QOTD: Questioning the Expiration Date of Automotive Product?
Try as we might, there’s just no way to know everything about the contemporary offerings of all car manufacturers, even if consideration is limited in scope to North America. Invariably, our mental encyclopedia is missing a few pages. That means sometimes, we should consider the unknowns of our automotive knowledge.
Allow me to explain.
Today’s QOTD was prompted by something I asked on Twitter three weeks ago. Specifically, I queried the informed citizens of Car Twitter on the automobiles they’d have to check via Google to be sure they were still in production. Start searching the recesses of your mind for the things you really don’t know, while we talk about the first example that came to mind for me.
Asking myself the question I’d just invented, the Twinkie-shaped (and colored) Fiat 500L was the first car to come to mind. I assumed it had been in production since 2012 or so, and that it was past due for a major refresh or a cancellation in North America. Everybody who wanted one (that’s very few people) bought one shortly after introduction. I recalled the factory for the 500L used to make Yugos — and had a workforce that liked to go on strike. And when was the last time you saw one? Here in the Midwest, they’re fairly rare. Discontinued model, right?
Turns out I was half right, given I didn’t look this up until writing this piece. I got the introduction date correct, 2012, but I was wrong about the cancellation assumption. The 500L continues production in Serbia, though the factory was just idled (like so many other things) due to COVID-19. The TTAC article linked here also informed me of the North American death of another car I would’ve assumed was still on offer: the regular 500.
It’s a simple question, but not something one usually considers — unless there’s a critical mass of boredom, or perhaps a pandemic keeping everyone at home 24/7. Are you willing to admit what you don’t know?
[Images: FCA]
Interested in lots of cars and their various historical contexts. Started writing articles for TTAC in late 2016, when my first posts were QOTDs. From there I started a few new series like Rare Rides, Buy/Drive/Burn, Abandoned History, and most recently Rare Rides Icons. Operating from a home base in Cincinnati, Ohio, a relative auto journalist dead zone. Many of my articles are prompted by something I'll see on social media that sparks my interest and causes me to research. Finding articles and information from the early days of the internet and beyond that covers the little details lost to time: trim packages, color and wheel choices, interior fabrics. Beyond those, I'm fascinated by automotive industry experiments, both failures and successes. Lately I've taken an interest in AI, and generating "what if" type images for car models long dead. Reincarnating a modern Toyota Paseo, Lincoln Mark IX, or Isuzu Trooper through a text prompt is fun. Fun to post them on Twitter too, and watch people overreact. To that end, the social media I use most is Twitter, @CoreyLewis86. I also contribute pieces for Forbes Wheels and Forbes Home.
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Acura RLX- I’m surprised it’s still around, there’s even a hybrid version. I saw one some months ago but at around $50k there are plenty of other premium sedans that are a better value.
I KNOW the Jeep Patriot was discontinued after the 2017 model year, but I see so many in San Diego, including a couple brand-new looking models with dealer sheets still on the window, that I still wonder if there's a factory somewhere still cranking out a few. The simple answer is there was a glut of unsold Patriots when production ceased, and they're still working off the remainder. But how did dealers stay in business with so much inventory on the lot? Did FCA actually lease them, and they're now returning?