Americans bought about 15.6 million new cars in 2023. But a few dozen of them were … well … “new.”
The last Dodge Dart, for instance, rolled out factory doors sometime in 2016. But at least two drivers drove home a brand new one seven years later.
In case you’ve forgotten, the Dart was a cute, chronically underpowered compact car built from 2012 to 2016 that didn’t exactly leave a mark on automotive history. But it’s still trying.
Every year, when automakers file their year-end sales reports, we spot a few head-scratchers. Automakers always report a handful of cars discontinued long ago but sold as new recently. The Dart may claim the distinction of being America’s oldest new car in 2023, though it has plenty of competition from inside its own house.
Stellantis, parent company of Dodge, Jeep, Ram, and others, is behind most of this year’s list of car sales oddities.
A Car Rarely Goes Unsold for Years
Dealerships try not to have old cars sitting on their lots.
For one thing, it’s a bad look — no one drives by a dealership to see the same cars sitting on the lot month after month and assumes it’s a great place to do business.
Automakers also stop advertising cars when they discontinue them. Buyers tend to walk in looking for cars they’ve seen advertised recently.
But, more crucially, dealers don’t often own the cars they’re selling. They make payments on them just like you likely will if you take one home. Through a complex loan arrangement, dealers often borrow from a bank owned by an automaker to make payments on vehicles that automaker builds. They hope to sell them to you and, often, see you make the same agreement with the same bank.
That means the longer a car sits unsold, the more it costs the dealership. Dealers must also pay to maintain the vehicles and keep them looking new … even when they aren’t exactly new.
But if you come into the dealership and express interest in something that just arrived, salespeople aren’t motivated to redirect your attention to a 10-month-old model. So, unsold cars can become a headache for dealers. Many dealership managers pay salespeople bonuses when they sell something that has racked up what dealerships call “holding costs.”
How Zombie Cars Come Back From the Grave
Most car dealers get pretty good at ordering cars their local community will want. But some zombie cars are combinations of features and colors that proved completely unappealing to the local community. Some represent parts of an automaker’s lineup that don’t sell well locally — say, a heavy-duty pickup in an urban dealership that makes its living selling small cars.
Others are halo cars — amazing exotic cars meant to lure you into the dealership to gawk, where something affordable might catch your eye.
Many zombie cars have been used as loaners. A car can’t be sold as used if it’s never been titled. So when a dealership loans a new car to customers who bring theirs in for repair, it accumulates mileage but is still classified as new. That makes it hard to sell.
Some get around that problem by buying loaners themselves to sell on their used lots or having the service department buy them from the sales department so they get a title and can be sold as what they are — used cars.
But other dealerships simply hold onto them until a buyer appears perfect for a 6-year-old “new” car with a few thousand miles on it.
A few dozen times last year, that buyer appeared.
Seven Zombie Cars Someone Bought In 2023
Dodge Journey — 36 Sales
The quintessential zombie car, the Dodge Journey, has appeared on this list every year since its 2020 cancelation. In 2022, Dodge sold 194. In 2023, it sold 36.
Dodge spent 2023 as a performance brand selling Challengers and Chargers. But three dozen buyers walked in to look at a new muscle car and somehow signed for a 3-year-old 7-seater instead.
A midsize crossover you could call a minivan if it had sliding doors, the Journey was solid, affordable family transportation on sale from 2008 to 2020. Dodge dealers still seem to have plenty of them on the lot — perhaps as part of a loaner program — so we expect a few will sell in 2024, as well.
Dodge Dart — Three Sales
Dodge built a classic, beloved Dart in the 1960s and a less-than-classic, tolerated Dart from 2012 to 2016.
To be fair to the little Dart, its handling was very good for such an affordable car. But its overtaxed engines betrayed that, and the model never caught on. But it holds on in sales, with three leaving the lot in 2023.
Acura ILX — Two Sales
Acura made big news in 2023 with the introduction of the Integra compact luxury sedan. To make room for it, they canceled the less-hyped ILX.
But the ILX was an impressive car in its own right, winning Kelley Blue Book’s Lowest 5-Year Cost to Own awards several times in its 2013-2022 run. So we think the two buyers who drove home an ILX made a pretty good decision — and probably got a deal on a very good car the dealership wanted to move anyway.
Chrysler 200 — Two Sales
Chrysler dealers are dying of thirst, waiting for new models from the automaker. Chrysler has promised an electric car soon, but for now, all most had on the lot in 2023 was the comfortable Pacifica minivan and the aging 300 sedan, discontinued at the end of the year.
Well, that’s all most Chrysler dealers had. One or two had a Chrysler 200 hanging around. A middling midsize sedan built from 2011 to 2017, the 200 never made a dent in the American consciousness. Let’s at least hope the last two sold were convertible models. Yes, that was a real thing.
Dodge Viper — Two Sales
That thing we said about halo cars? Yeah. Chances are good no dealership was offering a V10-powered Viper as a loaner to people getting their Grand Caravan repaired. The Viper — arguably history’s most brutal supercar — probably sat in a few Dodge dealerships to lure in gawkers.
Dodge built the last of them in 2017. Dealers may have parted with these two at last because having a gas-guzzling dream car out front might not be the right strategy when you try to sell electric muscle cars.
Alfa Romeo 4C — One Sale
Nobody builds anything quite like the Alfa Romeo 4C anymore. It wore exotic Italian supercar looks but tried to bring them to a more affordable price point.
It was as short as a compact car, though much wider. It used a mid-mounted 1.7-liter turbocharged 4-cylinder engine making 237 horsepower. That’s not supercar power, but its light weight made it more than enough for a 4.1-second zero-to-60 mph run.
A specific type of enthusiast bought these cars, and we thought they were all gone after its 2018 cancelation. But at least one dealer still had one for sale last year.
Jeep Patriot — One Sale
Jeep discontinued the compact Patriot in 2017, but at least one buyer found it just right in 2023.
What were the Patriot’s virtues? Even when it was new, the best praise our expert test drivers could manage was, “If you’re looking to get the most from your tight budget and a used SUV holds no appeal, Jeep’s compact Patriot SUV for 2017 might be worth a look.” We hope someone got a very good deal on a 6-year-old new model recently.
