All the cars discontinued after 2018

Time flies. Here we are, at the tail end of 2018, looking back at the year that was and thinking about how best to get 2019 off to a good start. Though it takes months to get their cogs spinning and manufacturing decisions set in stone, car companies run through the same process every year, deciding which models to keep and which to kill.

We may not like all of their decisions – we'll miss that spunky yellow hatchback up above – but all we can do is track the changes as they come. And that's exactly what we've done with this slideshow. Here are all of the vehicles that are on life support as 2018 draws to a close.

We're not exactly sure when the Buick LaCrosse will officially end production, but we know it's on life support. In fact, all the vehicles that currently roll out of GM's Detroit/Hamtramck Assembly are on the chopping block. You'll see several more of them on this list.

If you go to Buick's website right now, you'll find the 2019 LaCrosse sharing space with the rest of the brand's crossover-heavy lineup, but we don't expect that to last a whole lot longer.

We've known that 2018 will be the final year for Cadillac's ATS sedan for quite some time. And we'll miss it, particularly in high-performance ATS V guise, where its turbocharged 3.6-liter V6 engine kicks 464 horsepower and 445 pound-feet of torque to the rear wheels.

Fans of the ATS can take some solace in the knowledge that the two-door coupe will live a bit longer. Plus, unless GM decides to cancel them before they ever see the light of day – and considering how poorly sedans are fairing in a world dominated by crossovers, it's not beyond the realm of possibility – we know that there are at least two new luxury sedans coming from Caddy within the next couple of years.

This one's a head scratcher. Along with the announcement that General Motors would be closing several plants in the United States was word that Cadillac's flagship sedan wouldn't survive the culling. And that's too bad. We're fans of the CT6, which offered good looks, good driving dynamics, loads of technology (particularly the brand's excellent Super Cruise semi-autonomous system), and an efficient plug-in hybrid option.

On the plus side, the last run of production before the line shuts down in March will be to produce a bunch of twin-turbo V8 V-Series models. So at least the CT6 will go down on a high note.

The Chevy City Express minivan never sold well, so we're not surprised to see it discontinued. The announcement of the van's demise was made over the summer, so it doesn't have anything to do with the plant closures that have been making the news for the last few months. In fact, the City Express is actually produced by Nissan, based heavily on the Japanese company's NV200.

GM doesn't really seem to be interested in seriously reentering the minivan market, preferring to push buyers instead into one of its many three-row crossover and SUV options.

Sales of the Chevy Cruze, which is built in GM's Lordstown, Ohio plant (one of the facilities that is slated to be shut down), are down more than a quarter in 2018 when compared to the previous year. Still, Chevy will sell well over 150,000 Cruze models in 2018, making it one of the brand's best-selling vehicles in America.

The Cruze isn't officially dead just yet, and there's a good chance that the sedan and hatchback will continue to find their way to dealerships across the United States well into 2019. And those dealerships will probably be willing to make a deal, which could make the Cruze an attractive option for bargain hunters looking for a nice new car.

This one stings. The Autoblog staff likes the Chevy Volt, and we're going to miss it. We wrote the car a eulogy of sorts, and we did our best to explain how the car, once touted as GM's electrified savior, ended up in the dustbin.

If there's a silver lining to the death of this green-leaning hybrid, it may be that the technology first pioneered by the Volt lives on in the fully electric Chevy Bolt, and it's likely to carry forward in the coming years as GM continues moving toward an electrified future.

The Ford C-Max is the first Blue Oval-branded vehicle on this alphabetically ordered list, and it starts a trend. Ford is on a vehicle-canceling spree, killing off sedans and hatchbacks and replacing them with crossovers, SUVs and pickup trucks.

Ford has quietly been selling two C-Max flavors for several years in the U.S. Both the regular hybrid and the C-Max Energi plug-in hybrid are dead after the 2018 model year, abandoning the market to the segment-leading Toyota Prius.

The Ford Fiesta is a big seller in a lot of markets around the world, but not really in the United States, where subcompact sedans and hatchbacks have very quickly fallen out of favor. But we'll miss the little car's spunkiness, particularly the Fiesta ST hot hatchback. And that pain is especially grating since there's a brand-new ST for the 2019 model year with a 197-hp, 1.5-liter three-cylinder that sounds like a blast to drive.

If you're in the market for a cheap little hatchback, Ford says the Fiesta ought to be available throughout the 2019 model year, even though production will end well before the calendar flips to the winter months.

Like the subcompact Fiesta, the fullsize Taurus sedan will be phased out over the 2019 model year. Not many people will miss it. The Ford Taurus is a competent people mover, but its lack of updates, mild-tempered styling and ho-hum driving dynamics all conspire to make the Taurus an also-ran in its already limited segment.

The midsize Ford Fusion is also on its way out, but that mainstream sedan may live a little longer than its larger Taurus sibling.

What's this? A crossover on the list of vehicles that are being discontinued? Well, not really. The Lincoln MKX is indeed gone as a nameplate after the 2018 model year, but that's because it is being replaced by the 2019 Lincoln Nautilus.

The MKX is currently Lincoln's best-selling vehicle, which makes the major refresh and name change a risky move. All in all, though, Nautilus is a much catchier name than MKX, and we're thinking buyers probably don't have a strong enough attachment to those three letters for the rebranding to negatively impact interest.

The Nissan Juke has always been an outlier. Its super funky styling may have held it back from achieving stellar sales figures, but its spunky driving dynamics will be missed.

The Juke is being replaced by the Nissan Kicks, which is a much more mainstream entry into what is one of the hottest vehicle segments in America. Sadly, while we generally like the Kicks just fine, it doesn't offer anything like the outgoing Juke's turbocharged engine or playful attitude.

The aptly named VW Beetle Final Edition carries a 2019 model year designation, but production is slated to end in July so we decided to include it on this list of vehicles that are on their way out. It's the end of an era, again, and while we'll be sad to see the little Bug die off, at least we have several decades worth of memories.

And who knows? Maybe we'll see another Beetle in the future. Maybe one powered by electricity.