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Zombie cars: A dozen discontinued vehicles people still buy new

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.

Paul Walker's Supra sells for $185k

The Fast and the Furious certainly didn't create the import car hobby, but the 2001 film played a role in popularizing it among a mass audience. Among the biggest automotive stars to come from the movie was the customized orange Toyota Supra driven by Paul Walker's character, Brian O'Connor. One of the stunt cars that portrayed that now-famous vehicle recently crossed the auction block at Mecum Auctions' sale in Indianapolis and sold for $185,000. This stunt car was showcased throughout the film, including in the final drag race against Dom's Dodge Charger, according to Mecum's listing. However, don't expect to be successful at living a quarter-mile at a time with this Supra, because under the hood there's a 220-horsepower, 3.0-liter inline six and five-speed manual. It certainly looks the part, with a full body kit, big wing at the back, wild graphics, and orange paint. Two Holley Performance nitrous oxide bottles are in the rear, but they aren't hooked up. For safety, there's a roll cage inside. The auction was estimated to fall between $150,000 and $200,000, which was right on the money. Following Walker's tragic death in 2013, cars related to him and the Fast and Furious franchise seem to be showing up for sale more often. His Nissan Skyline GT-R from Fast & Furious jumped in price afterward, and Barrett-Jackson auctioned his Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution from 2 Fast 2 Furious in 2014. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings.

Vote to unionize Toyota Canada plant faces delay

Volkswagen isn't the only automaker with high-profile unionization efforts afoot at one of its North American factories. Unifor, Canada's largest private-sector union, is attempting to organize Toyota's factories in Ontario, reports Reuters. A vote was originally set for next week, but Unifor has apparently found more workers eligible to vote, delaying the proceedings. It hasn't rescheduled the ballot yet, but claims there are 7,500 employees with the right to vote, with over 3,000 having already signed union cards.
Toyota is pushing against organizing, saying that workers already have a payment and benefits near the top of the industry, and noting that it has never laid off a permanent employee in Canada. Unifor has reportedly countered by saying that about a quarter of the workforce is operating under a temporary contract, which receives lower benefits.
The automaker has three factories in Ontario - two in Cambridge and one in Woodstock. To form a union, a majority of eligible employees must vote to join Unifor. If successful, they would be the first wholly owned Toyota plants in North America to be organized. Previous attempts to unionize the Japanese automaker's Canadian factories in 2001 and 2008 failed due to lack of support.