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Most cars retire with a successor patiently waiting behind the scenes to take the torch.
Volkswagen’s seventh-generation Golf has just been replaced by an eighth-generation model, for example. It’s not always that simple, and there are models that signal the end of an era when they enter the pantheon of automotive history.
Here are some of the cars that, for better or worse, we won’t see the likes of again:
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International Harvester passenger vehicle: Scout II, 1980
Plagued by financial issues and crippled by labor unrest, International Harvester shut down its pickup truck- and SUV-building division in 1980 to focus on agricultural machinery and buses. In hindsight, executives didn’t expect the company to topple as quickly as it did and they planned a small model offensive for the 1980s that included a brand-new third-generation Scout.
Loosely previewed by the 1979 SSV concept, the Scout III would have retained the Scout II’s off-road prowess but adopted a much boxier look in tune with the design trends of the 1980s. It marked a sad end to a series that was a pathfinder for today’s modern SUV. PICTURE: Scout II
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Carburetted car sold new in America: Isuzu Pickup, 1994
Broadly speaking, car-makers in America completed the transition from carburetors to fuel-injection around 1990. Making the switch was necessary to meet stringent new pollution regulations. The Jeep Grand Cherokee and the Ford Crown Victoria both offered a carbureted V8 through the 1991 model year but Isuzu held out the longest. It didn’t make fuel-injection started on its entry-level Pickup until the 1995 model year.
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Car with a V4 engine: ZAZ 968M, 1994
The short list of companies that have dabbled in V4 engines includes Lancia, Ford, Saab, ZAZ and, briefly, AMC. Saab offered a Ford-designed V4 in the 96 until 1980 but it’s Russia-based ZAZ kept the layout alive for the longest time. It made the V4-powered 968M, part of the Zaporozhets family of cars, until 1994. This NSU Prinz lookalike lived well beyond its expiration date but it continually appealed to buyers seeking a cheap, solid car that was easy to service.
In 2018, the V4 engine lives on in the motorcycle world and on the track. Porsche won the 24 Hours of Le Mans (and later set an impressive lap record on the Nürburgring track) with the 919 Hybrid, a race-only prototype fitted with a hybrid powertrain built around a V4 engine. The company is not planning on installing the engine in a production model.
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Air-cooled Porsche: 993, 1998
The 993-generation Porsche 911 was a purist’s dream. It remained loyal to the tried-and-true air-cooled flat-six engine. It kept the round headlights and its silhouette made it immediately recognizable as a member of the well-regarded 911 family. Porsche fans loved it; critics called it an anachronism.
The 996-generation 911 introduced in 1997 switched to a water-cooled flat-six engine and wore a new, Boxster-inspired front-end design that received critical opprobrium from the public and the press. The 993’s status as the last air-cooled 911 makes it a sought-after collectible in 2020.
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Car sold in America with a cassette tape deck: Lexus SC, 2010
The last American-spec car equipped with a factory-installed cassette tape deck wasn’t a cheap, stripped-out econobox with plastic hubcaps and cloth upholstery. It was 2010 Lexus SC 430, an expensive and rather stately convertible billed as Japan’s answer to the Mercedes-Benz SL.
Lexus stopped offering the tape deck as an option after the 2010 model year. The New York Times reported that no car company offered a tape deck (either standard or optional) for the 2011 model year.
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New Saab: 9-4X, 2010
Saab fought until the end with the diminishing resources it had at its disposal. It introduced its last new model, the 9-4X, at the 2010 Los Angeles auto show. Production started at General Motors’ plant at Ramos Arizpe, Mexico, the following year but ended when Saab collapsed in late 2011. The firm’s official museum claims a little over 800 examples were built.
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Pontiac: G6, 2010
Embedded in deeply-rooted financial issues, General Motors announced it could deep-six some of its brands in 2008. The following year, it tentatively proposed to shut down Saturn, sell Saab and find a way to get rid of Hummer. Pontiac would remain alive as a niche brand, according to a statement released to the press at the time.
GM did the math and the numbers didn’t add up. It needed to eliminate Pontiac in order to stay afloat. Pontiac built its last car, a white G6, in January 2010.
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Body-on-frame American passenger car: Ford Crown Victoria, 2011
Starting in the 1970s, American carmakers began shifting their passenger cars away from body-on-frame construction in favor of a lighter unibody layout. The process was largely complete by the middle of the 1990s but Ford refused to give up. The firm held out for as long as possible. It made the final Crown Victoria – the darling of America’s police forces and taxi companies – in 2011.
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V8-powered Volvo: XC90, 2011
Volvo and Yamaha co-developed a V8 engine for bigger models like the XC90 and the S80. Made in Japan, the 4.4-litre eight produced 311bhp and 320lb ft of torque in its initial state of tune. Production began in 2005 and the engine proved particularly popular in America, where fuel remained cheap and large displacement engines were still in vogue.
Geely’s take-over brought massive changes at Volvo and sent it down the path of downsizing. The S80 lost its V8 option in 2010. The engine remained available in the XC90 until production ended the following year. While the company isn’t done building performance cars, we’d be surprised if we see another factory-made, V8-powered Volvo ever again, and as of now you can’t buy a Volvo with more than just four cylinders.
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Ferrari with a manual transmission: California, 2012
Ferrari last offered a manual transmission on the California, its entry-level model, in 2012. Buyers could order a six-speed manual as an alternative to the seven-speed dual-clutch automatic. Few did; the firm remembers it built between three and five cars with a stick before it stopped offering the option.
Enthusiasts won’t see a manual transmission option appear on a Ferrari order guide ever again. Anything is possible with enough money, however, and Ferrari will happily build a three-pedal variant of anything it makes for a collector willing to fund the development process from start to finish.
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Convertible Volvo: C70, 2013
Volvo hasn’t publicly confirmed that the C70 was its last convertible but the chances of seeing another one in showrooms are thinner than the wheels on a BMW i3. The firm has hinted it’s in no rush to return to the two-door segment, which is declining on both sides of Atlantic and not picking up steam in China.
That explains why it gave the production version of the head-turning Concept Coupe to its Polestar division instead of launching it as a sportier, more luxurious alternative to the S90.
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Lamborghini with a manual transmission: Gallardo LP560-2, 2013
Lamborghini abandoned the manual transmission a year after rival Ferrari but it sent out the three-pedal configuration with a bang heard around the world. It built 100 examples of a stripped-down, back-to-the-basics variant of the Gallardo named LP560-2 50th Anniversary with a 552bhp V10, rear-wheel drive and a six-speed manual transmission.
Complete lack of demand drove the final nail in the manual transmission’s coffin, according to Lamborghini. Then-CEO Stephan Winkelmann revealed there were sometimes year-long stretches during which no one ordered a Gallardo with a stick. PICTURE: Gallardo 570-4 Squadra Corsa pictured.
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Rear-engined Volkswagen: Kombi Last Edition, 2013
In Europe and in America, Volkswagen began moving away from rear-mounted engines during the 1970s. New models like the Golf, the Scirocco and the Passat adopted a front-engined layout. The venerable Bus and Beetle soldiered on for decades in other markets including South Africa, Mexico, and Brazil.
Volkswagen’s Brazilian division made its last rear-engined model, a Kombi, in 2013. It was the final example in a 1,200-unit limited edition called, appropriately, Last Edition. The company explained the Kombi (essentially a bay-window Bus with a water-cooled engine) still sold well but it had to end production because the model didn’t comply with new regulations that required every car sold new in Brazil to offer front airbags and ABS brakes.
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Body-on-frame Land Rover: Defender, 2016
The all-new Defender heading onto roads globally in 2020 shares a monocoque aluminum-intensive architecture with its Discovery stablemate and indeed they’re both made on the same production line in Slovakia. Which means that the old Defender, last produced in January 2016, will be remembered as the British firm’s final body-on-frame model.
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Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution: Final Edition number 1600, 2016
Mitsubishi celebrated the end of the Lancer Evolution’s illustrious production run by releasing a limited-edition model named Final Edition. Released in 2015, the model received an evolution of the standard car’s 2.0-litre turbo four tuned to 303hp, an upgraded suspension, more powerful brakes and an edition-specific design characterized by a black roof panel.
Mitsubishi sold the last of the 1600 Lancer Evolution Final Editions at an auction in 2016. The winning bidder paid US$76,400 for the car. The Japanese firm donated the proceeds from the sale to American charities dedicated to fighting against hunger.
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Citroën with a hydropneumatic suspension: C5, 2017
For decades, the clever hydropneumatic suspension helped Citroën build some of the most comfortable cars on the market regardless of price bracket. Times change, and electronic suspension technology rendered the green spheres obsolete by the mid-2010s. Citroen ended production of the hydropneumatic suspension when it built the last European-spec C5 in June 2017.
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Australian-built car: Holden Commodore, 2017
Australia’s car-building industry began crumbling when Ford outlined its exit strategy in 2013. It shut down its only Australian factory in October 2016, citing high costs and thinning profit margins, and Toyota threw in the towel in October 2017. Holden’s Elizabeth factory built its last car, a V8-powered Commodore painted in bright red, a few weeks after Toyota closed its Altona plant.
As of 2018, every car sold new in Australia is imported from abroad, meaning Ford, Holden and Toyota have become importers instead of manufacturers. The Holden name itself will die in 2021 when GM pulls out of the country entirely.
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Non-hybrid V12-powered Lamborghini: Aventador SVJ, 2018
The SVJ is much more than merely a faster, track-wise variant of the Lamborghini Aventador S. Maurizio Reggiani, the head of the company’s research and development department, confirmed the model receives the last non-hybrid evolution of Lamborghini’s naturally-aspirated V12 engine. The company needs to adopt electrification to keep its cars’ fuel consumption in check so the Aventador’s successor will receive an electric motor when it arrives in the early 2020s.
The SVJ’s 12-cylinder makes 759bhp and 531lb ft of torque. After driving it, Autocar concluded ‘the speed, the drama, the capability and the sound are like you won’t find elsewhere.’
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Front-wheel drive Alfa Romeo: Giulietta, 2020
Alfa Romeo’s shift to front-wheel drive marked a low point in the brand’s history. Company officials knew they needed to invest in driver-friendly rear-wheel drive models in order to re-launch the brand and credibly position it as Italy’s answer to BMW. This delayed Alfa’s comeback several times but the wait was worth it.
The Giulietta will be the brand’s last front-wheel drive car when it retires, to be indirectly replaced by the rear-drive Tonale compact SUV.
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Volkswagen Beetle: Final Edition, 2019
Volkswagen closed production of the heritage-laced Beetle in the summer of 2019. When the final model rolls off the line, it will mark the first time the Wolfsburg-based company hasn’t made a Beetle since the original, rear-engined model entered production in 1938.
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