Every time a new car is created, there’s an opportunity to change the face of motoring for the better.
But sometimes a car maker releases a car that’s so disappointing for numerous reasons that you wonder why it was ever signed off. They could have made something good, but missed the opportunity by making a hash of things. Let’s take a look at some of the most notable examples:
Tucker 48 (1948)
Preston Tucker (1903-1956) was a visionary who wanted to push the boundaries with his ‘Torpedo’ family saloon. He dreamed big about a car with revolutionary styling and safety features, luxury and performance.
He gained the support of some major backers, but when confidence in the project stalled as Tucker was dragged through the courts on charges of fraud, the money dried up and the company went bust with just 50 cars completed. Those that survive are now very valuable.
Nash Metropolitan (1953)
Sold on both sides of the Atlantic, with either Nash or Austin badges, the Metropolitan was the result of a collaboration between the two companies. The plan was to offer an economy car using Austin A40 running gear.
The result was a car that now looks cute but which at the time looked ridiculous with its slab-sided design, cramped cabin and shoddy handling thanks to a narrow track and short wheelbase. Buyers wanted cheap but they didn’t want nasty, which the Metropolitan was.
Austin Gipsy (1958)
Land Rover was cleaning up in the 1950s as it had the British four-wheel drive market to itself. Austin wanted a piece of the action and its response was the Gipsy, which unlike its arch-rival was fitted with steel bodywork that quickly rotted. The poorly designed suspension was prone to failure too, so while the Gipsy could go anywhere, it couldn’t do so for long.
Ford Edsel (1957)
Arguably the biggest motoring misjudgment of all time, Ford attempted to create a whole new brand with the Edsel, named after Henry Ford’s only child. With $300 million invested in the new brand it soon became obvious that Ford had got the styling disastrously wrong. It also launched the car into a recession, and buyers were expecting something more than what was effectively a reheated Mercury – but they didn’t get it.
Hillman Imp (1963)
Built to counter the Mini, the Imp packed a rear-mounted engine driving the back wheels, the free-revving overhead-cam all-alloy four-pot making the car a hoot to drive. But water leaks plus weak engines and unreliable pneumatic throttles meant the Imp spent more time in the workshop than on the road. Throw in shocking build quality and the Imp was doomed from the outset – but drive one that’s well sorted and it’ll be a revelation.
Austin 3-Litre (1967)
Created to take on such luminaries as the Ford Zodiac, Humber Sceptre, Jaguar XJ6 and Vauxhall Viscount, the Austin 3-Litre was a stretched Austin 1800/220 (Landcrab) with a 2912cc straight-six from the ageing Austin Healey 3000. The engines were weak and though the bodyshell was strong considering the wider wheelbase, the handling was poor and so was the ride for what was supposed to be a luxury car. Fewer than 10,000 were made before the plug was pulled.
Chevrolet Nova (1970)
Chevrolet wanted to create a people’s car for the seventies, for those on a budget. It started out pretty well, with a car that looked the part, but then GM stripped out as much cost as possible to keep purchase prices down and profit levels up. The result was a desperately uninspiring car with an interior full of brittle plastics, a bodyshell that rotted prematurely and an array of mechanical problems that dogged those budget-conscious buyers who bought one.
Chevrolet Vega (1971)
Former General Motors exec John De Lorean (1925-2005) claimed that GM knew about the Vega’s shortcomings before the car entered production, but it pressed the ‘go’ button all the same. The result was a car that rusted away in double-quick time, while the engines had a habit of destroying themselves. The Vega was built to such a low standard that it’s credited with pushing many Americans into buying Japanese rivals.
Chrysler 180 (1970)
When Chrysler bought the Rootes Group in 1967 it decided to sell cars under its own brand in Europe. You’d think that Chrysler would pull out all the stops to come up with something pretty special to get buyers excited, but instead we got an upscaled Hillman Avenger called the Chrysler 180, with a 1.8-litre engine. Later came the Chrysler 2-Litre complete with a vinyl roof, but these cars were so underwhelming that they were just about invisible.
Triumph Stag (1970)
We could have filled this whole feature with the products of British Leyland, which is why this isn’t the last such car that you’ll see here, but the Stag must surely be one of the saddest cases of a missed opportunity in the automotive arena. As an affordable V8-powered four-seater convertible it had the market to itself when it arrived in 1970, but fewer than 26,000 were sold globally by the time production ended in 1977, because of build quality issues affecting the unique V8 engine as well as the bodyshell.
Morris Marina (1971)
Designed to supersede the BMC Farina saloons that had been introduced in 1959, the Marina was British Leyland’s attempt to take on the successful Ford Cortina. The problem was, that while its rival was hardly the last word in build quality or dynamic ability, the Marina was woeful in both regards. With its poor refinement, ponderous handling, shocking quality control and uninspiring engines the Marina never had a chance.
Ford Pinto (1971)
If ever there was a missed opportunity, this was it. Designed to head off Japanese compact sales in America, tt was soon discovered that rear-end impacts could puncture the fuel tank of the Pinto, resulting in fires. Ford was later forced to recall the car for rectification, but the damage to its repuation had been done.
Lancia Beta (1972)
The Lancia Beta could have been an all-time great with its smart design, wide array of bodystyles and zesty twin-cam engines. But when Lancia’s owner Fiat went too far with the cost cutting, the result was poor-quality steel that led to premature corrosion which effectively destroyed Lancia’s reputation across much of Europe. Today, Lancia is down to a single model.
Ford Mustang II (1973)
When Ford launched the original Mustang in 1964 it became the fastest-selling car in history, but within less than a decade the Mustang brand had been devalued so comprehensively – in part by new emissions controls – that we ended up with a ‘muscle car’ that featured a V6 engine so weak that the car couldn’t even get to 100mph. It took a long time for the Mustang to rebuild its reputation – now it’s great once more.
Leyland P76 (1973)
When British Leyland decided to create a car purely for the Australian market, the result was the P76. There could be no compromises as this was a vehicle that didn’t need to work in other markets too, so it was no ‘world car’.
But the P76’s handling wasn’t as good as it should have been, and its design divided opinion, while the build quality was typical 1970s BL. Despite significant investment in the programme, the plug was pulled after just two years, and BL’s Sydney factory went with it.
Bricklin SV-1 (1974)
Safety was becoming ever more important to legislators and car buyers in the early 1970s, so when Malcolm Bricklin came up with the idea of building an ultra-safe sports car he couldn’t go wrong. Well, that was the theory, but his plastic-bodied gull-winged car suffered from so many manufacturing faults that production was halted after just a year, with all of 3000 examples made – when Bricklin had predicted 10 times as many would roll off the production lines.
AMC Pacer (1975)
The fuel crisis of the 1970s led to all of the big US car makers introducing smaller models with lower running costs. AMC threw its hat into the ring with the Pacer which wasn’t really all that small at all, and neither was its engine; the smallest unit offered was a 3.8-litre six-cylinder unit. Throw in awkward styling along with wayward dynamics and you can see why Motor magazine tested it then ran with the cover headline “We test the Pacer – and wish we hadn’t”.
Leyland Princess (1975)
When it came to muddled product planning, British Leyland was the master. Having introduced the disappointing Maxi in 1969, the company then went on to launch the Princess in 1975, but as a saloon rather than with a hatch. The reason? It didn’t want the Princess to compete with the Maxi, which by then was six years old. Instead of replacing the Maxi with the Princess the two sold alongside each other until the former died in 1981 – then a year later the Princess was facelifted to become the Ambassador, complete with hatchback.
Rover SD1 (1976)
Another child of the seventies, the Rover SD1 was good enough to be crowned European Car of the Year in 1977. A sleekly styled large and luxurious five-door hatch could have beaten all comers, but as with all British Leyland cars the SD1 was put together by a disaffected workforce that seemed to delight in sabotaging its own products. An effort to sell the car in the US was short-lived.
Renault 14 (1976)
The seventies produced a lot of lacklustre family cars. One of the most disappointing was the Renault 14, which after the brilliance of the 16 that had arrived more than a decade earlier, didn’t impress with its anonymous styling, poor build quality and mediocre dynamics. Bizarrely, the wheelbase on one side was longer than on the other, due to the car’s transverse torsion bar rear suspension, with one bar behind the other, with equal length trailing arms.
Aston Martin Lagonda (1976)
This article is written on the premise that there was an opportunity to be missed, but we’re not sure that there really was an opportunity here. Aston Martin reckoned there was a market for a luxury saloon that was styled futuristically inside and out. It came up with a car that featured a cutting-edge digital dash and a raft of electronics to control the various systems. But unfortunately the Lagonda launched before the tech was properly developed and buyers were rewarded with a car that would throw a hissy fit just for the fun of it.
GM diesels (1978)
Diesel cars have always been a hard sell in the US, and most of the reason is because of GM’s ham-fisted efforts in the late 1970s. In an attempt to offer a frugal luxury car GM introduced a 5.7-litre V8 diesel option in most of its brands (Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, Oldsmobile [pictured], Pontiac). But the engines were fitted with unsuitable cylinder head bolts which stretched, leading to blown head gaskets and bent con rods once the combustion chambers had filled with water. Warranty claims went into overdrive and many US car buyers were put off diesels forever.
Cadillac Seville (1979)
Automotive design went through a prolonged sticky patch throughout the seventies, on both sides of the Atlantic. On the US side, nowhere was this more apparent than with the Cadillac Seville that looked as though it had been rear ended. Its awkward proportions and kitsch interior ensured buyers lapped up European imports like never before.
AC 3000ME (1979)
In theory a long gestation period should lead to a better car, but not in the case of the AC 3000ME, which was in development for much of the 1970s. First shown in 1973 as the Bohanna-Stables Diablo, this plastic-bodied two-seater sports car was meant to offer power and agility for buttons – but by the time it arrived in production form in 1979 it wasn’t very quick, not especially powerful – and the price had ballooned so it was far too costly.
De Lorean DMC-12 (1981)
It was Malcolm Bricklin’s story all over again: a gull-winged sports car that was built badly, wasn’t very fast and handled poorly into the bargain. And once again production was wound up after just a year. Despite being a failure when new, the De Lorean has become massively collectible, largely thanks to its high profile courtesy of the Back to the Future film franchise.
Talbot Tagora (1981)
When Peugeot bought Chrysler the almost-finished Tagora project came with it. Although Peugeot offered the perfectly decent 505 it elected to stick with Tagora production, even though the two cars competed with each other. But the Tagora was dynamically poor and so was the build quality, which is why just a handful were sold in the three years that the Tagora was on sale.
Chrysler E-Class (1982)
Years before Mercedes introduced its E-Class, Chrysler did the same thing with a car that was aimed at impecunious buyers who wanted a New Yorker but couldn’t afford one. This cheaper saloon was as anonymous as they come and was powered by an array of lacklustre four-cylinder engines. After just two years the E-Class was canned due to a lack of sales, with the car morphing into the equally unloved Caravelle.
Cadillac Cimarron (1982)
In a bid to take on smaller European luxury cars from the likes of BMW and Mercedes, General Motors decided that rebadging a Chevrolet Cavalier as a Cadillac was the way to go. Fitting some extra standard kit and doubling the price wasn’t a sound strategy though, and buyers understandably stayed away – not least of all because even in cut-price Chevy form, the Cavalier was a dog.
Reliant Scimitar SS1 (1984)
When the MGB and Triumph Spitfire went out of production in 1980-81, the affordable British sportscar was dead. So along came Reliant with the Michelotti-designed SS1 promising a car that was fun to drive, quick enough and cheap to buy. Sadly its design divided opinion, and it was slow. The introduction of a turbocharged 1.8-litre edition and a restyle in 1990 helped to fix things – but by then the Mazda MX-5 had arrived to sweep away all before it.
Jaguar XJ40 (1986)
The Jaguar XJ was revolutionary when it arrived in 1968, but by the early 1980s it was looking rather tired despite a couple of substantial facelifts. What was needed was a significantly new model. Jaguar had been developing one since 1972, so by the time the XJ40 arrived in 1986 it was already looking somewhat outdated, though it was technologically advanced with sensors, motors and wiring galore. The problem was they didn’t always communicate properly leading to breakdowns.
Later cars were better, as is so often the case, but the damage was already done. Jaguar once ruled the luxury class in the UK and certain other markets, but today Mercedes rules the luxury road with its S-Class. In 2020, Jaguar will seek to change the rules with a new, all-electric XJ.
Isuzu Piazza (1986)
With a history of building trucks and off-roaders, Isuzu wasn’t ideally placed to build a sports car – but that didn’t stop the company giving it a go anyway. The result was a car that handled poorly, with the interior plastics to match. To top things off, the Isuzu was powered by a GM van engine that was unrefined. Still, it looked quite nice thanks to the efforts of Italdesign, which supplied the styling.
Rover 800 (1986)
The SD1 hadn’t done British Leyland’s reputation any favours, and when that company morphed into Austin Rover there was a chance to make a fresh start with an all-new executive saloon and hatch. So when the Rover 800 arrived in 1986 hopes were high, but as before the car had been released too soon and the 800 suffered from reliability and build quality glitches. The car launched branded as a Sterling in the US, but bombed there.
Cadillac Allante (1987)
Ever since its launch in the 1950s, the Mercedes SL has been a very desirable car. Cadillac wanted a piece of that action so it decided to launch its own take on the luxury convertible with the Allante. Not only was the Allante front-wheel drive, but the production process was so convoluted that the car could never be sold at a competitive price. Pininfarina built the bodies in Italy and then flew them to Detroit in Boeing 747s, for GM to complete them.
Audi V8 (1988)
Audi has always produced desirable saloons, but with the V8 it ventured into new territory – the luxury market. Here the stakes were much higher than Audi was used to so it created an all-new V8 engine and named the car after it. The first Audi to feature an automatic transmission with quattro four-wheel drive, the V8 was fast, luxurious and beautifully built, but despite winning the 1990 and 1991 German Touring Car Championship the car failed to make an impact. However, it did lay the way for the current A8 luxury car line.
Eagle Premier (1988)
Also sold as the Dodge Monaco, the Eagle Premier was the result of a joint venture between American Motors and Renault after the former had been bought by Chrysler, which decided to create a new brand to sell its new motor. That brand was called Eagle and one of its first products was the Renault 25-based Premier. With bland looks, uninspiring dynamics, mediocre build quality and lacklustre performance there was absolutely no reason to buy an Eagle Premier, which is why few people did.
Ford Escort (1990)
When the Escort MkV replaced the MkIV in 1990 it was universally lambasted, including by Autocar. Previous Escorts had done a perfectly good job at a reasonable price, but the new arrival looked anonymous, was uninspiring to drive, was overpriced and poorly equipped. Within two years the Escort MkVI had been launched – then in 1998 Ford redeemed itself with the Focus, which massively raised the bar within the small family car segment.
Vector W8 (1990)
Horacio Pagani and Christian von Koenigsegg have proved that you can come from nowhere and take on the big boys if you do things properly. But when Gerry Wiegert tried to take on the likes of Ferrari and Lamborghini with his company Vector Aeromotive, he got everything wrong. The project got underway in 1978 but didn’t bear fruit until 1990. By then the world had moved on yet he still managed to shift 17 copies of his $400,000 W8 supercar which looked sensational – but proved unreliable.
Nissan Serena (1992)
MPVs were all the rage throughout the 1990s. Some were brilliantly thought out while too many were little more than vans with windows added. The Nissan Serena fell into the latter category and it was dire as a result, with its low-rent cabin, anonymous looks and languid performance. Buy the naturally aspirated 2.0-litre diesel and you had one of the slowest vehicles on sale at the time: 0-60mph took 34.8 seconds and the top speed was just 81mph.
Vauxhall Vectra (1995)
When Ford introduced the Mondeo in 1993 it injected some brio into a class that was full of dull saloons, hatchbacks and estates. So when Vauxhall came up with a Cavalier Mk3 replacement two years later it should have created something more than able to compete. Instead we got a reheated Cavalier with a new name; put the two next to each other and it was hard to tell them apart. Coarse engines, dull handling and indifferent cabin plastics conspired to make the Vectra a big disappointment.
Cadillac Seville (1997)
Cadillac dealers had a distinct sense of déjà vu when the fifth-generation Seville arrived in 1997. At a time when rivals had accepted that an investment had to be made in every aspect of the car if it was to be a success, GM however cut costs to improve the bottom line. Buyers soon twigged that the Seville featured a cheap interior and sub-par dynamics – which European rivals could easily beat.
Jaguar S-Type (1999)
Jaguar really needed to reinvent itself in the 1990s. It was seen as an old man’s brand with its retro designs – what was really required was a new look that showed the brand was embracing the 21st century that was about to hit. Instead we got the S-Type, which not only borrowed its name from a 1960s saloon, but the design was seemingly carried over wholesale too. We had to wait until 2008 before we finally got a new look for Jaguar, with the first-generation XF.
Jaguar X-Type (2001)
Two years after Jaguar launched the S-Type with its sixties styling, the company repeated the trick with a smaller saloon based on the Ford Mondeo floorpan. The plan was to sell 100,000 X-Types annually; in its best year Jaguar achieved half this. The X-Type was often derided for its Mondeo underpinnings, but the Ford wasn’t such a bad start point at all. What did for the baby Jag was its retro design, dubious reliability and, at first, the availability of only thirsty six-cylinder petrol engines with four-wheel drive transmissions.
Lincoln Blackwood (2002)
Pick-up trucks are massively popular in the US because they can go anywhere with their four-wheel drive and generous ground clearance, and they can carry anything thanks to their huge beds. But not if it’s a Lincoln Blackwood, a rear-wheel drive only pick-up with minimal ground clearance and a luxuriously trimmed bed with a lid that reduces the usable capacity to pretty much nothing. Production lasted just one year and it took another two years to sell off the remaining stock.
Renault Avantime (2002)
The same size as an Espace, the Renault Avantime was best viewed as a 2+2, despite being billed as a luxurious four-seater. The interior packaging was as poor as the build quality, while the huge weight blunted performance and sent fuel bills soaring. It was a brilliant concept that still turns heads – but the Avantime just didnt deliver.
Rover CityRover (2003)
MG Rover fancied itself as an upmarket brand. A brand that could take on premium marques such as BMW and Audi – or at the very least, semi-premium brands such as Volkswagen and Volvo. Which is why it tried to sell a rebadged Tata Indica to British buyers. The Indica was already five years old when the CityRover arrived and it was desperately spartan. Rumour had it that MG Rover bought them in for little more than £1000, then attempted to sell them for £7000 upwards. For some reason the strategy didn’t work.
Saturn Ion (2003)
When General Motors launched the Saturn marque in 1985 it was to take on cheap Japanese imports, which is why its products were compact and affordable. They were intended to be cheap and cheerful rather than cheap and nasty, but nobody told that to the team behind the Saturn Ion which launched in 2003. The Ion was poorly designed, ergonomically suspect and poor to drive and this car – thanks to no fewer than a dozen recalls – is often cited as one of the key reasons for the demise of Saturn, which was closed down in 2010.
Dodge Caliber (2006)
Chrysler doesn’t have a great reputation for producing motoring landmarks, which is why we weren’t all that surprised when the mediocre Caliber was launched. The fit and finish were as weak as the driving experience; here was a car that somehow managed to offer a harsh ride while still wallowing in the bends. American buyers could buy a ‘sporty’ SRT-4 version, which thankfully didn’t make it to the UK.
Keyword: The car world's greatest missed opportunities