Bad Cars, Worse Career Endings
A single car rarely sinks a whole company, but it can absolutely end the career of the person running it. Some of these executives got caught lying about what their cars could do, some got caught covering up what their cars couldn't do, and a few just bet everything on a car that never had a chance. The pattern repeats across a century of automotive history, from a 1940s dream car to a 2020s electric pickup that never really existed. Here's 20 cars that ended up costing someone the corner office.
The White House from Washington, DC on Wikimedia
1. The Volkswagen TDI "Clean Diesel" Cars
Millions of Jettas, Passats, and Golfs turned out to be running secret software that cheated emissions tests, and once regulators caught on in 2015, CEO Martin Winterkorn resigned within days. He maintained he wasn't personally aware of the deception, but the scandal ended a nine-year run at the top of the company.
2. The Audi A6, A7, and A8 Diesels
The same emissions-cheating software that took down Volkswagen's CEO eventually reached Audi's own diesel lineup. Audi chief Rupert Stadler was arrested in 2018 on suspicion of fraud and left his post shortly after, becoming the highest-ranking executive charged in the scandal's aftermath.
3. The Ford Explorer
Rollover accidents tied to the Explorer, many of them linked to failing tires, spiraled into one of the messiest corporate disputes in automotive history. Ford CEO Jacques Nasser was ousted by the board in 2001, with the fallout from the crisis cited as a major factor in his removal.
4. The Firestone Tires on the Ford Explorer
Bridgestone/Firestone recalled over 14 million tires after they were linked to hundreds of deaths and injuries, most involving Explorer rollovers. Firestone CEO Masatoshi Ono resigned in 2000 as the company scrambled to contain the fallout and salvage its relationship with Ford.
5. The Mitsubishi eK Wagon and Dayz
Mitsubishi admitted in 2016 to manipulating fuel economy data on its tiny kei cars, some built jointly with Nissan, going back over two decades. CEO Tetsuro Aikawa resigned within weeks of the admission, bowing publicly before cameras as he stepped down.
6. Suzuki's Fuel Economy Test Cars
Just as the Mitsubishi scandal broke, Suzuki admitted to using improper testing methods on its own vehicles' fuel economy figures. Chairman and CEO Osamu Suzuki stepped down from his role as representative director later that year, even though he remained connected to the company he'd led for decades.
7. Cars Fitted With Takata Airbags
Faulty inflators in Takata airbags, installed across dozens of models from multiple automakers, were linked to dozens of deaths and led to the largest automotive recall in history. Takata CEO Shigehisa Takada resigned in 2017 as the company collapsed into bankruptcy under the weight of lawsuits and recall costs.
8. Kia's Recalled Vehicles Over Faulty Wiring
A global recall of more than 100,000 vehicles over defective wiring in 2010 led directly to the resignation of Kia's vice chairman and CEO, Chung Sung-eun. Hyundai's chairman reportedly asked him to step down to take responsibility for the quality problems.
Hyundai Motor Group on Unsplash
9. The Tucker 48
Preston Tucker's futuristic "Car of Tomorrow" barely made it into production before an SEC investigation into his fundraising practices shut the factory down in 1949. Tucker was pushed out of his own company and replaced by court-appointed trustees, even though he was later acquitted of all fraud charges.
10. The DeLorean DMC-12
John DeLorean's gull-winged dream car never sold well enough to keep his company afloat, and a desperate cash crunch led to his 1982 arrest in a drug-trafficking sting he claimed was a setup. He was acquitted, but by then the DMC-12 had already ended production and DeLorean's run as an auto executive.
11. The Fisker Karma
Battery fires, a bankrupt battery supplier, and a stalled recall turned the Fisker Karma from a hyped hybrid supercar into a cautionary tale. Founder Henrik Fisker resigned as CEO of Fisker Automotive in 2013, months before the company itself filed for bankruptcy.
12. The Yugo GV
Malcolm Bricklin brought the cheap, poorly built Yugoslavian hatchback to America in 1985, and it quickly became a punchline for bad quality. As losses mounted and the company slid toward bankruptcy, Bricklin sold his stake and exited Yugo America in 1988.
Michael Gil from Toronto, ON, Canada on Wikimedia
13. The Nikola One
Trevor Milton built Nikola around the promise of a hydrogen-powered semi truck, but a short-seller's report accused the company of faking a promotional video showing the truck rolling downhill under its own power. Milton resigned as chairman and CEO in 2020 and was later convicted of fraud.
14. The Lordstown Endurance
Lordstown Motors promised tens of thousands of preorders for its electric pickup, but an SEC investigation raised doubts about whether those orders were real. CEO Steve Burns resigned in 2021, and the company filed for bankruptcy roughly two years later.
The White House from Washington, DC on Wikimedia
15. The Renault Fluence Z.E.
Better Place built an entire battery-swapping infrastructure around this Renault EV, betting that drivers would embrace swapping depleted batteries instead of plugging in. The venture burned through nearly a billion dollars before collapsing, and founder Shai Agassi was ousted as CEO in 2012.
16. The Volkswagen ID.3 and ID.4
Software problems inside VW's in-house tech unit delayed the launch of its ID electric lineup and later held up new Porsche and Audi models too. CEO Herbert Diess was forced out in 2022, with the software failures widely cited as the final straw after years of internal friction.
17. The Faraday Future FF 91
Faraday Future spent years promising a luxury electric SUV that would rival Tesla, but production delays and a cash crisis kept pushing the launch back. Founder Jia Yueting stepped down as CEO in 2019 around the same time he filed for personal bankruptcy in the United States.
18. The Austin Allegro and Morris Marina
British Leyland's homegrown lineup, including the notoriously unreliable Allegro, became a symbol of everything wrong with the company's quality control in the 1970s. A government-commissioned report recommended chairman Donald Stokes step down, and he resigned in 1975 as the company was effectively nationalized.
19. The Coda Sedan
Coda Automotive delayed its all-electric sedan's launch repeatedly while burning through investor cash, and founding CEO Kevin Czinger resigned suddenly in 2010 before the car ever reached customers. The company eventually got the sedan to market in 2012, only to file for bankruptcy the following year.
U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration on Wikimedia
20. The Byton M-Byte
Chinese EV startup Byton built enormous hype around the M-Byte's giant dashboard screen, but repeated funding shortfalls kept the SUV from ever reaching full production. CEO Daniel Kirchert left the company in 2020 as it suspended operations, following his predecessor Carsten Breitfeld out the door just a year earlier.
Rutger van der Maar from Leiden, The Netherlands on Wikimedia
