Rust in pieces: From the last of the V8 Holden Commodore replacements to China's answer to the Toyota LandCruiser Prado, here are 11 cars removed from sale in 2021

A new year is always tinged in a tiny bit of sadness for us car peeps.

Yes, next year will see a whole bunch of exciting new cars to test, review and drive. The Ford Ranger is banging at our door, for example. A new Toyota LandCruiser Prado is on the cards. And we’d expect to at least see the Toyota GR Corolla.

But, with the new arrivals comes some sad farewells. It’s like there’s only so much room in the new-car boat, so when one gets on, another must get off.

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So here are 11 cars (and two brands) that have disappeared from Australian showrooms this year. May they all rust in pieces.

Chrysler (and the 300 SRT)

Towards the end, Chrysler seemed to exist solely as a way to feed the NSW Highway Patrol with 300 SRT patrol cars, having won the tender to be one of the replacement vehicles for the Holden Commodore.

It’s poetic, then, that Chrysler would follow the Commodore again, finding itself a petrol-burning throwback in a world suddenly obsessed by electrification and efficiency.

“The global push towards electrification and focus on SUVs has resulted in a consolidation of the overall product line-up in Australia,” the company said in a statement.

The brand pulled the pin November, with less than 30 examples of the V8-powered muscle car left in dealerships, and leaving the police on the hunt for yet another suitable patrol car.

Audi R8

Those of us of a certain age will never forget when the first Audi R8 blasted into our hearts way back in 2007, packing a meaty V8 engine and an awesome gated manual. This was a Lamborghini built by Germans, and what a combination that was.

And the story only really got better from there, with the introduction of a V10 engine, a drop-top version and, to my mind at least, a pick-of-the-bunch rear-drive RWS version.

But in September this year the mighty R8 was killed off for Australia, with the brand saying: “The current generation of the Audi R8 Coupe and Spyder are no longer offered in Australia, for local homologation reasons. The R8 will continue to be produced for other markets.”

Haval H9

Haval H9 was among the slowest-moving models in the booming Haval stable this year, so it came as little surprise to learn the off-road-ready SUV was being killed off in preparation for another entrant in the segment (the impressive-looking Haval Big Dog is the short-priced favourite).

Just 517 found homes this year, compared to the thousands of Jolions now parked in driveways across the country, and so it is out with the old and in with the new for Haval.

“Production of the H9 for Australia is now over and any remaining stock is expected to be sold by the end of the year,” said GWM spokesperson Steve Maciver.

Nissan GT-R

Godzilla is the first entrant in a chapter we’ll call “Killed Off By Regulations”, with the Japanese icon falling foul of new side-impact crash test regulations, otherwise known as the ADR 85.

Still with a brace of special editions - including the bonkers NISMO SV - arriving to farewell the current-gen GT-R, at least it went out with a bang.

And there is hope on the horizon. While Nissan won’t be reviving this generation vehicle, you’d imagine they’d bake the ADR requirements into any future Godzillas.

Alpine (and the A110)

The winner of more than one CarsGuide journalist’s “I Just Want One” prize, the athletic Alpine A110 is another model to suffer the ADR 85 death blow in Australia, with its small sales numbers presumably not justifying the engineering work required to make it meet the new standard.

And that’s a crying shame, because the Alpine is awesome. Instead, we’ll have to wait for Alpine’s touted electric models due around the middle of the decade.

Mercedes-AMG GT

The death of another auto icon in a year that’s been filled with them, the Mercedes-AMG GT order book was snapped shut late this year, ending a seven-year run as one of the Star’s coolest models.

It will be followed by the Mercedes-AMG SL convertible, which will reportedly be followed by an all-new GT Coupe, so watch this space.

Lexus CT, IS and RC

A trio of Lexus vehicles (or Lexi?) can be added to the side-impact list, with Lexus in Australia taking final orders of the IS, CT and RC models in Australia, with final deliveries taking place in November.

“We do have to say goodbye to IS, RC, and CT from November due to regulation changes that come into effect before all other global markets, here in Australia,” Lexus chief Scott Thompson told us,. 

“For us to keep selling those cars, that would’ve required a design change. We had a lot of discussions with our parent company, we assessed the alternatives, and our decision was that we wanted to focus on the next generation of vehicles coming our way.”

The IS is particularly surprising, given it was unofficially among Lexus’ most important models, going up against household name sedans from BMW and Mercedes-Benz.

Renault Kadjar 

Among the shortest-lived vehicles in Australian history, the Renault Kadjar was dropped at the very beginning of 2021 after around a year on sale in Australia. 

The plan, says Renault, was for the Kadjar to be replaced by the Arkana, but sold out sooner than expected. 

Here today, gone tomorrow. Vale Kadjar.

Honda Civic Sedan

The Honda Civic Sedan is dead, and you only have yourselves to blame. 

According to the brand, Australia’s tastes have shifted so strongly towards SUVs that the humble sedan simply can’t keep up, hence the decision to offer it as a hatch-only proposition from this point on.

“The Civic nameplate will continue as a core model in Honda’s line-up with the next generation, however, the sedan body-style will be phased out locally when the current model reaches the end of its lifecycle,” the brand says.

“In mid-1990s, the sedan bodystyle represented around 60 per cent of the small car market in Australia. Over the past 15-plus years, the hatch/sedan mix has shifted from an even 50/50 split to now approaching an 80/20 split in 2020, strongly in favour of the hatchback body-style.”