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Among some very renowned car brands the world over, many are now defunct and do not exist. And many of these were never had any India presence at all. But that may not necessarily mean that Indians don’t remember them fondly. Or at least this is what is revealed in a study conducted by car leasing company Hippo Leasing which analysed Google search volumes for discontinued car manufacturers. The total monthly search volume was calculated by combining the search volumes from the 10 countries with the largest economies in the world.

The most-searched discontinued car manufacturer in the world is Saab while Pontiac was next on the list. Oldsmobile, Trabant and Holden complete the top-five list. In India too, and very interestingly, it is Saab that was most searched for among now extinct car brands. Pontiac and Holden were next most searched. Saab was also the most searched extinct car brand in countries like Japan, the UK, France and South Korea. But the Swedish manufacturer was not always present in all of these countries. It never was in India.

Saab

Saab was a Swedish car manufacturer that traces its roots to 1945 while its first-ever car – Saab 92 – was rolled out in 1949. While it functioned indepdentedly through the next few decades, General Motors bought a 50 per cent stake in the early 1990s. While some of its models became favourites among a certain section of buyers in Europe, the company never really managed to create a solid mark in markets where it competed in. The company would eventually come go through multiple ownership changes but by 2016, owner National Electric Vehicle Sweden (NEVS) announced the brand name won’t be used any longer for future models. This effectively drew the curtains on the brand that had been plagued with issues of bankruptcy as well.

Pontiac

Founded in 1926, Pontiac is a well-known American automotive brand that was under GM. Pontiac vehicles were primarily sold in the US, Canada and Mexico, and fared reasonably well for most of its existence. But the turn of the century had started throwing up new set of challenges with rival brands surging forward in popularity and with more compelling models. By 2009, GM announced that it would eliminate Pontiac brand along with two other brands it owned – Hummer and Saturn.

Oldsmobile

As may be evident from its name, Oldsmobile was founded as Olds Motor Vehicle Company in 1897 by Ransom E. Olds. It would eventually be the best-selling car brand in the US in the early parts of the 1900s. The first mass-produced car from the brand was the Oldsmobile Model R “Curved Dash which was manufactured between 1902 and 1907. It would come under GM in 1908. The subsequent decades would see a number of mid-size models, compact sedans as well as muscle cars from the brand. The highest point, in terms of sales, was in the 1970s and 1980s when it was a name to be truly reckoned with. But by the early part of the 1990s, the good years were behind. Sales plummeted from over a million each year to a shade over 400,000 in 1993. There were still some models that fared rather well but profitability became a big issue. By December of 2000, GM announced it would pull the plug on the brand.

First Published Date: 19 Oct 2023, 16:23 PM IST