Years and years are spent through the history of the moto industry, creating the best of the best and pushing the limits of technology.
You know how they say, the architect’s dream engineer’s worst nightmare, so you would agree that it’s not an easy task to create stunning and practical cars at the same time.
So you would say that they can’t make mistakes these days, well you guessed it wrong. From just plain stupid ideas to just wrong market assumptions, we will look at the top 10 ugliest cars that our team managed to dig up.
10. Fiat Multipla (1998-2010)
How could we start the list without mentioning Multipla? Let’s start digging from the beginning. Chief designer Roberto Giolito who had many controversial and genius designs in his career, like Downtown, Zic and Ecobasic, was behind the idea of Multipla. The idea was to maximize interior space within specific dimensions while keeping it reasonably economical. That sounded and looked like a great idea to Fiat, so they gave the green light to Multipla. They began production by the end of 1998, offering a few engine models, including petrol+LPG, which was something that caught up with others in mid-2000. But one thing is practicality and a totally different style. You will have to agree that this looks like something that came from a cartoon or a toy factory and not a prominent Italian car manufacturer.
2. Chrysler PT Cruiser (2000-2010)
Is it fast? Is it roomy? Is it Hi-Teck? Is it fun to ride?
Well, we will make it easy for you; the answer for all above is NO. In the late 90s, a new trend emerged, and that was owning a retro-style car. Many car manufacturers started bringing back to life old models with new and advanced technology making them cool again. Some examples are VW New Bettle and Mini Cooper. Chrysler saw this as an opportunity to bring back to life new age hot rod. The whole idea is to have a cool hot rod as a daily car. But one, this is what they wanted to be, and another, what it was. It offered 1.6L and 2.0L engines, with the biggest being a GT version 2.4L turbo, producing 215hp with a top speed of 125 mph. That’s right; it looks like it sounds BORING. Bad performance with even worse suspension, and let’s not even start with problems after owning it for five years. We could say that this was the biggest mistake by Chrysler. Or is it?
3. Plymouth/Chrysler Prowler (1997-2002)
Ok, now seriously, what was this supposed to be? We are not sure what first to look at. The front of the car looks absolutely ridiculous, pretty aggressive but then again too sharp; moving on to the cabin, except being claustrophobic(we could not find any other way to describe it) and finish it with the shapeless trunk where you could put your purse only. Ok, that was a joke, but it is pretty small. Overall it was definitely one of the ugliest car ever made.
4. Aston Martin Lagonda (1974-1990)
Aston Martin is famous for their two seat beasts. They are iconic, that’s for sure, but even they make mistakes. Usually renowned for their speed birds, they didn’t have any models that could cover a huge market looking for something bigger for the family while keeping performance and prestige at a certain level. So, Aston Martin came up with this idea. Starting from the front, six headlights between the grill, not going to work. Enormous shapeless hood following roomy interior and mess at the back. Looks like the designer of this car skipped some classes.
5.AMC Gremiln (1970-1978)
American Motors Corporation or AMC had a good run in the 60s, making cars in corporations with Nash and Hudson, but that all changed with the introduction of the Gremlin. We could say the name fits the description. It’s hard to know what was on the designer’s mind when it came to this car, but one thing is for sure, art was not one of them.
6. Tesla Cybertruck ( Production starts in 2023)
Electric vs. petrol is a big topic these days, but let’s leave that aside and hear us out. Making a car is not just putting bits and pieces and hoping it will work; it’s more than that. It’s all about pushing the limits of engineering and making design statements that will revolutionize the car industry. Also, giving it a soul and leaving it as one piece of art so we can all just stop and admire it for a moment. Well, Tesla obviously didn’t care about any of that. Many of you will agree it just looks like many iPhones glued together, pretty shapeless and giving you a strange vibe. Definitely deserves a place on our list.
7. Citroen Ami 6 Berline 1961-1978
Citroen was always known for controversial models. Especially interior of those cars was something to stop and admire. We would give one big + for the interior design of Citroen models in that era. On the other hand, the exterior was rather a pure masterpiece or complete opposite, just like Ami. It just doesn’t add up; it looks like two cars glued together. We will not talk about performance because that would not make big sense now, but generally, the car had an average performance. The exterior was definitely something to talk about. Front with huge headlights, bent hood, roof slightly bigger than necessary and let’s not skip cut-out trunk and ugly rear lights. I don’t know who was this good idea.
8. BMW i7 (2022-now)
This was a shock to all of us that this happened to BMW. Once known for extraordinary design and pure raw performance, they turned into this. Yes, BMW did make big mistakes before when they gave Davide Arcangeli chance to design the E60. But with time, they did try their best to bring back old glory. Now, this i7 is something that is changing BMW again. Design is not representing and does not stand for anything that we believe the band is fighting for.
9.Pontiac Aztek 2000-2005
We saved the best for the end. This is probably a mash-up of four cars into one. We assume they had plenty of spare parts from previous models, which Pontiac didn’t know what to do with, so they made Aztek. One of the key features are split grill with split headlights, which was totally unnecessary for this car. Moving on to the side view shows the split personality of the SUV and station wagon. We can walk around the car all day and point out millions of questionable choices made for this car. The chief designer for this car was Tom Peters, who later designed Corvette C7; made a few statements regarding Aztek as being “bold” and “aggressive,” but we can’t find anything similar in this car except just ugly.
