#DeadCars

We've known for a while that the sixth-generation Chevrolet Camaro is on the way to the great junkyard in the sky. Now Chevy has officially announced the send-off.

It's a sad day for fans of mid-luxury sports sedans/four-door coupes. And fans of the Kia Stinger. Or for people like yours truly, fans of both.

The Toyota C-HR appears dead in these United States, but will soldier on in Europe.

Today's QOTD is simple, and I won't need many words to set it up.

The Hyundai Sonata, the venerable mid-sized sedan from South Korea, may be nearing the end of its production run soon.

In the wake of the news that Subaru is killing the WRX STI going forward, it appears that the STI is already dead on the company’s U.S. and Canadian consumer Web sites.

The final Volkswagen Passat has rolled off the assembly line in Chattanooga, Tennessee, ending the model’s extended run on the North American market.

Designed by Giorgetto Giugiaro and introduced in 1973 using the VW/Audi B1 platform, the Passat arrived in the United States as the Dasher and was sold as a midsized luxury vehicle to people in the market for an imported economy car. The model carried different names in other parts of the world and even saw a few unique monikers used in the U.S. (e.g. Quantum) to help differentiate between the hatchback, sedan, and wagon variants sold throughout the 1980s. But it was officially known as the (B2) Passat by 1990, regardless of format.

Have you heard the one about the dead cars? No, not the ones we find in junkyards, but the ones that haven’t had life yet, thanks to the chip shortage.

The Volkswagen Passat is dead. At least in America.

2022 will be the last model year for VW’s mid-size sedan.

Hyundai’s Veloster is dead.

Mostly.

Don’t worry, performance fans — the one trim that lives on is the high-zoot N.

Say so long to the Kia Cadenza and K900 sedans.

Cause of death: Poor sales secondary to the crossover craze and the existence of the Genesis luxury brand.

The Toyota Land Cruiser seemed destined to remain on the market, forever unchanged, until the universe collapses into one giant black hole (or whatever would happen – astronomy classes were a long time ago).

Alas, even the Land Cruiser must meet its fate sooner or later. And Motor Authority is reporting that it is sooner, not later.

Jaguar has unveiled its short-term product plans, and fans of compact luxury sport sedans, as well as wagon enthusiasts, have reason to weep.

Just when Toyota’s Yaris finally adorned the name of a fun car, the brand kills it.

It was once the Scion iA, but a couple years ago, Toyota bestowed it with the Yaris moniker after retiring the Scion brand. Once attached to underwhelming subcompacts, the name was now slapped on the side of a more-fun small car.

It’s not shocking that the brand killed the Mazda 2-based Yaris sedan. The culprits? Slow sales and new regulations.

Slow sales is a big story in the subcompact class, and in 2019 the Yaris was down 5,000 units from the year before. Coronavirus may have ushered the Yaris out the door, too, since Toyota planned to limit North American production to adjust to the difficulties posed by the pandemic.

Strapped for cash, Mitsubishi has placed another legend on the chopping block. While the Pajero is famous globally for its stellar performance at the Dakar Rally, giving Mitsubishi more wins at the event than any other brand in history, you probably knew it as the Montero (or Dodge Raider if you’re old enough).

Sadly, you won’t be knowing it as anything but a memory soon — even if you live somewhere with a source of fresh examples. Having forecast another year of losses, Mitsubishi decided it need to continue tightening its belt. The Pajero will be taken out of production while the brand focuses on business in Asia.