TrueCar.com Remembers Defunct Makes and Resurrected Models

SANTA MONICA, Calif., Oct. 29 /PRNewswire/ -- Much like vampires and zombies, car makes and models can easily go from being very much alive, to very dead ... then can come back to life again.  

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In honor of Halloween, TrueCar.com, the authority on new car pricing, trends and forecast, remembers the dearly departed makes, as well as those great models that came back from the dead.  

"Many consumers have a strong emotional connection to a specific brand or model," said Brandy Schaffels, Content Manager for TrueCar.com.  "This list reminds us not only of the great names that passed into automotive history; it allows us to celebrate some of those models that made a successful comeback."

With most of these makes disappearing from U.S. dealerships over the next year, it is the end of an era for many longtime nameplates, like Mercury and Pontiac.

R.I.P. (in no particular order):

• Mercury (Ford, 1939 – 2010)
• Saturn (GM, 1985 – 2010)
• Hummer (GM, 1992 – 2010)
• Pontiac (GM, 1926 – 2010)
• Ford Ranger (1983 – 2011)

Welcome Back (in no particular order):

• Ford Fiesta (1978 – 1980, resurrected in 2010)
• Chevrolet Camaro (1967 – 2002, resurrected in 2010)
• Dodge Challenger (1970 – 1974, resurrected in 2008)
• Ford Taurus (1986 – 2006, resurrected in 2010)
• Dodge Charger (1966 – 1978, 1983 – 1987, resurrected in 2006)

Honorable Mention:  

• Saab (1947 – present):  Born from jets, nearly killed by debts; Saab was saved from our first list by owner sentiment and a great deal of money pledged by Dutch manufacturer Spyker Motors.  

"The problem with many of these brands, particularly Mercury and Pontiac, was that the automaker just rebadged and restyled these vehicles," added Kristen Andersson, automotive analyst for TrueCar.com.  "Several models that returned for 2010 had a historical connection or returned as interest in small cars and fuel-efficiency grew."

The following table illustrates current pricing for the five resurrected models:

As always, this is a purely subjective list, and we welcome your comments on our Blog, on our Facebook page or our Twitter page.

About TrueCar

TrueCar is the authority in new car prices.  We show car buyers and car dealers how much people actually paid for a particular car in a specific local area.  With TrueCar pricing, both new car buyers and new car dealers can know at any time what is considered a good or great price on a new car. Consumers no longer need to walk into a dealership partially informed and fully suspicious – using TrueCar they walk in knowing the price of a fair deal. Dealers benefit by TrueCar's real-time, unbiased information about marketplace pricing, helping them price cars for increased sales, and ultimately gaining market share over other dealers.  Our innovative new car pricing service is offered free of charge on our website at www.truecar.com, on our mobile site at mobile.truecar.com, and via syndication of our tools and pricing data to leading automotive research sites throughout the web. 

About TrueCar Data

TrueCar obtains data directly from numerous sources including automotive dealers, technology companies, data aggregators, and analytics companies within the automotive space.   We also acquire vehicle configuration data, customer and dealer incentives data, financing and loan data, vehicle registration and insurance data, and much, much more.  TrueCar is insatiable about data with our goal to find 100 percent of all purchase transactions, even if that means finding the same transaction multiple times from multiple sources within the car-buying ecosystem.  Our data is among the most timely and comprehensive in the industry.  TrueCar believes the greater our informational accuracy, the greater benefit we provide to both dealers and consumers.

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SOURCE TrueCar.com