Popular cars in India which were killed-off by their brands

Carmakers either discontinued the model entirely or came up with iterations that didn't capture the public interest like the original.

BHPian sunilch recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

While there were a good number of cars which initially failed, but later were turned around by the maker. There is another list, wherein the cars received a positive response right from the start, but were later:

1. Abandoned: Totally disowned by the maker. Either the brand or the car itself along with the parts/services.
2. Killed or Slowly destroyed: Simply killed by replacing the car with a different car not worth the salt. Or total exit from the segment despite the car being a success. Destroyed or put in ICU by a bad follow-on iteration of the product.

The actual reasons will be known by the board room members only but we can put in our understanding of the same with 1-2 lines may be for each product.

Category 1 cars will be the ones that were abandoned while the maker was still here. Otherwise all Fiat (old), Peugeot, Ford and Chevy cars will come here and list will be long.

Here is my list from the top of my head:

1) Abandoned:

Chevy Tavera: Good car that was an alternative to Qualis and then Innova and a VFM offering too for those on a budget. We didn't have any Ertiga back then. Simply abandoned after the emission norms violation by the company.

Toyota Qualis: Simply dumped the brand name. You will still see a fan following among those who owned one and at times even see a well-kept model running on our roads. Simply killed the name as they no longer had it in their portfolio. Was a bold decision but I guess they executed their strategy well with the Innova.

2) Killed / Slowly Destroyed:

Maruti Suzuki Zen: Replaced by Zen Estilo - a product that found no takers except for the name 'Zen'

Hyundai Santro [Xing]: Another well-established brand re-introduced incorrectly. Competition, Price and market movement - all these factors did not allow it to regain the sales/share the company hoped for. It even had an AT model too back in those days.

Tata Sumo: A VFM people mover with no features and just a noisy engine bolted to a chassis. But it did move people in large numbers and was a good favourite of the taxi segment, before the onset of the Innova. Tata never re-introduced the Brand with a fresh product but instead kept on selling it for a long time with just some gimmicks and advertisements - Sumo Gold or Victa, Virender Sehwag, etc.

Maruti Ritz: It was none other than its sibling - the Swift, that killed the car. It was a wonderful car and a success too (by absolute numbers). An on-demand AT too was available in those days. Due to production constraints and fatter margins on the Swift/Dzire siblings, Maruti had to chuck it.

Toyota Etios: Slowly destroyed by Toyota simply because it was never able to catch up with the competition. Otherwise, a good car that did good numbers too.

I am sure members can add more names to this list.

Check out BHPian comments for more insights and information.