2000 Jeep Grand Cherokee Limited Sport Utility 4-door 4.0l on 2040-cars

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Zombie cars: Discontinued vehicles that aren't dead yet

Car models come and go, but as revealed by monthly sales data, once a car is discontinued, it doesn't just disappear instantly. And in the case of some models, vanishing into obscurity can be a slow, tedious process. That's the case with the 12 cars we have here. All of them have been discontinued, but car companies keep racking up "new" sales with them. There are actually more discontinued cars that are still registering new sales than what we decided to include here. We kept this list to the oldest or otherwise most interesting vehicles still being sold as new, including a supercar. We'll run the list in alphabetical order, starting with *drumroll* ... BMW 6 Series: 55 total sales BMW quietly removed the 6 Series from the U.S. market during the 2019 model year. It had been available in three configurations, a hardtop coupe, a convertible and a sleek four-door coupe-like shape.   BMW i8: 18 total sales We've always had a soft spot for the BMW i8, despite the fact that it never quite fit into a particular category. It was sporty, but nowhere near as fast as similarly-priced competitors. It looked very high-tech and boasted a unique carbon fiber chassis design and a plug-in hybrid powertrain, but wasn't really designed for maximum efficiency or maximum performance. Still, the in-betweener was very cool to look at and drive, and 18 buyers took one home over the course of 2021.   Chevy Impala: 750 total sales The Impala represented classic American tastes at a time when American tastes were shifting away from soft-riding sedans with big interior room and trunk space and into higher-riding crossovers. A total of 750 sales were inked last year.   Chrysler 200: 15 total sales The Chrysler 200 was actually a pretty nice sedan, with good looks and decent driving dynamics let down by a lack of roominess, particularly in the back seat. Of course, as we said regarding the Chevy Impala, the number of Americans in the market for sedans is rapidly winding down, and other automakers are following Chrysler's footsteps in canceling their slow-selling four-doors. Even if Chrysler never really found its footing in the ultra-competitive midsize sedan segment, apparently dealerships have a few leftover 2017 200s floating around. And for some reason, 15 buyers decided to sign the dotted line to take one of these aging sedans home last year.

Chinese automaker Great Wall wants to buy Jeep

As Chinese automakers look to break into the U.S. market, we've been hearing about how companies in China are courting FCA. After GM and Volkswagen each shut the possibility of a merger, an unnamed Chinese company stepped up to the table. Its offer to buy FCA was refused, but the suitors are still knocking. Now, Automotive News reports that Chinese automaker Great Wall is interested in making a deal specifically to purchase the Jeep brand. Great Wall President Wang Fengying told Automotive News in an email that her company is "connecting with FCA" to start the negotiation process. FCA, though, told the publication that it hasn't been approached by Great Wall. Great Wall's offer, if accepted, would separate Jeep Í— FCA's most valuable brand Í— from the rest of the FCA portfolio. It's not unthinkable that FCA would consider selling Jeep on its own. FCA CEO Sergio Marchionne has said he'd consider spinning off Jeep and Ram. The company also said it could see making Maserati and Alfa Romeo into a separate company as well. Jeep, though, might be worth more on its own that the entirety of FCA with Jeep included, according to Morgan Stanley analyst Adam Jonas. This complicates the matter for any potential buyer that owns FCA franchise dealerships, and for FCA, for which Jeep is an attractor for selling the company as a whole. Great Wall, which only generates $14.7 billion in annual revenue (compared to FCA's $131 billion), is confident it could raise the funds to buy Jeep. As Automotive News points out, though, there could be a bidding war brewing if Jeep can be bought separately from the rest of the brands. Still, As Great Wall spokesman Xu Hui said, the company has been following Jeep, and sees it as a key to achieving its goal of becoming "the world's largest SUV maker." Great Wall already has research and development facilities in Detroit and Los Angeles. The Chinese company is also considering building a factory in the U.S. rather than in Mexico. Whether or not Great Wall acquires Jeep, it wants to sell SUVs in the U.S., and having a factory in the States means it wouldn't have to worry about Trump renegotiating NAFTA. Jeep is currently expanding its market presence, and has new vehicles, the Wagoneer and Grand Wagoneer, on the way in 2019. Related Video: This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings.

Jeep still working to improve Cherokee's 9-speed auto

Fiat Chrysler is hoping an upcoming software update will stem the tide of consumer complaints surrounding its nine-speed automatic transmission. Owners of the 2014 Jeep Cherokee have reported a number of problems on the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's SaferCar.gov website, since the new model and its troubled gearbox arrived way back in October 2013. The software update is "intended to keep the vehicle performing as intended, and to prevent durability issues from occurring in the future," an FCA spokesperson told Automotive News, and will be available to owners of both the 2014 to 2015 Jeep Cherokee and the 2015 Chrysler 200, which also uses the 9AT. While FCA will be notifying consumers of the update, owners can also request the software reflash if they happen into their dealer before then. Despite the widely documented problems with the transmission, the only complaints on NHTSA's website relate to the 2014 Cherokee – neither the 2015 Jeep nor the 200 have received any complaints. That bodes well as FCA prepares to begin deliveries of the 2015 Jeep Renegade and launch the Fiat 500X, both of which pair the 9AT with the 2.4-liter Tigershark four-cylinder. "We have had to do an inordinate amount of intervention on that transmission, surely beyond what any of us had forecast," FCA CEO Sergio Marchionne told Automotive News. "There are things that we have done – that we continue to do. Our proactive customer care intervention has actually increased in intensity on these vehicles in 2014, especially in the second half." What's fascinating about the 9AT's problems are that they haven't been the fault of manufacturer ZF, but have related to software that wasn't "mature" and had "teething problems," Marchionne has said previously, AN reports. With the lack of criticism for the 9AT in 2015 models and this pending software update, though, here's hoping that FCA has finally figured out its fuel-sipping gearbox. Related Video: