It’s not a particularly good time to buy a car: a lingering shortage of semiconductors has hampered automaker production, which, in turn, led to higher prices and shortages on dealer lots.
But if you’re still compelled to buy a new car this year, you could be out of luck entirely — if you’re looking for one of the models we’re about to go through here.
USA Today, citing research from Edmunds and iSeeCars, put together a list of vehicle models that have been discontinued for the U.S. market in 2022. The casualties include vehicles you might expect — smaller cars and unconventional models — as well as some you might not.
As for those whose demise doesn’t necessarily come as a shock, Hyundai’s Veloster, a three-door hatchback, and the Honda Clarity, likely made to help the company meet fuel economy requirements, met the chopping block this past year.
Others fell victim to the U.S. auto market’s long pattern of buying larger trucks and sport-utility vehicles, including a pair of Volvo wagons — the V60 and V90 — and Kia’s Sedona minivan, along with a trio of conventional sedans: the Toyota Avalon, the Mazda 6, and the Volkswagen Passat, which ends a 30-year run in the U.S. after, among other issues, getting caught up in VW’s diesel emissions scandal.
The list also includes a pair of electric vehicles — BMW’s i3 and the Hyundai Ioniq — as those automakers push ahead with other all-electric options.
And even a couple of SUVs won’t move forward in the U.S. market despite seemingly boundless consumer demand. Mazda’s CX-3 compact SUV was evidently a little too compact, while the Toyota Land Cruiser — and its hefty price tag — will only be sold overseas.
As for those models that remain in production for the U.S., analysts expect overall new car sales to increase next year due to pent-up consumer demand following the supply chain issues of 2021.