2012 Year End Top 10 Worst-Selling Vehicles In America

The New Verano Made Too Many American Car Buyers Forget About The Handsome Regal In 2012

The worst-selling cars in America in 2012 were an eclectic bunch. We’re not talking about cancelled vehicles which still managed to find some buyers in the last twelve months, cars like the Mazda RX-8 and Dodge Nitro and Mercedes-Benz CLK. Many different types of vehicles which are still actively marketed by their makers sell rarely. 

There’s the all-electric Mitsubishi i MiEV, the fleet-friendly Hyundai Azera, the pricey Mazda MX-5-rivalling Volkswagen Eos, the Mercedes-Benz CL-Class jumbo coupe, and the boxy Nissan Cube. Come one, come all: you needn’t be a supercar to sell infrequently.

U.S. Sales Of The Honda CR-Z Fell 63% In 2012

Compiling a worst-selling vehicles list requires some discernment. Cars that are no longer in production are bound to sell rarely, so we exclude them, along with cars that manufacturers have already given up on. Even then, numbers can be skewed depending on the message the statistic compiler wants to send out. In order to cover all the bases, GoodCarBadCar ranks the worst-selling vehicles in America three different ways.

First, you’ll see the depth of the decline. How have the mighty fallen. Remember the days when it wasn’t so bad. Yesterday, all our troubles seemed so far away. In other words, 2012 volume is contrasted with 2011 volume. The volume achieved by one car is relative to the volume that car achieved last year. The ten worst declines are posted in the table below.

But you can be a fairly successful car before suffering a significant decline. This results in fairly decent volume even after that decline. The Buick Regal and Mazda CX-9, for example, still sell with a measure of frequency. And to some observers, it will seem unfair to call them worst sellers.

The Mitsubishi I Was Wisely Rejected By 99.996% Of The Car-Buying Public

So we also rank cars by total 2012 volume. (The Subaru BRZ and Subaru XV Crosstrek would be on this list, too, but weren’t on sale for the full year. It would be unfair to include them.) Of course, high-end premium machines are bound to sell rarely. Therefore, we create a list that takes all vehicles into account and another list that excludes premium brand vehicles and cars like the Chevrolet Corvette and Nissan GT-R.

The results are below. These were America’s ten worst-selling vehicles in the year 2012. Any vehicle you expected to see here but don’t? Find its historical monthly and yearly sales figures by selecting a make and model at GCBC’s Sales Stats home.