GM, Chrysler Top List of 10 Worst Selling Cars

June 24, 2009— -- The Dodge Caliber hatchback has plenty of room to pack your stuff for a quick getaway, but these days it is going nowhere fast. American car dealers are taking an average of 223 days to clear the Caliber off their lots. That's more than seven months -- a longer sales period than any other major-selling car on the market today.

The Caliber is joined by a host of other American-made vehicles at the top of a list of cars American drivers have little intrest in buying, including: the Dodge Avenger, Pontiac G6 and the Chevrolet Cobalt. In fact, 12 of the 15 slowest selling cars on a list prepared by Edmunds for ABC News are American made. On the foreign side only the Kia Optima, and Spectra and the Hyundai Sonata were the on models on the list of automotive dogs.

Jessica Caldwell, an industry analyst at Edmunds.com, said that part of the problem is a lack of customer demand and part is an overproduction by American automakers.

"It's really a reflection of a misstep of the American automakers," Caldwell said.

General Motors and Chrysler dominated the list. Ford only had one vehicle on it: the venerable Mustang.

Edmunds looked at cars sold by dealerships in May and how long they had been on the lots. Only models with 2,000 or more sales were included in the list to filter out lesser-known and obscure models. A healthy day supply number is about 60 days.

Pontiac's G6, Dodge's Charger, Jeep's Patriot, Chevrolet's Cobalt and Colorado and Ford's Mustang rounded up the top 10 worst performing models in May -- all with day supplies higher than 145 days.

Models that are doing relatively well in the market are those with a good fuel economy, quality reputations and reasonable prices, said Joe Phillippi, of AutoTrends Consulting.

Chrysler's Dodge Caliber is particularly inept seller at 223 days. The car features a lot of cargo room, but Edmunds.com called the car "one of the least appealing small hatchbacks or wagons on the market" pointing to the Caliber's meager 172 horsepower engine that delivers "sluggish acceleration" and they noted the "unimpressive build quality." Despite its reasonable price, Car and Driver magazine says the Caliber's "vague steering" and "heavy ride" may make the vehicle seem more like a truck than a compact vehicle.