Automakers are working hard to produce long-running vehicles that bring in the most profits. Today, we see that with the SUV market and also with pickup trucks. Sales are looking good for these vehicles.

The cars, well, that’s a different story. Automotive companies are phasing out some of their cars, keeping only a handful for production. If you’ve ever wondered what happened to the Dodge Dart, the short-run vehicle that was around for only about three years, this would be the answer to their demise. But, why did they phase the Dart out so soon? Allpar.com helps sheds some light on it.

Introducing the Dodge Dart

The Dodge Dart is actually a classic, produced in the 1960s and 1970s. The long-run ended on a high note in 1974 after a successful bout of sales. There were a few issues, but overall, people loved their Darts back in the day. Then, in 2013 a newer version rolled off the production line and into the arms of some curious Dart enthusiasts. A modern take on an old classic sounded like a thrill, but the car only lasted for about 3.5 years before they ended the production altogether.

Sales for the newer version were pretty low as it didn’t seem to live up to the classic Dart name. It didn’t really look like it or have any of the popular features the old version had. Also, dealers didn’t push it too much because it turned out to be a pain to sell. For some reason, the Dodge Dart had tons of options to choose from. While that’s usually a good thing, but in this case, the options were numerous packages, and trim level features to choose from. Pages and pages of decisions to make for the car. In the end, it wasn’t worth it to either the dealers or the customers that just wanted to drive their new car.

Why did the Dodge Dart disappear?

Dodge ultimately produced an average car – one that didn’t have anything special to it to make it stand out from its competitors. The performance was disappointing as well as the styling. It got you around, but that was about it. Some people feel that they rushed it too much to get it on the production line, which is why inferior parts were used. It saw some decent sales figures, but a closer look yielded very little profit from the sales.

Producing the new model of the Dodge Dart just wasn’t bringing in the money to be worth the cost of producing it. Toward the end, rumors flew around saying that the Sergio Marchionne, CEO of Fiat-Chrysler, at the time, was planning to revamp the Dart, but that never happened. According to Autoblog, Marchionne did reveal that they were phasing out the Dart, along with another car, the 200. They wanted to transition into producing more trucks and crossover SUVs instead.

Did their plans pan out the way they anticipated?

With the market turning more towards pickups and SUVs, all automakers have slowly started to end the production of their line of cars. Fiat decided to begin with the 200 and Dart because they had the lowest sales plus Consumer Reports gave them low scores for reliability, and they didn’t recommend either car.

The Fiat-Chrysler company saw quite a few models with decent sales figures. The Dodge Journey and the Jeep Cherokee are the highest selling SUVs they have. When it comes to pickups, the Ram truck is seeing more sales than ever, especially in the last year. So, Fiat’s decision to turn more toward the SUVs and trucks isn’t such a bad idea after all. The market itself is leaning in that direction, so why shouldn’t they?

Getting rid of the Dodge Dart was another good choice. A lot of people think that it didn’t live up to the Dart name given to the first generation built in the ’60s and ’70s. The blandness of it along with the poor quality materials and poor choices were pretty much what ended the Dart in 2016.