These 9 vehicles are about to disappear

Had your heart set on a Chevrolet Volt? Been eying a Toyota Prius C? Always wanted a Buick LaCrosse?

Better act fast.

Those vehicles are among a handful of models that are disappearing quickly after automakers recently announced decisions to discontinue them and several other poorly selling cars..

Take the Cadillac ATS, for example. Once billed as General Motors’ response to its German luxury competitors, the ATS earned critical praise but stumbled when sales of passenger cars plunged. GM announced the car’s demise in 2018.

Good luck finding one now. There were only 35 new units of the Cadillac ATS left as of July, according to Edmunds. That’s down from 1,482 a year earlier.

Stiil, even after carmaker declare a model dead, it still takes a while for production to stop and sales to peter out.

That means discontinued cars may register sales for months, or even years, after they receive their death sentence because the last few remaining vehicles end up “languishing” on dealer lots with no marketing and limited interest, said Jeremy Acevedo, senior manager of industry insight at car-buying advice site Edmunds.

But for the most part, it’s getting exponentially tougher to find new versions of these vehicles on dealer lots.

“There’s a whole lot of owners of these vehicles out there that are going to return to these dealerships and aren’t going to pick up the same vehicle,” said Acevedo.

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You may be able to find deals on some of these discontinued cars as automakers and dealers resort to discounts to reduce their inventory, said George Augustaitis, director of industry analytics at CarGurus. 

But don’t wait forever. When there are only a few models left, there may not be much incentive for the seller to discount the car since you may be desperate to buy one of the final models.

“If you go too late, you’re going to pay more,” Augustaitis said.

In addition to the Cadillac ATS, here are eight more models that are rapidly disappearing or soon to go away, according to Edmunds:

Volkswagen Touareg

Remaining: 88

Volkswagen will continue to sell this model in foreign markets but not in the U.S. Here, it’s now selling the Atlas large SUV and the Tiguan crossover, with plans to introduce more SUVs.

Buick Cascada

Remaining: 102

Like its droptop counterparts, this convertible didn’t stand much of a chance as the body style falls out of favor.

Toyota Prius C

Remaining: 200

The main Prius hybrid isn’t going away, but this compressed version of the Prius has plunged in popularity. 

Buick LaCrosse

Remaining: 997

Large cars have fallen out of favor, and the LaCrosse couldn’t buck the trend. Production ended in March along with another GM large car, the Cadillac XTS.

Chevrolet Volt

Remaining: 1,006

Billed as an emblem of GM’s engineering prowess and pivot toward alternative propulsion vehicles, this vehicle essentially invented the concept of the plug-in hybrid. It was critically acclaimed and generated a loyal base of enthusiasts.

But sales never reached initial expectations, and GM is turning its attention to battery-powered cars that don’t have a backup gas generator like the Volt.

Ford Taurus

Remaining: 1,700

This is not the first time Ford decided to end production of this large sedan. But it could be the last. Large cars are falling out of favor. At one point, the Taurus was one of the most popular cars in America. Those days are long gone.

Volkswagen Beetle

Remaining: 2,773

There are still plenty of Beetles available for sale, in part because VW chose to make a big deal out of the final year of the car. A special edition is on sale now. But they won’t last long.

Chevrolet Cruze

Remaining: 6,765

You won’t have to look hard to get a Cruze for now. The Ohio plant where GM was assembling the vehicle built enough for several months of sales before the plant was idled.

But there are still enough sedan shoppers around that this vehicle won’t last forever.

Follow USA TODAY reporter Nathan Bomey on Twitter @NathanBomey.