"Join us as we remember 20 of the American automotive marques that didn’t make it."

No surprises or deep insights, but an interesting lightweight overview.

I'm surprised they forgot to include Kaiser-Frazer.

It's strange that they included Merkur, it was setup to sell European cars only, so I wouldn't necessarily consider it an American brand. And in terms of impact, it had none whatsoever. Ford thought they could cash-in on the European car surge of the 80's, but they brought over the wrong cars to make that happen. The surge in Euro-car sales was mainly in 4-door sedans, and Ford sent a sporty 3-door and luxurious 5-door. And the name was awful. They were trying to play with Mercury and make it sound European, came up with a name that was weird to pronounce.

Saturn would have been a better choice to include, but I guess it was too new of a company to include in a Classic car magazine. But Merkur wasn't that much older. Saturn had a bigger impact, not just in the market, but in the history of GM. I guess there's a question whether it could be considered a collectable brand. I guess not yet, but will be for the oddity value.

Only 20 and among them several, which were at least in their last days just something badge engineered sub-marques?

That's pure leightweight and nothing else.


P.S. in Germany there are over 400 extinct car makers.