Personal luxury car is a North American
car classification describing somewhat sporty, sophisticated
mass-market coupé
A coupe or coupé (, ) is a passenger car with a sloping or truncated rear roofline and two doors.
The term ''coupé'' was first applied to horse-drawn carriages for two passengers without rear-facing seats. It comes from the French past parti ...
s that emphasized comfort over performance. The North American manufacturers most often combined engineering, design, and marketing to develop upscale, distinctive "
platform
Platform may refer to:
Technology
* Computing platform, a framework on which applications may be run
* Platform game, a genre of video games
* Car platform, a set of components shared by several vehicle models
* Weapons platform, a system ...
sharing" models that became highly profitable.
Although luxury coupes had been produced in North America for several decades previously, the beginning of the "personal luxury car" genre is generally considered to have started in 1958,
due to the success of the
Ford Thunderbird (second generation) when it was redesigned from a two-seat car to a four-seat car.
These changes shifted the Thunderbird's emphasis from sporting to comfort and luxury, and sales increased by 50 percent.
The Thunderbird was sold for eleven generations up until the 2005 model year.
The longest-running nameplate of the personal luxury car was the 50-year production of the
Cadillac Eldorado, which started in the 1953 model year, originally designating ultra-premium, low-volume versions of lower-priced
Cadillac
The Cadillac Motor Car Division () is a division of the American automobile manufacturer General Motors (GM) that designs and builds luxury vehicles. Its major markets are the United States, Canada, and China. Cadillac models are distributed ...
models, including the hand-built four-door 1957 Eldorado Brougham. According to ''Hemmings Motor News'', Cadillac first entered the "personal luxury car" market in 1967, with a smaller high-volume model.
Before the late 1970s, personal luxury cars were usually large, rear-wheel drive vehicles powered by large V8 engines. As a result of the downsizing trend in the American automotive industry during the late 1970s, many personal luxury cars have been produced as mid-size cars with six-cylinder engines and front-wheel drive. By the 21st century, the personal luxury market had largely disappeared as consumers migrated to other market segments.
Characteristics
Personal luxury cars are
mass-market vehicles that have a combination of
sports car
A sports car is a car designed with an emphasis on dynamic performance, such as handling, acceleration, top speed, the thrill of driving and racing capability. Sports cars originated in Europe in the early 1900s and are currently produced by ...
and
luxury car
A luxury car is a car that provides increased levels of comfort, equipment, amenities, quality, performance, and associated status compared to moderately priced cars.
The term is subjective and reflects both the qualities of the car and th ...
characteristics, typically two-door
coupé
A coupe or coupé (, ) is a passenger car with a sloping or truncated rear roofline and two doors.
The term ''coupé'' was first applied to horse-drawn carriages for two passengers without rear-facing seats. It comes from the French past parti ...
s or
convertible
A convertible or cabriolet () is a passenger car that can be driven with or without a roof in place. The methods of retracting and storing the roof vary among eras and manufacturers.
A convertible car's design allows an open-air driving ex ...
s, typically with a small rear seat not intended for regular use by adults. Personal luxury car designs emphasize comfort and convenience, often highly equipped with interior features that were either optional or not available on other models.
In contrast to the European
grand tourer
A grand tourer (GT) is a type of car that is designed for high speed and long-distance driving, due to a combination of performance and luxury attributes. The most common format is a front-engine, rear-wheel-drive two-door coupé with either ...
sporty luxury car, where high-speed performance was key, the American ''personal luxury car'' typically blunted performance by mating large engines to heavy vehicles. The cars were usually mass-produced and often shared major mechanical components with other models from the manufacturer to reduce production costs.
History
1950s
Niche market
The initial luxury cars of this category during the 1950s in the United States were expensive,
niche market, low-volume vehicles. Described as "quasi-custom" models, marketers at the time promoted them as "sports cars."
This connoted "anything with a convertible top, lots of performance, a few unique styling touches, and top-of-the-line price tag.
These included the
Cadillac Eldorado,
Buick Roadmaster Skylark,
Oldsmobile 98 Fiesta,
Imperial Newport,
Chrysler New Yorker,
Chrysler 300 and
Chrysler Windsor,
Packard Hawk, and
Packard Caribbean. All models had two-door convertible or
hardtop
A hardtop is a rigid form of automobile roof, which for modern cars is typically constructed from metal. A hardtop roof can be either fixed (i.e. not removable), detachable for separate storing or retractable within the vehicle itself.
The ...
body styles, built on a platform shared with far less expensive models.
The Eldorado represented 0.5% of Cadillac's total sales in 1953, with 1,690 Buick Skylarks, 458 Oldsmobile 98 Fiestas, and 750 Packard Caribbeans sold.
The styling of 1950s these luxury cars has been described as a "baroque excess".
An example is the
Continental Mark II that was introduced for the 1956 model year. With a price of approximately , the cost was equivalent to a
Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud
The Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud is a luxury automobile produced by Rolls-Royce Limited from April 1955 to March 1966. It was the core model of the Rolls-Royce range during that period. The Silver Cloud replaced the Silver Dawn and was, in turn, ...
and 3,012 Mark IIs were sold from 1955 until 1957. It was produced in the two-door hardtop body style with extensive standard equipment for the time that included power steering, power brakes, power windows, power seats, power vent windows,
leather
Leather is a strong, flexible and durable material obtained from the tanning, or chemical treatment, of animal skins and hides to prevent decay. The most common leathers come from cattle, sheep, goats, equine animals, buffalo, pigs and ho ...
interior, and a tachometer. The only option was
air conditioning
Air conditioning, often abbreviated as A/C or AC, is the process of removing heat from an enclosed space to achieve a more comfortable interior environment (sometimes referred to as 'comfort cooling') and in some cases also strictly controlling ...
for $595.
Mass market
The
Ford Thunderbird, released in 1955, was marketed as a personal car
and is often credited with playing a key role in the creation of the personal luxury car segment.
In the early 1950s, both
Ford and
General Motors were developing competitors to address what they perceived as the growing popularity of the European
Sports car
A sports car is a car designed with an emphasis on dynamic performance, such as handling, acceleration, top speed, the thrill of driving and racing capability. Sports cars originated in Europe in the early 1900s and are currently produced by ...
niche in the North American market.
The result was the
Ford Thunderbird,
Studebaker Speedster
The Studebaker Speedster was an automobile produced by the Studebaker Corporation of South Bend, Indiana during the 1955 model year. The vehicle was considered Studebaker's halo model for the 1955 season. Studebaker had previously used the Speedst ...
, and the
Chevrolet Corvette
The Chevrolet Corvette is a two-door, two-passenger luxury sports car manufactured and marketed by Chevrolet since 1953. With eight design generations, noted sequentially from C1 to C8, the Corvette is noted for its performance and distinctive ...
.
The first-generation Thunderbird was a two-seat car with a V8 engine, a suspension that was designed for comfort instead of
handling
Handling may refer to:
* Automobile handling, the turning characteristics of land vehicles
* Handling of stolen goods, a statutory offence in England and Wales and Northern Ireland
People
* Adam Handling (born 1988), British chef and restaura ...
, and also available in either
convertible
A convertible or cabriolet () is a passenger car that can be driven with or without a roof in place. The methods of retracting and storing the roof vary among eras and manufacturers.
A convertible car's design allows an open-air driving ex ...
(folding soft-top) or
roadster (removable
hardtop
A hardtop is a rigid form of automobile roof, which for modern cars is typically constructed from metal. A hardtop roof can be either fixed (i.e. not removable), detachable for separate storing or retractable within the vehicle itself.
The ...
) body styles.
The Thunderbird was able to reach a top speed of , which similar to many European
Grand tourer
A grand tourer (GT) is a type of car that is designed for high speed and long-distance driving, due to a combination of performance and luxury attributes. The most common format is a front-engine, rear-wheel-drive two-door coupé with either ...
s of the era.
The Thunderbird's ''sporty luxury'' format with more features, proved vastly more popular with American car buyers than the
spartan Corvette
sports car
A sports car is a car designed with an emphasis on dynamic performance, such as handling, acceleration, top speed, the thrill of driving and racing capability. Sports cars originated in Europe in the early 1900s and are currently produced by ...
by selling 16,155 units in 1955, compared with 674 Corvettes, 809
Chrysler 300D, and 2,200 Studebaker Speedsters.
This market signal set the stage for further development.
The 1958
Ford Thunderbird was the first high volume personal luxury car.
It added a rear seat, in response to Ford's market research that the two-seat layout of the first generation was limiting sales. The convertible/roadster body style was replaced by two models, a fixed hardtop and convertible.
[ Sales totaled 198,191 over three model years, approximately four times that of the earlier two-seat model.] The Thunderbird received the 1958 Motor Trend Car of the Year
The ''Motor Trend'' Car of the Year (COTY) is an annual '' Car of the Year'' award given by ''Motor Trend'' magazine to recognize the best new or significantly refreshed car in a given model year.
Background
''Motor Trend'', which debuted in ...
award.
1960s
Two competitors inspired by the continued marketplace success of the four-seat Thunderbird appeared for model year 1963, both shown at the October 1962 Paris Motor Show
The Paris Motor Show (french: Mondial de l'Automobile) is a biennial auto show in Paris. Held during October, it is one of the most important auto shows, often with many new production automobile and concept car debuts. The show presently take ...
. Both followed the close coupled four-seater coupe with powerful engine formula, laid down by the 1958 Thunderbird.
The first was the Studebaker Avanti. The Avanti featured a fibreglass
Fiberglass (American English) or fibreglass (Commonwealth English) is a common type of fiber-reinforced plastic using glass fiber. The fibers may be randomly arranged, flattened into a sheet called a chopped strand mat, or woven into glass clot ...
body, an optional supercharged engine, and front disc brakes. It was marketed as "America's only four-passenger high-performance personal car". The company built 4,647 Avantis before Studebaker
Studebaker was an American wagon and automobile manufacturer based in South Bend, Indiana, with a building at 1600 Broadway, Times Square, Midtown Manhattan, New York City. Founded in 1852 and incorporated in 1868 as the Studebaker Brothers ...
ended Avanti Production for the 1964 model year.
The second was the 1963 Buick Riviera, which began life as the Cadillac LaSalle XP-715 concept car. However, General Motors management was not interested in the XP-715 concept for Cadillac and offered it up to a competition between interested divisions. Buick won based on its marketing presentation. Total sales for the 1963–1965 model years was 112,244.
AMC's first personal luxury car was the intermediate-sized 1965 Rambler Marlin.[ The Marlin was described as "unusual, distinctive and in a class by itself".] Its design feature is the fastback roofline that terminates at the rear bumper. It was renamed as the AMC Marlin for 1966 to focus it on the personal luxury market.
The Dodge Charger was introduced in 1966 and is similar in size to the AMC Marlin.
The 1966 Oldsmobile Toronado became the first front-wheel drive
Front-wheel drive (FWD) is a form of engine and transmission layout used in motor vehicles, where the engine drives the front wheels only. Most modern front-wheel drive vehicles feature a transverse engine, rather than the conventional longi ...
personal luxury car. The Toronado provided the platform for the Cadillac Eldorado (sixth generation) to switch to a smaller high volume 'personal luxury' front-wheel drive layout the following year.
Up until 1967, personal luxury cars were grouped together with muscle car
Muscle car is a description according to ''Merriam-Webster Dictionary'' that came to use in 1966 for "a group of American-made two-door sports coupes with powerful engines designed for high-performance driving." The '' Britannica Dictionary'' ...
s and pony cars as the "specialty cars" classification. Rather than marketing to broad income classes as with their standard models, each of these car classes was targeted by the automakers to smaller and more specific market niches while offering long lists of options to satisfy consumer demands for individuality.
For 1967, the Rambler Marlin (second generation) was increased in size but still considered an intermediate a "larger 3+3 family coupe designed to appeal to the market’s trend toward bigger cars with more appointments." Also for 1967, the Ford Thunderbird (fifth generation) was released, moving further upmarket and with a four-door pillarless hardtop body style being added.
The Continental Mark III
The Continental Mark III is a personal luxury car marketed by Lincoln from 1969–1971 model years. The namesake successor of the 1956–1957 Continental Mark II, the Mark III again served as the flagship vehicle of Ford Motor Company. Off ...
two-door coupe was introduced for the 1969 model year as the flagship vehicle of Ford Motor Company and as a successor to the 1956–1957 Continental Mark II. To lower development costs, the Mark III was based upon the chassis of the Ford Thunderbird (fifth generation). Styling features of the Mark III included hidden headlamps (with retractable body-colored covers), a Rolls-Royce style grille, and a simulated spare tire on the trunk lid. The Mark III was the first American-made vehicle with radial tire
A radial tire (more properly, a radial-ply tire) is a particular design of vehicular tire. In this design, the cord plies are arranged at 90 degrees to the direction of travel, or radially (from the center of the tire). Radial tire construction ...
s as standard equipment.
In what would become a three-decade rivalry, the 1969 model year Mark III sold 30,858 cars for the extended 1969 model year (although 7,770 were actually built in 1968), while Eldorado, sold 23,333 units that year.
The Mercury Marauder (second generation) was available for 1969 and 1970 as its own model line of personal luxury cars in base and X-100 trim. The Marauder utilized Ford's redesigned XL hardtop's wheelbase that was shorter than other full-sized Mercury models and included a V8 engine. It featured hidden headlamps, a flying buttress-style roofline with available matte-black rear and trunk lid finish, rear fender skirts as well as five-spoke aluminum wheels with white wall bias-ply tires.
Also for 1969, the Pontiac Grand Prix (second generation) downsized from being a full-size to a mid-size coupe, in an attempt to reverse the declining sales of the Grand Prix model. Smaller than the Cadillac Eldorado and Oldsmobile Toronado, it was designed to be nimbler and more performance-oriented than the smaller Ford Thunderbird and Buick Riviera. Sales reached over 112,000 units, almost quadruple the 32,000 full-sized models built in 1968.
1970s
The decline of the muscle car
Muscle car is a description according to ''Merriam-Webster Dictionary'' that came to use in 1966 for "a group of American-made two-door sports coupes with powerful engines designed for high-performance driving." The '' Britannica Dictionary'' ...
, due to rising insurance costs and emissions standards in the early 1970s, coincided with a strong upswing in the personal luxury segment, as American buyers shifted emphasis from performance to comfort. Offsetting this, the 1973
Events January
* January 1 - The United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and Denmark 1973 enlargement of the European Communities, enter the European Economic Community, which later becomes the European Union.
* January 15 – Vietnam War: ...
and 1979 oil crises impacted demand for cars with relatively poor fuel economy. The 1970s personal luxury models were marketed on the basis of luxury, not performance. They were conventional in design and shared many parts with lesser models.
Due to the success of the 1969 Pontiac Grand Prix, other GM divisions followed suit and introduced similar cars for 1970. The Chevrolet Monte Carlo— considered an upscale vehicle for GM's lowest-priced division— was slightly shorter than the Grand Prix, due to being built on the Chevrolet Chevelle platform. The Monte Carlo was marketed as providing "elegance and prestige", however, some reviewers found it more similar to Chevrolet's more utilitarian models. The coupe model of the downsized Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme
The Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme is a mid-size car produced by Oldsmobile between 1966 and 1997. It was positioned as a premium offering at the top of the Cutlass range. It began as a trim package, developed its own roofline, and rose during the m ...
was introduced for 1970 and was sold alongside the larger Oldsmobile Toronado. The base price of the Monte Carlo and Cutlass Supreme were much lower than the Grand Prix. However, all three models were similar in price if they were ordered with the same level of equipment. Nonetheless, it is claimed that Chevrolet and Pontiac "took personal luxury cars to the masses". The introduction of the Monte Carlo and Cutlass Supreme did cut into the Grand Prix's dominance, and sales dropped 40%.
The 1972 Ford Thunderbird (sixth generation) had a significant increase in size over the previous generation, making it larger than most other personal luxury cars. The 1974 Mercury Cougar XR-7 was upsized to an intermediate platform (shared with the Ford Torino and Mercury Montego), since the Mustang was downsized to become the subcompact Mustang II for 1974, leaving the Cougar XR-7 without a platform-mate. The Cougar XR-7 was also sold as the 1974–1976 Ford Elite, which was styled to resemble the Thunderbird and marketed at a lower price. The Cougar XR-7 was priced higher than the Elite and included more standard features, but sold about 60,000 units compared to almost 125,000 Elites for the 1975 model year.
Mercedes-Benz
Mercedes-Benz (), commonly referred to as Mercedes and sometimes as Benz, is a German luxury and commercial vehicle automotive brand established in 1926. Mercedes-Benz AG (a Mercedes-Benz Group subsidiary established in 2019) is headquarter ...
took advantage of this American consumer trend during this era, with its 450SL and SLC models, beginning in 1972. North America was the key market for these models, and 2/3 of production was sold there. Mercedes-Benz were coy in their American ad copy about the car being a sports car
A sports car is a car designed with an emphasis on dynamic performance, such as handling, acceleration, top speed, the thrill of driving and racing capability. Sports cars originated in Europe in the early 1900s and are currently produced by ...
, advising potential buyers "Spoil Yourself" and asking “How can a 2-seater weighing 3,500 pounds loaded down with an automatic transmission and luxury power amenities be considered a sports car?.” The 450SL addressed the same market niche as the 1955-57 two-seat Ford Thunderbird ''personal car'', which had similar categorization issues.
The mid-size Chrysler Cordoba was introduced for 1975 as the company's first coupe produced specifically for the personal luxury market (despite the company declaring earlier that there would "never be a smaller Chrysler"). The Cordoba used vintage styling cues like Rolls-Royce
Rolls-Royce (always hyphenated) may refer to:
* Rolls-Royce Limited, a British manufacturer of cars and later aero engines, founded in 1906, now defunct
Automobiles
* Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, the current car manufacturing company incorporated ...
-style radiator
Radiators are heat exchangers used to transfer thermal energy from one medium to another for the purpose of cooling and heating. The majority of radiators are constructed to function in cars, buildings, and electronics.
A radiator is always a ...
grilles, opera windows, and vinyl roofs. By 1975, other models which had entered the personal luxury car segment included the AMC Matador (second generation), Buick Regal, Dodge Charger (fourth generation). The two highest-selling personal luxury cars for 1975 were the Chevrolet Monte Carlo and the Chrysler Cordoba.
In the mid-1970s, luxury features were becoming more common in compact and subcompact cars. The 1978 Plymouth Sapporo coupe (a rebadged Mitsubishi Galant Lambda built in Japan) was marketed as a personal luxury car, featuring a vinyl roof with a stainless steel targa band, velour interior, "luxury" wheel covers with whitewall tires, and various power accessories.
For the 1977 model year, the Ford Thunderbird (seventh generation) was downsized to an intermediate-size platform (based on the Ford LTD II), shedding nearly of length and of weight. It was repositioned as the replacement for the Ford Elite and sold alongside the closely related Mercury Cougar (fourth generation). The Thunderbird was assembled using a mix of body, interior, and trim parts from the previous year's Ford Elite, Mercury Montego, and Mercury Cougar, plus unique styling for the rear bodywork. This generation became the best-selling in the history of the Ford Thunderbird. Helped by a $2,700 price reduction from 1976, over 318,000 sold in 1977 and 352,000 in 1978 (the best single sales year in Thunderbird history), followed by 295,000 in 1979.
The 1978 Buick Regal, Chevrolet Monte Carlo, Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme, and the Pontiac Grand Prix were among the first of the personal luxury cars to be radically downsized, resulting in weight reductions of more than and exterior dimensions similar to compact car
Compact car is a vehicle size class — predominantly used in North America — that sits between subcompact cars and mid-size cars. "Small family car" is a British term and a part of the C-segment in the European car classification. However ...
s (e.g. the Chevrolet Nova, Ford Granada and Dodge Dart).
For 1979, Cadillac Eldorado (eighth generation), Buick Riviera (sixth generation) and Oldsmobile Toronado (third generation) were downsized to an intermediate-sized front-wheel drive platform, resulting in a reduction in length in the case of the Eldorado. Engines were also downsized, with V6 engines available for the first time in these models. The Riviera was named the 1979 Motor Trend
''MotorTrend'' is an American automobile magazine. It first appeared in September 1949, and designated the first Car of the Year, also in 1949.
Petersen Publishing Company in Los Angeles published ''MotorTrend'' until 1998, when it was sold to ...
''Car of the Year''. Sales more than doubled, to 52,181 for 1979, and reached 48,621 units for the very similar 1980 models.
1980s
Throughout the 1970s, American-built personal luxury cars had grown heavier and more luxurious, resulting in heavier cars. However, engine power had reduced as a result of either downsizing to six-cylinder engines or detuning the V8 engines to comply with increasingly strict vehicle emissions standards
Emission standards are the legal requirements governing air pollutants released into the atmosphere. Emission standards set quantitative limits on the permissible amount of specific air pollutants that may be released from specific sources over ...
. Along with the reduced straight-line performance, the cars also had poor fuel economy and needed to meet the rising corporate average fuel economy (CAFE) regulations set by the United States Secretary of Transportation
The United States secretary of transportation is the head of the United States Department of Transportation. The secretary serves as the principal advisor to the president of the United States on all matters relating to transportation. The secre ...
, via the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA ) is an agency of the U.S. federal government, part of the Department of Transportation. It describes its mission as "Save lives, prevent injuries, reduce vehicle-related crashes" rel ...
.
The 1980 Chrysler
Stellantis North America (officially FCA US and formerly Chrysler ()) is one of the " Big Three" automobile manufacturers in the United States, headquartered in Auburn Hills, Michigan. It is the American subsidiary of the multinational automot ...
Imperial (sixth generation) marked a key milestone in the decline of the personal luxury car. The V8 engine produced only , Reaction in the motoring press was especially vicious, with ''Car and Driver'' referring to this Imperial as an outmoded ''all frosting'' automobile. Sales were poor. The Imperial was built on the Chrysler Cordoba (second generation) chassis, a car with declining sales, that was discontinued in 1983.
The 1980 Ford Thunderbird (eighth generation)
The eighth generation of the Ford Thunderbird is a personal luxury coupe that was manufactured and marketed by Ford from the 1980 to 1982 model years. Introduced to commemorate the 25th year of the Thunderbird, the eighth generation was substa ...
and Mercury Cougar (fifth generation) were downsized to a mid-size car and described as "stodgy-looking". Sales were drastically reduced, resulting in extensive revisions for the 1983 model year. While remaining a personal luxury coupe, the redesign of the Thunderbird and Cougar introduced highly aerodynamic body design to Ford vehicles in North America and significantly increased sales.
In 1981, sales of the Continental Mark VI were down 50%.
For the 1984 model year, Continental Mark VII was downsized to a mid-size car, with aerodynamic styling based on the Ford Fox platform shared with the Ford Thunderbird and Mercury Cougar.
For 1986, General Motors drastically downsized the Cadillac Eldorado (eleventh generation), Buick Riviera (seventh generation) and Oldsmobile Toronado (fourth generation) by . With an Eldorado Coupe unit sales drop of 72% in 1986, seldom has any model experienced such a dramatic fall in annual sales. The base price of the 1986 Eldorado increased by approximately 16% to $24,251 and production was reduced to about a quarter of what it had been just two years earlier. The Riviera and Toronado used Buick's V6 engine, while Cadillac continued to use their V8 engine. Similarly, the 1986 Riviera's base price increased substantially to $19,831, and sales plummeted to 22,138 for 1986, only 15,223 for 1987, and 8,625 for 1988 (although the 1988 introduction of the Buick Reatta coupe may have cannibalized some Riviera sales that year).
The final year of production for the rear-wheel-drive Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme (fourth generation) was 1988, during which 27,678 were built.
For 1988, GM moved the Buick Regal, Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme, and Pontiac Grand Prix to versions based on its front-wheel-drive W-body platform. The Chevrolet Monte Carlo was discontinued after a short 1988 model year run (replaced by the 1990 Chevrolet Lumina mid-size coupe). With the discontinuation of the Chevrolet Celebrity and Pontiac 6000, the Regal, Cutlass Supreme, and Grand Prix moved from the personal luxury segment to the conventional mid-size segment and were also offered in the 4-door body style.
1990s
In the early 1990s, the trend towards four-door sedans and SUVs caused the market for personal luxury cars to decline even more. The Oldsmobile Toronado was discontinued in 1992. The Ford Thunderbird and Mercury Cougar were discontinued after the 1997 model year (although the Cougar nameplate was revived for 1999 as a mid-size sport compact).
The Lincoln Mark VIII, introduced for 1993, was discontinued in 1998, thereby ending the Mark series. The total production of Mark VIII was slightly more than 126,000 units. General Motors ended production of the Buick Riviera in 1998, with 1,956 cars produced in the final model year.
For 1995, the Chevrolet Monte Carlo was re-introduced, built on the front-wheel drive GM W-body platform. It was essentially the two-door coupe version of the updated Lumina four-door sedan replacing the previous year's Lumina two-door coupe.
2000s
In 2001, General Motors announced that the Eldorado's 50th model year (2002) would be its last. To mark the end of the nameplate, a limited production run of 1,596 cars was produced in red or white—the colors available on the original 1953 convertible. Production ended on April 22, 2002. The Lansing Craft Centre was retooled to build the Chevrolet SSR
The Chevrolet SSR (Super Sport Roadster) is a retro-styled retractable hardtop convertible pickup truck manufactured by Chevrolet between 2003 and 2006.
The 2003 and 2004 model years used General Motors' 5.3 L 300 hp '' Vortec 53 ...
.
The Ford Thunderbird (eleventh generation) was introduced for the 2002 model year. It retained the traditional rear-wheel drive layout and was based on the Ford DEW platform. With styling cues from the original 1955–1957 Thunderbird, it was part of an early-2000s retro
Retro style is imitative or consciously derivative of lifestyles, trends, or art forms from history, including in music, modes, fashions, or attitudes. In popular culture, the " nostalgia cycle" is typically for the two decades that begin 20–30 ...
styling trend that included the Volkswagen New Beetle, Chrysler PT Cruiser, Plymouth/Chrysler Prowler and Mini Hatch
The Mini Hatch, stylised as MINI Hatch (or MINI Hardtop in the U.S.), also sold as Mini Cooper, Mini One, or simply called the (BMW) Mini, are a family of retro-styled two-door supermini hatchback and convertible; and (from 2014) a longer, s ...
. It was initially well received by the automotive press, garnering accolades such as the Motor Trend Car of the Year
The ''Motor Trend'' Car of the Year (COTY) is an annual '' Car of the Year'' award given by ''Motor Trend'' magazine to recognize the best new or significantly refreshed car in a given model year.
Background
''Motor Trend'', which debuted in ...
and a nomination for the North American Car of the Year in its first year. However, many publications regarded the Thunderbird's revival rather more frostily after a few years and it garnered a place on ''Car and Driver
''Car and Driver'' (''CD'' or ''C/D'') is an American automotive enthusiast magazine. In 2006 its total circulation was 1.23 million. It is owned by Hearst Magazines, who purchased prior owner Hachette Filipacchi Media U.S. in 2011. It was f ...
'' magazine's 2009 list of "The 10 Most Embarrassing Award Winners in Automotive History". Sales did not meet Ford's expectations and the Thunderbird was discontinued in 2005.
The 2000 Chevrolet Monte Carlo (sixth generation) was also influenced by the retro trend, incorporating styling cues from its 1970s and 1980s predecessors. The Monte Carlo was the final personal luxury car in production when it was discontinued at the end of the 2007 model year.
See also
* Coupé
A coupe or coupé (, ) is a passenger car with a sloping or truncated rear roofline and two doors.
The term ''coupé'' was first applied to horse-drawn carriages for two passengers without rear-facing seats. It comes from the French past parti ...
* Convertible
A convertible or cabriolet () is a passenger car that can be driven with or without a roof in place. The methods of retracting and storing the roof vary among eras and manufacturers.
A convertible car's design allows an open-air driving ex ...
* Grand tourer
A grand tourer (GT) is a type of car that is designed for high speed and long-distance driving, due to a combination of performance and luxury attributes. The most common format is a front-engine, rear-wheel-drive two-door coupé with either ...
* Luxury car
A luxury car is a car that provides increased levels of comfort, equipment, amenities, quality, performance, and associated status compared to moderately priced cars.
The term is subjective and reflects both the qualities of the car and th ...
* Malaise era
* Muscle car
Muscle car is a description according to ''Merriam-Webster Dictionary'' that came to use in 1966 for "a group of American-made two-door sports coupes with powerful engines designed for high-performance driving." The '' Britannica Dictionary'' ...
References
{{Automobile configuration
Car classifications
Automotive styling features