In the ever-changing automotive market, there are a few evergreen nameplates that sell massive volumes year after year. The Toyota Corolla and Honda Accord are the traditional volume winners, last year selling a combined 639,185 vehicles , to put that in perspective, there are more Corollas and Accords sold each year than there are residents in the state of Vermont.
At the other end of the spectrum are the exotics, the vehicles that only a small group of people can buy. Ultra-luxurious Maybach sold just 63 cars in all of 2010. The explanation for this difference is fairly straightforward: many car shoppers can afford a Corolla or Accord, but few can stretch to the $378,000 entry price of a Maybach 57. And measuring 18.8 feet end-to-end, the 57 is a real pain to park at the grocery store.
Yet there's a surprising assortment of mainstream vehicles that sell in exotic-like quantities. Whether it's due to flawed marketing, optimistic pricing, or just an aging product, plenty of models record fewer than 3000 sales annually. Here's our look at eight of the slowest-selling cars of 2010, listed in descending number of sales.
To keep things fair, we included only mainstream vehicles that were on sale for all of calendar-year 2010. That excludes exotic and high-priced vehicles, like the Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG (499 sold in 2010); cars that debuted late in the year, like the Chevrolet Volt (just 326 sales last year); and cars that lingered on dealer forecourts long after being discontinued, such as the Honda S2000 (85 sales in 2010.)
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