Every carmaker, no matter how large or small, has the potential to fail. Some cases simply attributed to poor timing, others more seriously down to human judgment.
Starting with a potential world-beating car doesn't guarantee success, a global financial downturn can spell doom for any carmaker as Jaguar discovered with their XJ-220 production cut short due to falling demand.
By far a more serious issue, poor human judgment has led to some very famous carmakers to file for bankruptcy, owners unable to separate personal choices from more sensible business decisions.
9 De Tomaso Automobili - Potential Unfortunately Overlooked
Exquisite Italian styling backed up by powerful American muscle sounds like the perfect combination, but ultimately De Tomaso would fail due to poor sales figures. Early models lacked power with the Vallelunga packing just 4-cylinders, something De Tomaso would rectify with later models.
By far the company's most successful model, Pantera was launched in 1971 and remained in production until 1990 selling over 7,000 models the last of which utilized Ford's Cleveland V8 engines. Successive Guara models used BMW running gear but lacked the Pantera's drama, resulting in just 38 cars built before the company filed for Bankruptcy.
8 Saab Automobile - Fiercely Independent To The Last
Advertising executives tried to convince customers purchasing a Saab road car that it shared connections with the famous aircraft division. Many of their cars were good, but not jet fighter good. Being both forward-thinking and slightly quirky worked, customers of the popular 900 turbo model relishing the uniqueness and performance that other brands lacked.
GM exercising its right to purchase the remainder of the company in 2000 should have bought better stability and profitability, however, Saab die-hards preferred to go it alone instead of platform sharing with GM products. Other attempts to merge Saab products with other GM brands ultimately failed. Saab under the ownership of Spyker would enter bankruptcy in 2011 bringing an end to the once-popular brand.
7 American Motors (AMC) - Trying Too Hard To Be Unique Resulting In Too Many Bad Designs.
American Motors (AMC) in a desperate attempt to compete with the big three needed to produce specialist cars, often taking styling risks that didn't work out. Most famous for the run of cars deemed ugly by owners and motoring press alike severely impacted sales, reaching a low 1.83% of the market share in 1979.
If the 70s marked a low for AMC, the 80s with fresh Renault investment should have been the turning point, instead, the competition was no longer restricted to US brands with stiff competition from overseas marked the end of the road, AMC disappearing in 1988.
6 DeLorean - Car Of The Future, Almost.
Promising so much and eventually failing to deliver on many of its promises, DeLoreans gained more success in the movies than on the road. Starting with positives, stainless steel body, independent suspension, and gullwing doors all pointed to a promising sports car. However, lacking power from its rear-mounted Renault sourced V6 returned uninspiring performance barely able to reach 109mph.
Founder John DeLorean sourcing financial backing for the plant and production estimated sales of 12,00 vehicles to break even, in total just 6,000 cars were built. Poor performance drastically affected demand, which combined with poor exchange rates caused DeLorean to enter bankruptcy in 1982.
5 Edsel (Ford) - Premium Brand Hopes, Premium Prices, And Poor Sales.
It stands to reason that a premium brand would attract premium prices assuming the product is good to start with, unfortunately, Edsel is not one of those carmakers. Parent company Ford invested heavily in the brand hoping to capture sales from rivals GM, with the first models arriving at the wrong time.
Often cited as the ugliest car brand of all time certainly didn't improve sales, but overall the recession along with the models high pricing would lead Ford to abandon the Edsel brand in 1963.
4 Bizzarrini - Glorious First And Final Road Car.
Much of Bizzarrini's workforce came from other Italian carmakers bringing a wealth of skills and experience to the brand founded in 1964 to build racing cars. Developed from the successful A3C racing car, Bizzarrini launched its 5300GT Strada going on to be the most successful model produced.
Like many small Italian carmakers of the 1960s, Chevrolet 4.7-liter V8s providing the power, with 365hp on tap good for 174mph. Successive production models returned to Bizzarrini's racing roots ending the maker's road car presence.
3 Jensen Cars - From All-Wheel-Drive GT's To Obscurity
Unknown to most gearheads, Jensen has been building cars since 1922 but to most the company is most famous for the Interceptor Grand Tourer. Launched in 1964, FF models would be the first all-wheel-drive production car beating Audi to market by 13 years, although the latter has been more successful, FF production ended after 320 examples were completed.
Further development of FF's design would lead to mass production of the following Interceptor model for which Jensen is more famously recognized, producing 6400 examples before closure. Repeated attempts to revive the brand have failed with the last 2001 ugly S-V8 model failing to attract customers.
2 Monteverdi - Really Should Have Stuck With Building Sports Cars.
Another company that started life building racing cars before venturing into sports cars, Swiss carmaker Monteverdi mistakenly moved into boutique designs that would cause its downfall. Beautiful styling combined with 7.2-liter Chrysler V8 engines producing 375hp and also providing the model's name would be the company's high point.
Concentrating on modified products from other carmakers would see the company closed down in 1984 with production figures dropping to 187 cars in the final year. One final attempt to resurrect the brand in 1992 with the freshly designed Hai 650 model didn't go to plan just 2 examples completed.
1 TVR - From Boom To Bust, And Back To Boom Hopefully.
One of those small British sports car brands that keep coming back, TVR founded in 1946 has produced some of the best sports cars ever in between various ownerships and closures. Early models have an almost kit-car-like quality, with the more successful 90s models greatly improving TVR's reputation for fast powerful sports cars.
Arguably the company's best efforts, Cerbera, Tuscan, and, Sagaris couldn't save the carmaker from demise, under new Russian ownership sales dwindled until the company closed down. Once again new owners are hoping to resurrect the brand with an all-new Griffith model hoping to enter production in 2021.