known rivals like the Nissan Skyline GT-R LM, the Ferrari F40 LM and the Toyota Supra GT LM.
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MG’s stillborn US comeback (2008)
MG parent company Nanjing Automobile Corporation wanted to send the British brand back to the US after a decades-long hiatus by building the TF roadster from complete knock-down kits in Oklahoma, of all places. The comeback never happened. In 2008, officials announced the deal to build the Oklahoma factory had fallen through so they had nowhere to assemble the cars in the US. MG dropped its American ambitions and focused on other markets like China and Europe.
“The US isn’t on the short-term radar as an anticipated market for us,” said MG marketing director Gary Hagen.
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GM’s bankruptcy denial (2008)
Amid uncertain times for General Motors, vice chairman Bob Lutz attempted to quiet the rumors of an imminent collapse by affirming that “bankruptcy for GM is certainly not an option” during a speech made in October 2008. He added the board had never even talked about it. But as the Detroit-based giant buried itself deeper in dire financial straits, the prospect of bankruptcy went from not being an option to being the only way out. The company filed for bankruptcy in June 2009. The filing revealed GM was buried under $172.81 billion in debt.
Note: Chevrolet Cobalt SS pictured.
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BMW’s growing line-up of front-wheel drive models (2010)
BMW resisted building front-wheel drive cars for decades, even after rival Mercedes-Benz adopted the configuration for the first-generation A-Class in 1997. BMW even released a series of ads showing disproportioned animals to explain why rear-wheel drive made more sense. The campaign went out the window at the 2010 Geneva auto show when Norbert Reithofer, the company’s chairman at the time, declared “there will be front-wheel drive BMWs in the smaller vehicle classes in the future.”
BMW’s first front-wheel drive car was the family-friendly 2 Series Active Tourer introduced in 2014. In the 2018, the line-up also includes the second-generation X1, the X2 and a four-door model named 1 Series Sedan built and sold in China. Rumors indicate the next 1 Series hatchback due out in 2019 will switch to BMW’s modular front-wheel drive architecture, too.
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Volvo’s aborted 7 Series (2010)
Less than a week after Geely purchased Volvo from Ford, co-chairman Li Shufu said he wanted the Swedish company to build a car capable of dethroning the BMW 7 Series and the Mercedes-Benz S-Class. Volvo wanted to enter that segment when it was part of Ford’s Premier Automotive Group but the project never received the green light, presumably out of fear the model would overlap with the Jaguar XJ and a large, rear-wheel drive Lincoln model that was in the works but never launched.
Shufu swiftly admitted he hadn’t talked Volvo’s new board into backing the car. In November 2010, Volvo CEO Stefan Jacoby told Autocar he believed it was “too early” for Volvo to venture into 7 Series territory. He added he would reconsider the matter after Volvo reached its goal of selling 800,000 cars annually. As of 2018, Volvo has little interest in luring 7 Series customers into showrooms.
Note: 2011 Volvo Universe concept pictured.
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Alfa Romeo’s Japanese Spider (2012)
Alfa Romeo and Mazda signed a memorandum of understanding for the co-development and manufacturing of a two-seater roadster in 2012. The model – which could have resurrected the Spider nameplate – would have been based on the fourth-generation MX-5 Miata (pictured) and built in Hiroshima, Japan, by Mazda. Production was scheduled to begin in 2015. The tie-up made sense. It allowed Mazda to offset the high cost of developing the Miata while letting Alfa Romeo take a shortcut to the roadster segment by borrowing some of the best bones in the industry.
Sergio Marchionne, who was in charge of FCA at the time, had pledged never to build an Alfa Romeo outside of Italy and the Mazda deal would have forced him to break his promise. In 2014, Alfa Romeo boss Harald Wester confirmed FCA’s Miata-based roadster would arrive as a Fiat. It revived the 124 Spider nameplate when it made its debut at the 2015 Los Angeles auto show.
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Toyota’s low-volume electric iQ (2012)
Toyota teamed up with Tesla to build an electric variant of the RAV4. It planned to release a second electric vehicle based on the iQ, which was sold as a Scion in the United States, and it predicted a 2012 launch but it pulled the plug – pun intended – on the project. It scaled back its production plans and instead announced it would distribute 600 cars globally. That number quickly dropped to 200 cars; 100 for Japan and 100 for America. They were placed in fleets and car-sharing programs.
“The current capabilities of electric vehicles do not meet society’s needs, whether it may be the distance the cars can run, or the costs, or how it takes a long time to charge,” Toyota vice chairman Takeshi Uchiyamada told Reuters in 2012.
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Bentley’s off-the-table convertible Mulsanne (2013)
Bentley toyed around with the idea of a convertible Mulsanne when it revealed the aptly-named Mulsanne Convertible Concept to a small crowd of hand-selected owners during the 2012 Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance. The response must have been underwhelming because then-CEO Wolfgang Schreiber canceled the model in 2013 due to a demand perceived as being regional at best.
The enthusiasts who were looking forward to cruising in a top-down Mulsanne had loud voices and deep pockets. The concept re-appeared at the 2014 Los Angeles auto show and Bentley’s Mulliner division later announced it would turn the Mulsanne into a two-door convertible. The catch is that only 19 examples will be made and each one will carry a seven-digit price tag. None will be sold in America.
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Rolls-Royce’s perceived immunity to SUV fever (2013)
Widespread reports floating around the internet in 2013 claimed that Rolls-Royce was a few short years away from entering the SUV segment. Torsten Müller-Ötvös, Rolls-Royce’s CEO at the time, told Autocar that his team hadn’t even considered entering the SUV segment. He didn’t think the firm could credibly make an SUV because it wouldn’t boast the effortless driving characteristics that make “a true Rolls-Royce.”
The body style’s rising popularity evidently forced Rolls-Royce to reconsider the matter. The Cullinan, its first high-riding model, made its debut in 2018. Autocar’s Matt Prior drove it in Wyoming and concluded that “this big car is a Rolls-Royce at heart.”
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Volkswagen’s unseen U.S.-spec Golf GTD (2014)
In 2014, Volkswagen strongly hinted – but didn’t outright confirm – it would bring the Golf GTD to the United States for the first time. “I’m rather confident we will get it,” said Michael Horn, the president and CEO of Volkswagen’s American division, during the standard Golf’s American launch. He added it wouldn’t arrive before 2017. Separate reports pegged its base price at about $27,000.
Cost and logistical hurdles gradually pushed the GTD off of Volkswagen of America’s radar and the company’s move away from diesel in the US likely drove the final nail in its coffin.
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Ram’s unwanted Dodge Dakota successor (2015)
FCA’s Ram division couldn’t make a business case for a return to the compact pickup truck segment in America. Then-CEO Bob Hegbloom explained a small truck would need to be less capable, smaller, less expensive and more efficient than the 1500. His team couldn’t tick all four boxes and Ram confirmed it wouldn’t follow rivals Chevrolet, GMC and Ford into the reinvigorated segment dominated by Toyota.
In June 2018, former FCA boss Sergio Marchionne announced plans to build an entry-level Ram pickup by 2022. Details remain few and far between but the presentation confirmed Fiat will get its own version of the truck to sell in markets Ram isn’t present in, like Europe.
Note: Ram Dakota pictured.
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Honda’s vanishing volume knob (2015)
Honda began phasing out the volume knob in 2015 in the name of digital modernity. In the CR-V, for example, the driver needed to use the steering wheel-mounted controls or the infotainment system’s touch screen to adjust the volume. Buyers and journalists complained and Honda began adding the volume knob to the cars that lost it in 2017. The Civic got its knob back for the 2019 model year.
Note: 2018 Civic pictured.
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Great Wall’s failed attempt to buy Jeep (2017)
Jeep could have become part of China-based Great Wall. In August 2017, company president Wang Fengying said members of her team were talking to top FCA officials about buying Jeep for an unspecified amount of money. “We are deeply interested in the Jeep brand and have paid close attention to it for a long time,” Great Wall explained in a statement released to the media.
We began questioning the deal when an FCA spokesperson said the firm hadn’t been approached by Great Wall about buying Jeep or any other part of the business. Several weeks later, Great Wall conceded its efforts might never get off the ground. As of late 2018, Jeep remains part of FCA.
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Bugatti’s top-speed run with the Chiron (2018)
The Bugatti Veyron made headlines with its monstrous engine output (up to 1184hp in the Super Sport variant) and its jaw-dropping top speed (267mph). Everyone expected more fanfare from the Chiron and Bugatti delivered in the specifications department. The quad-turbocharged, 16-cylinder engine channels a mighty 1479hp to the four wheels. What about speed?
Rumors of the Chiron’s top speed began swirling around the internet before the car made its official debut. Insiders allegedly claimed it could reach 285mph with the speed limiter removed, though Bugatti denied this. Then-CEO Wolfgang Dürheimer said the French firm would test how fast the Chiron can go in 2018 but those plans have been placed on the backburner by current boss Stephan Winkelmann. We’ll need to wait until an intrepid owner finds a long enough stretch of empty tarmac to find out how fast the Chiron can really go.
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Ferrari’s on-again, off-again SUV (2018)
Former Ferrari chairman Sergio Marchionne hated the idea of putting the Prancing Horse emblem on an SUV. “You have to shoot me first,” he famously said in 2016. And yet, Marchionne slowly warmed up to the concept of a Ferrari-badged SUV as he examined ways to keep investors satisfied by doubling the company’s profits in five short years. Called Purosangue, the first factory-built high-riding Ferrari will make its debut in 2022.
Note: GTC4Lusso pictured.
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Ford’s Mach 1-badged SUV (2018)
In January 2018, Ford released a brief teaser video to announce the launch of a battery-electric SUV loosely inspired by the Mustang. Lightning chiseled the name Mach 1 into the sky near the end of the film, which seemingly suggested Ford would resurrect the emblematic nameplate for its SUV.
Enthusiasts took it as an insult. Historically, Mach 1 has denoted high-performance versions of the Mustang, not a family- and environmentally-friendly SUV. In August of 2018, Ford’s president of global markets Jim Farley announced the model likely won’t wear the Mach 1 nameplate. “We got a very strong reaction from people,” he explained. Rightfully so, if you ask us.
Note: 1969 Mustang Mach 1 pictured.
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Ford’s made-in-China Focus (2018)
Ford’s move away from traditional passenger cars in the US called for paring down the Focus line-up to a single model called Active. Presented as a pseudo-SUV, it would have been to the standard Focus hatchback what the Subaru Crosstrek is to the Impreza. Ford planned to build the model in China in order to save money and ship it to America starting in April 2019.
Ford ultimately decided to keep the Focus Active out of America due to the 25-percent tariff on Chinese-made cars collected by the American government. “Our viewpoint is that, given the tariffs, our costs would be substantially higher,” explained Ford North American president Kumar Galhotra in an interview with Automotive News. Even if the tariffs come down, Ford is unlikely to reconsider its decision.
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Elon Musk taking Tesla private (2018)
Tesla co-founder and CEO Elon Musk turned Wall Street upside down when he announced he wanted to take the electric car maker private at $420 a share. “Funding secured,” he tweeted, later adding that Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund would bankroll most of the transaction. The fund had little interest in helping Tesla go private, it instead invested in a rival named Lucid Motors, and the US swiftly filed fraud charges against Musk.
Musk ended up not taking Tesla private and sending one of the most expensive tweets in history. The billionaire agreed to pay a $20 million fine and step down as the company’s chairman to settle a lawsuit filed by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Tesla also agreed to pay a separate $20 million fine for not vetting what its chief executive writes on Twitter.
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