2005 Chrysler Crossfire Limited Convertible 2-door 3.2l on 2040-cars

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Zombie cars roundup: Dodge has sold 3 new Vipers this year

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.

FCA, Waymo expand plans: 62,000 more self-driving vehicles, potential retail sales

If you live in Phoenix, you may have seen one of Waymo's 600 autonomous Chrysler Pacifica Hybrids ferrying passengers around town. You may have even been one of the riders. You're likely to see a lot more of them, too. Today, FCA announced that it will deliver up to 62,000 additional Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid's to Google's automated driving technology company. The expansion of the partnership between FCA and Waymo goes beyond growing the fleet. The companies have also announced that they're considering making Waymo's tech commercially available to FCA vehicle retail customers through a possible licensing partnership. FCA would build the cars, and Waymo would provide the self-driving system. "FCA is committed to bringing self-driving technology to our customers in a manner that is safe, efficient and realistic," said FCA boss Sergio Marchionne. Waymo CEO John Krafcik added, "Waymo's goal from day one has been to build the world's most experienced driver and give people access to self-driving technology that will make our roads safer. We're excited to deepen our relationship with FCA that will support the launch of our driverless service, and explore future products that support Waymo's mission." That service, expected to launch later this year, will allow the public to use Waymo's app to hail a ride from one of its self-driving minivans. To date, vehicles equipped with Waymo automated driving tech have logged over 6 million cumulative miles in testing. As of late last year, Waymo's self-driving cars needed far less human intervention than the competition. Earlier this year, Waymo also announced a partnership with Jaguar Land Rover to deploy autonomous Jaguar I-Pace EVs. The plans for an expanded partnership come on the same day Japan's SoftBank announced a $2.2 billion investment in GM's Cruise self-driving division. Related Video: News Source: FCA, WaymoImage Credit: Joe White / Reuters Green Chrysler Technology Emerging Technologies Minivan/Van Autonomous Vehicles Electric Hybrid Sergio Marchionne Waymo john krafcik

Fiat Chrysler chief still says EVs can't make money

Add Sergio Marchionne's insistence that it's impossible to make money on electric vehicle production to death and taxes among things we can all count on. The Fiat Chrysler Automobiles CEO, speaking in an interview with UK's Car Magazine, implied that Tesla Motors was "the iPhone of cars." The metaphor may have been mixed, as iPhones make plenty of cash for Apple, whereas Tesla has never made an annual profit from its electric vehicles. But the implication was that automakers should stick to what they know, and they don't know smartphones. Forget any upcoming presidential debates, we're waiting for one between Marchionne and Tesla chief Elon Musk. As for the development of autonomous-driving features? Those are another story, says Marchionne, and an area where he's far more in line with Musk. That's because the technology required to make a car safely accelerate, brake, and steer on its own is far cheaper than making a car with an electric drivetrain that offers similar range and performance to a car with an internal combustion engine, he says. As opposed to electrification, Fiat Chrysler has been going the route of modifying conventional powertrains via wringing out more power out of progressively smaller engines, and mating them with eight- and nine-speed transmissions. As for EVs, credit Marchionne for his consistency. Fiat Chrysler has been selling the Fiat 500e since 2013. That year, Wards Auto named the 500e motor to its 10 Best Engines list, while the 500e won Road & Track's 2013 award for best electric car. Still, Marchionne has long said that Fiat only makes the vehicle for to satisfy zero-emissions vehicle mandates in California, and that the company loses as much as $10,000 for every 500e that it sells. Related Video: Featured Gallery 2014 Fiat 500e News Source: Car Magazine via Hybrid VehiclesImage Credit: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg via Getty Images Green Chrysler Fiat Electric Sergio Marchionne