why did buick stop making the riviera?

Don't know, the stopped it for a few years in the 90's then brought it back for a few. One reason may be that overall 2 door cars don't seem to be as popular as they used to be. Till the mid 80's just about every model car came in both a 2 and 4 door. Today you are lucky to have more than a couple 2 doors in the whole lineup.

The Riv was always a little strange. It seemed to bounce around in the GM family and Buick lineup. The late 60's and 70's it was an E body like the Toronado and Eldorado but was not FWD. You would think a major difference like that would have made it a different body. It must have been very expensive for Buick to make those changes. In the mid 70's it jumped around again basically being a trim level on other cars. 79 it went back to the E platform which was a non transverse FWD. Even then the Buick had bigger differences in the body than the Eldo and Toro. The Riv had slightly different lines so the doors and glass were different.

because they felt like chocolate more.....