2011 sales flops
By Dan Carney
Auto industry sales are recovering fitfully, but there have been some bonafide home runs, as cars like the Chevrolet Cruze and Hyundai Elantra sell almost as quickly as they arrive at dealerships.

Other models’ fortunes have gone from bad to worse. We’ve compiled a list of 10 of the worst offenders, looking at models that have sold in low triple-digit numbers each month so far this year.

These aren’t the only ones that sell in such low volumes, but many of the cars that sell in small numbers can claim exclusivity and price as the reason rather than unpopularity. Some other weak sellers, such as Cadillac's STS and Mazda’s RX-8, have already been discontinued by their makers and are limping to the exit, so we’ve excused them from this list.

The hideous and slow-selling BMW 550GT escapes inclusion because the company doesn’t break out its handful of sales from those of the rest of the 5-series line, so only the bean counters in Munich know just how poorly that car is selling.

The cars included here are unmitigated market failures -- cars that should probably cost someone their job because they cost too much to design, certify to the government and market for them to sell in such embarrassing numbers.

Acura RL
The Acura RL sells in a segment that could let it rightfully claim exclusivity if it didn’t sell in such absurdly low numbers. At 43 units in September, the RL is one of the worst-selling cars on our list. Why is this?

Let us count the ways: Acura design is lost, with each new model seemingly more determined than the last to drive the final remaining customers from the showroom. The brand has no cachet because most of its models are warmed-over Hondas. And in the case of the RL, Acura is attempting to compete in the prestige segment with a model whose specifications are pedestrian.

Luxury sedan customers have expected V-8 power and rear-wheel drive, and Acura has delivered a V-6 and economy car front drive or front-drive-derived all-wheel-drive. So there we have it: ugly, slow and unprestigious. It is a wonder they managed to sell 43 of them.

Year-to-date sales: 979 (down 34 percent from 2010)

Acura TSX wagon
Acura’s problems are so extensive that the brand holds down multiple spots on this list. Here is the TSX wagon, which sold a paltry 265 units last month. The shame is that it is a pretty nice car, apart from the corporate ugliness that was grafted on in its last facelift.

But Americans continue to resist the charms of sporty small wagons not named Volkswagen Jetta, and Acura hasn’t been able change that. Acura planned to sell a diesel version of the TSX, and considering that more than 80 percent of Jetta Sportwagens are diesels, maybe rescinding that decision was the mistake that has undermined the TSX Wagon. But VW sold more Jetta Sportwagens with a gas engine than Acura sold TSX Wagons, so Acura is falling short even on that comparison.

Year-to-date sales: 2,432 (not sold in 2010)
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Acura ZDX
The Acura ZDX is the poster child for job-losing mistakes. This is a car that launched with a Super Bowl television commercial but whose sales appear to be primarily to dealerships themselves, where they serve as loaner cars for the service department.

Yes, it is as ugly as the Pontiac Aztek. But the Aztek sold in orders of magnitude higher volume. So far this year Acura has sold fewer than 1,200 ZDXs, while the Aztek sold 27,000 a year for each of its first three years.

The Pontiac was reasonably priced, while the ZDX carries a premium price tag, saddling it with the same handicaps as the RL. Only more so.

Year-to-date sales: 1,220 (down 54 percent from 2010)

Of course this looks like “kick Honda when they are down” day, but really, blunders of this magnitude are inexcusable. In a market where the top-selling models are pickup trucks, Honda managed to push only 214 Ridgeline pickups off its dealers’ lots in August. More F-150s fell off delivery trucks that month.

Why? Truck buyers expect trucks that work. The Ridgeline has a small payload capacity and small towing capacity, so it doesn’t. That means it gets good gas mileage then, right? Wrong. The Ridgeline’s EPA numbers are no better than those of the big domestic trucks. Ask it to tow or haul and the Honda’s mileage plummets to 12 mpg.

And its styling? Are you kidding?

Year-to-date sales: 6,476 (down 49 percent from 2010)
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Honda Civic Hybrid
The Civic Hybrid is another victim of Honda’s malaise. The Civic isn’t a bad car, but it is no longer a great one, and the hybrid just costs too much to justify its price premium over its thrifty stablemates. The Hybrid costs $4,000 more than the HF model, with a difference in fuel economy of 44 mpg in combined driving for the hybrid and 33 mpg for the HF.

Shoppers recognize that 33 mpg is pretty darn good and keep that four grand in their pocket. The base car costs about $8,000 less and averages 31 mpg. And those alarmist news stories say Americans are bad at math. Honda wishes they were so they could sell more Civic Hybrids.

Year-to-date sales: 3,155 (down 39 percent from 2010)

Hyundai can do no wrong, right? After all, the company is on a roll, with the Elantra and Sonata shaming hotcakes, so rapidly do they sell. And the sporty Genesis Coupe has established some genuine sporting credentials for a company not known for fun-to-drive cars, while the Equus prestige sedan is conveying esteem to the brand with sales that embarrass the Acura RL.
The troubles here are the usual suspects; t
he car is so conservatively non-descript that it borders on ugly. It is Hyundai’s oldest model, from a time before it developed all of its current winners, so its driving dynamics, fuel efficiency and overall execution harken back to Hyundai’s up-and-coming years rather than its current riding-high epoch.

The company realizes all of this and has a new one ready to debut at the LA Auto Show. Rest assured -- it won’t find a place on this list in the future.

Year-to-date sales: 1,407 (down 42 percent from 2010)
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Lincoln is in much the same boat as Acura. The MKT is ugly, it is expensive and the brand’s little remaining cachet drained away when the NBA traded its Navigators for Escalades a decade ago.

This is a big, expensive family-hauling crossover that is too expensive for families and too ugly and too undistinguished for the country club set. There is surely a niche for premium three-row crossover SUVs, but the execution needs to be more like the Audi Q7 and less like the Dali-esque MKT, which appears to have melted lumpily in the sun.

Year-to-date sales: 3,757 (down 34 percent from 2010)
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Well, it seemed like Lincoln’s weak brand image is the MKT’s problem, but even a blue-chip brand like Mercedes is unable to conjure customers for the R-Class. This is a vehicle that shares the MKT’s other failings: It costs too much for suburban families to serve as a minivan substitute and its minivan-esque profile marks it as a family hauler for regular Mercedes buyers. That leaves it in a no-mans land with double-digit monthly sales. In August they actually sold only 30 of them. Maybe that means it will be a rare collector’s item in the future.

Or not.

Year-to-date sales: 1,986 (down 10 percent from 2010)
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Subaru Tribeca
Gosh, it’s hard to be sure what happened here exactly because there are so many confounding factors. The Tribeca, a three-row, seven-seat crossover SUV, launched with an awkward name, B-5 Tribeca, and even more awkward styling. The combination probably limited the vehicle’s opportunity to convince consumers that Subaru makes more than just jaunty little wagons suitable for weekend trips to the country.

Subaru shortened the name and tidied up the styling, but there were other issues too. Gas mileage is poor, even for the segment. Subarus are pricy, and as the pinnacle of the product line, the Tribeca is the priciest. Mainstream consumers may be reluctant to spend nearly 40 grand on a Subaru and the company’s go-to crunchy granola constituents not only don’t want a big SUV, they probably wish Subaru didn’t sell one. With sales like this, they will likely get their wish.

Year-to-date sales: 1,970 (down 4 percent from 2010)
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Here’s a surprise. The Land Cruiser has fans. Or it did, before it got soft and expensive. So even though people still like the Land Cruiser, they tend to choke on its price. Or if they can afford it, they shrug and head to the Lexus dealer where they buy its LX560 twin for only slightly more money. Twice as many shoppers chose the Lexus as the Toyota version, which dipped into double digits in July.

Year-to-date sales: 1,226 (down 4.5 percent from 2010)