Ugly cars can certainly make the automotive industry interesting. There’s nothing wrong with cars that are unappealing; wait a minute, yes, there certainly is.
It’s too bad some of these cars made it past the design phase. Some of them were good underneath the skin, but beauty is truly only skin deep, and no one wants to drive one of the ugliest cars ever made. Let’s take a look at ten cars that shouldn’t have ever hit the market because they offered little to no visual appeal.
1961 Citroen Ami 6
Some French automakers have created some seriously strange cars, but we don’t expect them to be hard to look at. Unfortunately, the Citroen Ami 6 was such a car. This was the first car that used headlights that weren’t round, but the odd shape at the rear did nothing to make this car appealing at all. This car looked so bad that even the French hated it, which says a lot. Even when it was new, the Ami 6 was outsold by its predecessor, the 2CV, by double, which was the dagger needed to send this car to the graveyard.
Nissan Cube
The movement toward toaster-shaped cars brought us one that should have been left on the drawing board. The Nissan Cube was interesting, but it was, without a doubt, one of the ugly cars that made our list. The rear driver’s side had a wrap-around window that was strange, the wheels looked too small for the car, and it carried the boxy shape that some don’t appreciate. There’s no denying this car was made to go against the Kia Soul, but it never quite had the coolness factor of the funky Kia.
Nissan S-Cargo
No, we’re not picking on Nissan; they simply have some of the worst-looking cars ever made. The Nissan S-Cargo looked like a giant snail, which might have been the idea. This strange car could carry people or cargo around a city with ease, but it didn’t do much more than get laughed at and pointed at like Quasimodo in the Hunchback of Notre Dame. This car could have never hit the road, and the world would be better for it.
Chevrolet SSR
One of the worst truck-like inventions of the 1990s was the Chevrolet SSR. Some thought this machine was cool, and it had some cool features, but it was ugly in performance, development, and style. The SSR should be on most lists of ugly cars with its overuse of body-colored elements that make it look like it was made of plastic. It seems like the SSR was the result of Chevy designers butting heads over whether to make it a truck, roadster, or convertible. The blending of styles proves that sticking to one path is the best way to make a car, not this ugly result.
BMW Isetta
You might not think that BMW can make bad-looking cars, but the BMW Isetta is proof that you’d be wrong. This small, bubble-shaped car looks like it should be hurling through space with a couple of droids inside as they try to escape the Empire. This car was the answer to the need to have a car with low development costs, but it was also pretty low on the appeal scale. Surprisingly, this car was a hit in Germany and elsewhere, with more than 161,000 versions sold globally.
1970 Marcos Mantis M70
The Marcos Mantis M70 appears to be a conglomeration of models that shouldn’t be put together. This is truly at home among the ugly cars, and it could easily be crowned the ruler of the roost. Everything about this car is wrong. The lines don’t flow, it can’t decide to be a sports car or a passenger vehicle, and it simply seems awful. Somehow, this car had something that a few people enjoyed because 32 of these models were sold, but those could have simply been family and friends of the Marcos family.
Smart Fortwo
When you see the tiny cars from the Smart brand on the road, you must stop and stare. It seems strange that such small cars are safe enough to be on public roads, but they are. If there was ever a car that looked like a bubble on the road, this is the one. The Smart Fortwo is considered the roadster of the lineup with room for only two passengers in a tall, thin cabin that doesn’t seem like it’s large enough to have anyone inside.
Sbarro Autobau Concept
Doesn’t Sbarro offer slices of pizza at the mall? Maybe that’s another Sbarro company. The Sbarro Autobau concept could have been an interesting supercar if it weren’t for the front end and the massive opening that lifts the roof and hood to allow both passengers an easy way to exit. The front end belongs in a Batman movie, but for the general public, it makes this one of the ugly cars that nobody wants to drive.
Fiat 500L
The Fiat 500L ruined an enticing small Italian hatchback. This car was created to offer a longer version of the Fiat 500, but somehow Fiat missed the mark and made one of the worst-looking cars in the market. The long curve at the front and high roof made this Fiat too big and took away from the grace and style that we admired in the original Fiat 500. The looks of the Fiat 500L didn’t keep buyers from purchasing more than 500,000 of these ugly cars.
Citicar Electric Car
If you were to make a car in your garage and you had no tools to create round curves from the body panels, the Citicar Electric Car might be the result. This EV came out in 1974 and was an experimental machine from Sebring-Vanguard. The car was inspired by the fuel crisis of the decade, but the design was absolutely awful. This could easily be the ugliest car in the world with its aggressive front slant and bug-eyed headlights that make it hideous.
What do you think of these ugly cars? Do you have some models that could have easily made it onto our list?
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