15 Ugliest Cars Ever: Not All Cars Were Designed To Be Supermodels

Car design is entirely subjective, but let's not beat around the bush; there are some ugly cars out there. The automotive industry usually plays it safe, opting to stay away from controversial or unconventional designs. Still, there are some hideous cars in existence.

But what are the most hideous cars of all time? The vehicles that run straight off an assembly line and make you want to throw up. The Pontiac Azteks of the world. (Of course, it was always going to be a list of the ugliest cars.)

We did some digging and found 15 of the ugliest cars ever made. Not to be confused with our list of car designs that have aged terribly, but there is some overlap.

It's worth mentioning from the start that the cars on this list are judged based on looks alone. There are ugly sporty sedans, convertibles, SUVs, trucks, and sedans. We're not looking at whether a car is a decent daily driver. In this case, we're judging a book by its cover.

The very first entry on this list is actually a decent vehicle, and it won multiple awards. It may have a front end that can make a baby cry at 50 paces, but it's comfortable, spacious, safe, and economical.

Not every ugly car is a bad car, and as always, style is subjective.

Chrysler went through a whole retro phase in the early noughties. It gave the world the infamous Crossfire and this absolute tragedy of a car. The PT Cruiser is an odd blend of hot rod, MPV, and an oversized grille. As if the standard car wasn't ugly enough, Chrysler then went ahead and built a convertible version.

To be honest, the Chrysler Corp was on to something. In two-door convertible guise, the PT Cruise was semi-palatable.

Chrysler sold over a million PT Cruisers despite being on this list of ugliest cars. And the people who love them will defend them fiercely.

But there is a better way to do retro, as illustrated by nine modern examples from 2022.

There are three generations of Nissan Cube, and the only vaguely acceptable model in terms of style is the first generation. From the second generation, things started going downhill fast.

The first Nissan Cube was acceptable because it did what it said on the box: a cheap and affordable package for families. It was a Versa Sedan but boxier.

In 2002, Nissan moved away from the winning recipe and decided the Cube needed to be hit with the ugly stick. Repeatedly.

We don't have a problem with boxy designs, per se. The Nissan Cube's asymmetrical styling was extraordinarily odd and looked like something that should have been left on the concept car. The front and rear lights were also too small in relation to the body.

Even so, despite its ugly exterior, the Nissan Cube is a superb vehicle. It's one of the best small ugly cars ever made.

There's an excellent case to be made for the Fiat Multipla being the ugliest car in the world. Just look at it. It's almost as if Fiat dropped a small hatch onto the roof of a much larger MPV. It has been at the top of many ugliest lists, yet one can't help but love it. The Italians ruined it when the facelift model was introduced in 2004.

The facelifted Fiat Multipla was just another generic MPV, and when it was introduced, other MPVs had already featured many of the unique features that debuted on the original model.

Sure, the Fiat Multipla had a face not even a mother could love, and the dashboard was a mess, but it was one of the first MPVs with configurable seats. The odd shape resulted in huge windows, which passengers loved. Even Jeremy Clarkson was a huge fan and gave the Multipla loads of screen time on Top Gear.

The Fiat Multipla was way ahead of its time, but unfortunately, the Italians first wrapped it in a mortifying body, and after that, they made it bland. Declining sales eventually killed it, and Fiat hasn't built an MPV like this since, with the closest being the Doblo, which was rebadged a Ram ProMaster City.

We all know this car is grotesque to look at and that it has no redeeming qualities. The board of General Motors must have been drunk when they approved this monstrosity.

Still, the Aztek has made a comeback since it was mercifully axed in 2007. It was an utter failure for GM, which needed to produce 30,000 models to break even. Spoiler alert; it never went higher than roughly 27,800. By 2007, the sales plummet dropped down to just 69 units. That was the death knell.

But then the producers of Breaking Bad came along, and they needed a car to convey a sense of hopelessness and despair for the lead character. In the most perfect piece of car casting ever, they parked a Pontiac Aztek in Walter White's driveway.

It was the perfect way to introduce the main character as a loser that has given up on life.

For the record, the 2024 Prius is gorgeous and an excellent new car buy. It's a far cry from the first four generations. In our humble opinion, the third-generation Prius was the most horrifying of the lot, as the first and second-generation models were merely bland. We think most buyers with eyes will agree.

The front end already had too many contrasting angles, but the rear end is particularly offensive. Naturally, this automobile had to make some design concessions to reduce aerodynamic drag, but we would have happily sacrificed two miles per gallon for a more appealing exterior.

As an efficient car, it was fine. It sent adequate power to the front wheels, and Toyota's contribution to hybridization being widely adopted has to be applauded.

Still, we're glad the third-gen car is dead and that Toyota finally proved that you can have a handsome yet aerodynamically efficient vehicle.

The Lincoln MKT was ahead of time. It was a blend of a sporty sedan with a crossover twist, much like the Corsair is today. It even had a bit of sports car in it, with the top-spec EcoBoost engine producing 355 horsepower and 350 lb-ft of torque.

Unfortunately, the pre-facelift car was equipped with an obnoxious front grille. So even though there weren't any other cars like it, the MKT never found sales success. The most units sold was in 2012 when Lincoln sold just over 7,000.

We still think the MKT deserves to be on the list of ugliest cars, but it's also not as offensive as it used to be. Oversized grilles were a no-go in 2010, but you can't find a BMW without one these days.

The SSR in Chevrolet SSR stands for Super Sport Roadster, the most ambitious name ever. It was a pickup truck with a fold-down roof and one of the ugliest cars ever. It was such a flop, Chevy only sold it for three years.

There were some cool things about it, however. It was initially sold with a 5.3-liter Vortec V8, but in 2005 Chevy bolted the LS2 from the C6 Corvette under the hood. This bumped the power to 390 horses, resulting in a 0 to 60 mph time of 5.29 seconds.

The front was fine, but the rear end was fat and ghastly. Also, you could get a better-handling and more attractive Mazda Miata for much cheaper.

This car had no reason to exist. Its ugliness was just the cherry on top.

In the early noughties, Subaru decided to jump on the luxury midsize crossover train. BMW and Mercedes-Benz were already doing it, so why couldn't the Japanese?

The result was the Subaru Tribeca, named after the trendy neighborhood in NYC. There was no mistaking who this vehicle was aimed at.

Subaru made the same mistake Porsche made when it designed the first-generation Cayenne. The Germans tried to retain its famous 911 sports car's design DNA, which didn't work. Subaru did the same, but with the Impreza, which was still a road-going rally monster at the time. Neither design worked, but at least the Cayenne had a desirable badge on the hood.

Subaru tried to remedy the problem with a facelift, resulting in yet another generic SUV. Most Subie fans were left wondering why they'd buy the Tribeca over the vastly superior Outback, which was much cheaper and equipped with the same 3.6-liter flat-six.

Buyers didn't want it, and Subaru eventually caved due to slow sales. The Ascent came along to replace the Tribeca and has performed much, much better.

In the mid-'90s, the Plymouth lineup was looking pretty bleak. There was nothing desirable, so the American automaker decided the world needed a hot rod for the modern age.

So it designed a drop-top with swooping lines dating back to the '50s and open front wheels borrowed from the Rat Rod movement.

The Prowler might have worked if not for safety legislation. That's the only reason it has those awful front bumpers, which spoiled the entire look. For a car inspired by hot rods, Plymouth made the weird decision only to give it a mediocre V6 engine, mated to a dimwitted automatic gearbox.

Chrysler later introduced a one-off concept, showing what the Prowler could have been. As it was never going into production, it dropped the silly bumpers and was powered by a 4.7-liter V8 engine.

Chrysler would go on to build the 300, which retained some retro vibes but was nowhere near as wild.

The Veyron is undoubtedly a milestone car, but is it pretty? Can one of the most important modern cars also be ugly?

For sure.

The reason the Veyron is ugly is also the reason it's so fast. Designed to be slippery, the engineers had no room for sultry supercar styling. The Veyron is stubby and has an odd arch-shaped grille flanked by two uninspiring headlights.

One could argue that its form perfectly following function, but we're just going to say that it looks like a cockroach. Bugatti did a much better job with the Chiron, Bolide, and Centodieci.

The Pacer is the result of the 1970s energy crisis. Everyone went into fuel-saving mode, which meant building smaller cars. But if you're going to make small cars, you need suitable proportions.

AMC gave the Pacer a long hood and a stubby rear end. The car was also wide to increase interior space, which meant it was almost a square. The large windows were meant to increase visibility but slow-cooked the people on the inside.

The odd proportions and round headlights gave the Pacer a Pokemon-like look. But not a useful one like Pikachu. If this were a Pokemon, it would be called Fuglysaur.

The original Lagonda was a welcome departure from the blocky American machines popular during the era. Its wedge shape was groundbreaking, using a design element from a supercar and incorporating it into a four-door sedan.

But Aston Martin used too much wedge. If you look at the Lagonda's profile, it's essentially a convex and concave line coming together at a square front and rear.

Aston Martin brought the Lagonda back in extremely limited numbers in 2014 as a modern reinterpretation. If you want an Aston with more space these days, it will have to be DBX.

The Nissan Juke looks like it was designed by two conflicting committees that both got their way. One committee wanted a compact crossover with cute bubbly styling and round headlights, while the other wanted a coupe with a sloping roof and sharp angular lines.

That's why the Juke has all of these design elements. At least the Juke is good to drive, but it is also severely compromised by its awkward design. There's almost no legroom in the second row, and the stubby rear end means the trunk is laughably tiny.

The Kicks is a much better proposition, though we have to admit the first-gen Juke with a GT-R heart was quite remarkable. It was one of the best GT-R-powered cars ever made.

The original Marcos Mantis was built to stand out, which it did, but for all the wrong reasons.

Just look at it, and you'll note all the design flaws. The wheelbase is way too short, and the front and rear overhangs are comically long.

The Marcos designers wanted to achieve some sort of flow, but the car simply ended up looking like it stood in the sun for too long and melted.

It was a bizarre idea, and it never reached production because absolutely nobody was interested.

From the front, the XM looks like the piggies you have to battle in Angry Birds. From the side, it looks too big for its own wheels, even with 23-inch alloys. The various lines are a mess, and the taillights look like they belong on an entirely different car.

But the worst design flaw of all are the badges on the rear window. These are meant to be a throwback to the original M1, which this car has almost nothing in common with.

Our issues with this car extend way beyond the design, though we're assured that it does handle well.

We'd rather have a new M5 Touring.