Top 10 Loss Making Cars In The World

By Ganesh

Published: Monday, September 30, 2013, 18:35 [IST]

If you were asked to think of Indian car that proved to be loss making products for the manufacturer which models would you name? Tata Nano? Daewoo Matiz? Or perhaps Mahindra Verito? While the Nano's poor sales could be blamed on misplaced positioning and poor marketing, the Verito's poor sales could perhaps be blamed on different reason such as poor design. Matiz, on the other hand does not exist anymore.

Anyway, do you know which are the biggest loss making cars on a global scale? Automotive analyst firm Berstein Research has compiled a top 10 list of cars which brought about a losses worth billions of dollars to their manufacturer. You'll also be surprised to know that the car that tops the list is one of the smallest cars in the world. Take a look.

Overall loss
From 1997 till 2006: Smart Fortwo - £2.82bn
Losses per unit
From 1997 till 2006: Smart Fortwo - £3762 per unit

Mercedes-Benz developed the Smart ForTwo city car from scratch, investing an unprecedented £3 billion into its development. For a relatively low cost car that's a huge investment.

Overall losses
2001-2009: Fiat Stilo - £1.77bn
Losses per unit
2001-2009: Fiat Stilo - £2297 per unit

Overall losses
2001- : Volkswagen Phaeton - £1.68bn
Losses per unit
2001- : Volkswagen Phaeton - £23,655 per unit

This luxury car has the blessings of VW Chairman Ferdinand Piech and the loss it makes can be considered as management approved.

Overall losses
2004-2009: Peugeot 1007 - £1.59bn
Losses per unit
2004-2009: Peugeot 1007 - £12,947 per unit

Overall losses
1997-2004: Mercedes A-class - £1.44bn
Losses per unit
1997-2004: Mercedes A-class - £1214 per unit

Overall losses
2005-2013: Bugatti Veyron - £1.43bn
Losses per unit
2005-2013: Bugatti Veyron - £3,887,051 per unit

Once again, it was always know the sale price of the Veyron would be less than its production cost. But the Veyron was meant to be a showcase of VW's technological prowess and not a profit making car.