We know it was a bad year for car sales last year, the market dropping 15.5 percent, but what about the individual victims? The models with an annus so horribilis it makes the others feel a little better?
Spare a thought then for Maybach, the Mercedes company that sells super limos costing over a quarter of a million. It sold just six last year from its one UK dealer. The Dodge Viper (aka the SRT10) did even worse, with just a single car finding a home. The Hummer H2 was another on a score of just one.
The Jeep Commander was a big victim, with sales of a mere 25. Given that it costs a not unreasonable £32,000, that's something of a disaster for Jeep's big 4x4.
Of course big 4x4s did badly as a whole. Sales of the Toyota Landcruiser fell 34 percent compared to 2007 with just under 2000 sold, while the BMW X5 sank 24 percent. The once unstoppable Volvo XC90 slumped 45 percent, and the megalith Audi Q7 dropped 37 percent to record just under 4000. But that still dwarfs the Porsche Cayenne, which now bumps along with sales of 1180 last year.
Even smaller 4x4s were hit, with the Honda CRV not only losing a third of its sales, but also its top spot in the 4x4 category to Nissan's Qashqai. Big people carriers also suffered, with Peugeot's 807 seeing a whopping 66 percent of sales wiped off in 2008. Lack of buyer cash wasn't the only reason - it and the similarly tanking Citroen C8 are competing with Ford's Galaxy and S-Max, which now have almost 50 percent of the large MPV market.
Pretty much anything frivolous did badly, with once bankable sports cars like the Mazda's MX5 (down 34 percent) and BMW's Z4 (down 46 percent) losing out big time.
Individual companies drinking to forget a terrible year include Saab (down 32 percent), Chrysler (losing 36 percent) and Lexus, which dropped 33 percent. It's a bleak winter out there in carland.
