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The City Car Graveyard: Why Manufacturers Killed What Buyers Actually Want
Photo: Jalopnik
by Daniel Golson· via Jalopnik · Jan 9, 2026

The City Car Graveyard: Why Manufacturers Killed What Buyers Actually Want

"City cars died because they required design talent instead of platform badge engineering. Nobody's coming back to build them until someone realizes there's actual money in not chasing everyone else's playbook."

— Revvly Take

Readers want what the industry deemed unprofitable—honest, small-footprint runabouts with actual personality. The Fiat 500, MINI Cooper, and Renault Twingo proved the formula worked; bean counters just decided margins on crossovers looked better on quarterly reports.

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Daniel Golson

Jalopnik · Jan 9

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