Autos: 2008 winners and losers

To be fair, planning a new vehicle is always a little dicey. A typical new model takes about five years to get to market. During that time, gas prices rise and fall and rise again, consumer tastes change and competitors come out with new options.

"Maybe the timing wasn't the best, but there are still those who need this type of vehicle," said Kia spokesman Chaz Abbot "and for us to succeed we don't need that big of a share."

But Kia should have noticed all the passengers queuing up for the lifeboats on the ship they were about to board. Other automakers had long been coming out with new crossover models and taking the focus off their slow-selling SUVs.

Runner-up: Hummer H3T
Introducing a new Hummer truck even as truck sales are tanking and GM is looking to sell the underperforming Hummer brand may seem like a sure-fire winner in this category.

But the H3T is a variant of an existing vehicle so it took no great investment on GM's part and, even if it sells poorly, it will at least squeeze a few more sales out of GM's H3 production line. You can't really fault them for that.

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