If the Economy Cracks Again, These Car Brands Could Be First to Fall

The economy's looking pretty rough right now. Gas prices keep climbing, trade wars are jacking up costs for everyone, and a huge chunk of U.S. GDP is sitting in a bubble that could pop any second. Last time things looked like this, actually maybe even a bit better than this, the 2008 crash wiped out a bunch of beloved car brands. So the question is: which brands won't survive the next recession?

Recessions make companies tighten up fast, and that usually means consolidation. GM axed Saturn and Pontiac last time around to streamline everything. But the car world looks completely different now than it did almost 20 years ago. Which of today's brands get sacrificed when the belt-tightening starts?

DS Is Probably Toast

Stellantis owns DS, and honestly, it just feels redundant. The original DS was a Citroen, and it's still not totally clear why the new cars don't wear that badge anymore. DS doesn't seem different enough to stand alone when things get rough economically. If the economy tanks again, DS probably gets folded back into Citroen so Stellantis can brag about all the money they saved not making separate badges.

That's the pick here, but there are other possibilities. Could Audi get sacrificed to keep the Volkswagen group alive? Does Rivian have enough cash reserves to survive a downturn? What happens to the smaller players trying to hang on? Time will tell, but history says somebody's not making it out the other side.