In 2008, Kia hit the market with a full-size, body-on-frame, V6 or V8-engined SUV that was very well-suited to the pre-2008 auto industry. Kia cut its losses and quickly called it quits, selling only 1,158 Borregos over the span of just three model years.
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From the Borrego to the Pontiac Aztek, Lincoln Blackwood, and Chrysler Aspen, the North American market is littered with short-lived failures. More common, however, are the vehicles that slowly but surely ebb toward obscurity. Consider the Jeep Cherokee, which appeared on this list a year ago: Cherokee sales slid 31% between 2016 and 2018 and 61% between 2018 and 2020 before falling another 57% between 2020 and 2023.
The eclectic list of vehicles destined to rust in peace in 2024 predictably features a mix of both long-running models that no longer have what it takes and relative newbies destined for infamy alongside the Borrego and its ilk.
All The Vehicles Discontinued In 2024
Audi A4
More of a classification alteration than a conventional model elimination, Audi is moving the A4 into the A5 family. Confused? Quite rightly. The A5, of course, began as the coupe spawn of – that’s right – the A4. It’s the A4, therefore, that offers the lengthy history. Audi switched from the 80 to A4 badge in the mid-1990s. The A4 and A5 combined for 3,410 sales in 2024’s first nine months, marginally better than BMW’s 3 Series/4 Series total and nearly double Mercedes-Benz’s C-Class tally.
Cadillac XT4
Although originally intending to simply pause production of its smallest utility vehicle, Cadillac has since determined that discontinuation is in order. It’s surely not the news GM’s Canadian Cadillac dealers wanted to hear – the XT4 is Cadillac’s best seller here. XT4 sales slipped 2% to 3,361 units in 2024’s first three-quarters, better than one out of every four Cadillac sales this year.
Chevrolet Camaro
Give credit where credit’s due. The Chevrolet Camaro is truly a venerable nameplate, a memory-making muscle car. After its first run from 1967 to 2002, the Camaro’s seven-year hiatus gave way to another prolonged run from 2010 to 2024. In Canada, 37,623 of the Camaros fifth and sixth-generation have been sold with a peak of 4,113 units in 2010, the reincarnated Camaro’s first full year.
Chevrolet Malibu
Canadians acquired 180,000 midsize cars in 2004. A decade later, Canadians acquired 117,000 midsize cars in 2014. A decade later, Canadians are on pace to acquire fewer than 25,000 midsize cars in 2024. It’s not a market worth fighting for, GM has concluded, so the Malibu – one of few midsize sedans still available – bites the dust after nearly three decades in action.
Ford Edge
The only Canadian-built vehicle on this list is this Oakville-assembled midsize SUV. The Ford Edge produced significant volume year after year after year for the Blue Oval (albeit some years with no shortage of help from rental fleets). Just last year, Ford moved more than 14,000 Edges in Canada.
Infiniti Q50
Nissan’s upmarket brand jumped into the premium sports sedan market with a far more concerted effort for the 2003 model year. The G35 was a powerhouse. Perhaps not the most refined powerhouse, but a stylish and capable riposte to the German establishment. Two decades later, the Q50 successor still can’t produce the kind of volume generated by the Germans. Making matters worse, even the Germans don’t sell remotely as well as the Germans used to. Infiniti sold only 564 Q50s in 2023, a far cry from the 4,711 G35s sold in 2004.
Jaguar F-Type
Killing off the F-Type sports car leaves Jaguar’s Canadian lineup entirely devoid of passenger cars. (The XJ and XF were already put out to pasture.) Lineup, therefore, is too strong a word for the Jaguar brand, which now sells F-Pace SUVs and only F-Pace SUVs. The F-Type sports car came to life in 2013. F-Type sales peaked at 522 units in 2016 and total 3,432 since arriving in Canada.
Kia Forte
In a sense, the Kia Forte isn’t dead at all. Kia’s next-generation Forte just isn’t inheriting the Forte name. Instead, Kia’s switching to K4 nomenclature, a curious turn of events given that the most recent model name changeover in the Kia lineup – Optima to K5 – resulted in a brief four-year run. Kia eliminates the Forte name after a 16-year Canadian run produced over 202,000 sales.
Kia K5
As the midsize sedan segment continues to contract, certain contenders suffer far more than others. Toyota Camry volume, for example, jumped 28% to 8,658 sales in 2024’s first three-quarters. The Kia K5, however, operates at the other end of the spectrum. K5 sales dropped 6% to only 874 units in 2023 and are down 96% to only 31 units in 2024, the final year for the Optima’s replacement.
Most Maseratis
Global struggles at Stellantis don’t bode well for a chronic underperforming niche Italian brand like Maserati. Around the world, Maserati’s sales were only half as strong in the first-half of 2024 as they were a year ago. The Quattroporte, Levante, and Ghibli – but not the Grecale, yet – must all meet the executioner as the marque struggles to find coherent direction. Maserati only sold 481 vehicles in Canada during the first nine months of the year.
Mitsubishi Mirage
With the demise of the Mitsubishi Mirage, the dwindling subcompact category loses yet another affordable option. In the aftermath of The Great Recession, automakers flocked to the category in hopes of securing potentially loyal first-time buyers with cars such as the Ford Fiesta, Mazda 2, and Chevrolet Sonic. Those vehicles are all gone. Also discontinued are vehicles such as the Honda Fit, Hyundai Accent, Kia Rio, and Toyota Yaris. Mitsubishi Canada sold 26,799 Mirages between 2013 and the third-quarter of 2024.
Nissan GT-R
After decades of waiting, the Nissan GT-R finally showed up in Canada with the R35 iteration in 2010. With plenty of upgrades but no thorough overhauls, the GT-R proved to possess remarkable staying power during a prolonged production run that resulted in 1,255 Canadian sales between 2010 and the end of September. 2023’s 76 GT-R sales actually represented a six-year high; better volume even than what Nissan Canada managed in either of the GT-R’s first two years on the market. GT-R sales peaked at 156 units in 2016.
Subaru Legacy
Although Subaru didn’t appear to have any interest in acknowledging it, the writing was on the wall for years. Canadians love Subaru. Canadians also love the Legacy’s Outback offspring. Canadians do not, however, love the midsize Legacy sedan. Fewer than 5,000 Legacys have been sold in the last half-decade – Toyota sold that many Camrys in the first four months of 2024.
Toyota Venza
The Venza is dead. Again. Only recently brought back to life after a four-year hiatus, Toyota sold 6,250 Venzas in 2021, another 4,061 in 2022, 3,263 in 2023, and 3,815 through the first three-quarters of 2024. The first-generation Venza ran from 2009-2016. The second arrived in hybrid form only but now makes way for the Crown Signia.
Volvo S60
Volvo Canada broke its own sales records in 2023 by moving 12,865 vehicles onto Canadian driveways. Volvo is succeeding at an even healthier rate in 2024 courtesy of a 9% year-over-year improvement through the first nine months of the year. But none of this really has anything to do with the S60, a four-door sedan at a traditionally wagon-based company that now generates 90% of its sales with SUVs/crossovers.