Every once in a while, a manufacturer cranks out a car that there was no market for. A car that answered a question that was never asked. A car that did not serve and purpose or have a use.
Here, we can discuss this category of cars. These cars can be ugly, good looking, slow, fast, weird... as long as they served zero purpose for the brand.
A few examples of these cars are:
2001-2002 Lincoln Blackwood: Basically, this Lincoln's first truck, and was the first luxury-oriented pickup truck to enter the American market. It was a badged-over Ford F-150. At the time, upscale SUVs were becoming popular, but there wasn't a demand for luxury trucks. Unfortunately for the Lincoln, it was only offered in one color (Black) and one configuration (SuperCrew), did not have AWD available, and had an astoundingly high bace price of $52,500. All of these mishaps added up to a vehicle that sold appallingly; just 3,300 were sold in a year and a half.
1997, 1999-2002 Plymouth/Chrysler Prowler: During the 1990s, sports coupes, hot hatches, and large family haulers were in high demand. 1930s-esque hot-rod cars, not so much. No one expected a modern, factory hot rod to enter the market in the late 1990s, or any other decade. Also during this time period, Plymouth has undergoing a downfall, and the folks at Chrysler thought that a unique vehicle like the Prowler would bring buyers back to the brand. Unfortunately they were wrong; the Prowler was not profitable enough to make Plymouth turn around. On the bright side, the Prowler was mostly praised, sold decently, and was offered in some peculiar colors.
2010-2014 Nissan Murano CrossCabriolet: Introduced in 2010, this was world's first convertible crossover. Until the CC's existence, no one ever thought that type of vehicle was possible. It wasn't a practical car, nor did it serve any purpose; traditional convertibles and crossovers were evidently better buys than this. Because of terrible sales, the "convertible crossover" departed from the market. The only other convertible crossover available for purchase as of 2017 is the Land Rover Evoque Convertible, and it is no more successful than the CC. Also, the CrossCabriolet was once of the least cool cars ever polled in the Cool Wall, according to the results.
I feel that if you want a certain purpose from a vehicle, then buy a vehicle designed for that purpose. When you get these modern cars that try to be a bit of everything, they end up excelling at nothing.
