Controversial car designs that aged beautifully

For this reason, you wouldn’t blame manufacturers for wanting to play it safe, but thankfully they occasionally like to shock us. Sometimes, we’re treated to really controversial proportions and startling details, and every so often we’ll see a completely new category of car.

Let’s look at 20 cars that caused a lot of controversy when they were released, but we reckon have only improved in time:

When Renault previewed the Avantime in 1999, the French firm called it a “Coupespace”, a totally new type of car combining luxury, comfort, and sportiness with a progressive visual presence. But although designers sang its praises, the public weren’t moved enough to buy these artworks on wheels, and between 2001 and 2004 only around 8000 Avantimes were sold

In the late 1990s and early 2000s, BMW Z3 roadsters were everywhere, but the coupe version was far scarcer. Many car fans took a visceral disliking to this shooting brake, referring—rather unkindly—to it as a form of footwear. The clown shoe.  Its rear wheel arches were far more prominent than people were used to at the time, and it felt overblown, like a caricature of a sports car.

But today, we’re used to super-inflated proportions and two and a half decades after its release, the BMW Z3 M Coupe wears its exaggerated styling very well. This fearsome rarity has come of age.

When a firm that has always created sports cars decides to do something entirely different, you have to expect people to make a bit of a fuss. For this reason, the design of the first-generation Cayenne was always going to go down like a lead balloon no matter what this SUV ended up looking like. But, over 20 years after it first arrived, the MK1 Cayenne still looks relevant.

Its characteristically clean, muscular surfaces have aged well, and it looks understated in comparison to a lot of today’s behemoths. The rear has always had a solid presence, and the midlife facelift is a big improvement on the original front end.

Alfa Romeo’s range-topping 166 saloon featured an angled shoulder line and a relatively slim side window, giving it incredibly sporty proportions. Those features are normal nowadays on executive cars, but weren’t when it was first sold in 1996, so people weren’t ready to embrace such an out-and-out sporty looking saloon.

And then there was the face, which underwent major revision in 2003. Still, customers didn’t warm to the 166, which was unfair. Stand back, look from side-on, and marvel at its dart-like athleticism.

BMW has always been famous for building sporty, aggressive looking cars, but the i3 took Munich in a completely different direction. BMW's first mass-produced electric car didn't feel at all angry, instead it appeared intriguing and quirky.

Use of two-tone styling made the front windscreen appear to stretch into the bonnet, and the side window graphic zig-zagged to allow rear passengers a better view out of the car. A real gamble at the time, its design was so progressive that today, the discontinued BMW i3 looks like a car that has only just been released.

Seeing the growth in demand for SUVs in the 2000s, Nissan replaced both the Almera hatchback and the larger Primera saloon with the Qashqai compact SUV. Back then, most SUVs had strong off-road capabilities, but the 2006 Qashqai was built for conquering curbs.

Nissan judged the public mood brilliantly and the success of the Qashqai spurred the creation of a new generation of crossovers. The Qashqai underwent a facelift that made it feel a little more aggressive, but the mild-mannered original has a serene look about it.

With its super-inflated wheel arches and three-dimension lights jutting out of the bonnet and rear haunches, the 2010 Mk1 Juke dismantled the conservative styling conventions of the time. If it had been launched a few years earlier, the chances are it would have flopped, but its designers somehow knew that customers were ready to embrace its revolutionary and controversial design language.

Its successor has a sportier and more premium feel, but the original Juke still looks like a concept car that has just popped out of the head of its designer. Perhaps it always will look that?

In the 1990s, Porsche was in financial trouble and in desperate need of a progressive look that would ensure its survival. The fashion then was for slippery-looking cars and Porsche needed to move with the times. So, when creating the 1997 911 (type 966), the oval (‘bug eye’) headlights that were a hallmark of previous 911s gave way to a new shape that integrated more smoothly with the front bumper.

911 fans hated these headlights, and they were soon tweaked. The refreshed lights saved the reputation of the 966 and this car still combines a powerful presence with effortless grace, especially in that signature silver paint job. 

Its status as a family favourite meant that Ford’s decision to kill off the Escort shocked many. Its replacement, the Focus Mk1, was a key player in Ford’s ‘New Edge’ design revolution for the new millenium. The hatchback version had revolutionary styling with wheel arches that are scored into the body work.

The rear is the most progressive element, with prominent lights that are integrated into the pillars. Even though we’re now used to seeing cars with really distinctive aesthetics, when you see a Focus M1k it’s impossible not to take a second look—for all the right reasons.

During trials, the diminutive first-generation A-Class MPV failed the ‘Elk Test’, toppling over when swerving to avoid an object in the road ahead. Mercedes-Benz initially denied this was a major issue and but later recalled the A-Class, suspending sales while fixing the problem. Despite the German brand losing money on each MK1 A-Class sold, we can’t help but love it now.

Its zippy profile, characterful side window graphic and friendly expression still brighten up our increasingly crowded streets. Its successor had a premium edge, but the original has a coveted playful appeal and is destined to be a future classic.

In the early 2000s BMW design language was undergoing a major change in direction and the brand-new 5 Series didn’t look anything like the outgoing one. Critics said that the E60 looked too heavy and too rounded, and hated the front lights because they stretched too far around the side of the car.

But BMW read the times correctly as all cars were about to get larger. Building a weightier-feeling 5 Series allowed BMW to remain relevant. The E60 still looks modern and still has some of the best rear lights in the business.

Throughout its history, Citroen has frequently experimented with radical designs—and the DS5 was no exception. Part coupe, part hatchback, part estate, the 2011 DS5 didn’t neatly fit into any particular category so it was hard to define. But its squat stance and low-slung profile have stood the test of time.

The DS5’s distinctive styling features underlined the fact that it was a car for people who wanted to stand out. The chromed panel that runs from the front light all the way into the side window was particularly experimental for the time and helps to keep the DS5 looking fresh over a decade after its initial release.

BMW gained full control of the Mini brand in 1994 and released the first of a new generation of Minis in 2001. Purists weren’t happy that it dwarfed Sir Alexander Issigonis’ original creation from the late 1950s. It was as though the new Mini had eaten the beloved icon and had room for pudding. But times had moved on, and mainstream customers wanted to move with them.

The all-new larger, safer, more practical Mini proved to be an instant smash hit. And although more recent Mini models look more sure-footed, the 2001 car still looks nimble and fun.

The idea for the brand ‘Smart’ came from Swatch in the 1980s. The boss of the Swiss watchmaker saw a gap in the market—for a small, fashionable car that could be customisable. Swatch teamed up with Daimler-Benz to create a new company, ‘Micro Compact Car’, and released the first Smart Fortwo in 1998.

No one had seen anything like this incredibly compact and joyous yet stout-looking car, and its owners wowed everyone by nonchalantly parking end-on facing the pavement. The success of the Fortwo gave car makers permission to take more risks and this daring masterpiece remains a design classic.

A car that's powered by a hydrogen fuel cell has every right to look totally different to everything else on the road. The 2014 Toyota Mirai certainly did—and still does. Sadly, there are few places where these extraordinary 5m long executive saloons can top up with fuel, so they're incredibly rare.

Photos really don’t do its futuristic design justice, but there’s no doubt that the Mirai’s undulating body lines and a super-slick profile will bowl you over in the metal—if you’re lucky enough to see one. Photograph it straight away because no one will believe you did.

Introduced in 2004, the Peugeot 407 felt far more streamlined and aggressive than its predecessor, the much-loved 406. Its front pillars were more steeply raked, and its front lights did their best to stare you out. The most controversial feature was the large, wide, front grille. Traditionally, grilles like that had been reserved for sports cars, so the 407 disrupted people’s long-held picture of what a family saloon ‘should’ look like.

But the 407 proved to be very successful, selling over a million units during its production run. And since its arrival, prominent grilles have become a Peugeot trademark. The 407 stills looks slick and rapid.

In 2005 the American influence expanded into European roads in the form of the Chrysler 300C. Consumers were taken aback by its bold and direct aesthetics, including a high body side and pumped-up wheel arches. Especially snobbish ones sneered at its appetite for chrome and its prominent front grille which was very large for the time.

They saw the 300C as an upstart trying to muscle in on established luxury brands. But the 300C’s solid proportions and seriously toned physique gave it a real fan base and its styling remains relevant even today.

The 2001 X-Type was Jaguar’s first compact saloon since the Mark 2 and its best-selling model for most of the noughties. Despite this, a long shadow hangs over this car. At the time, Jaguar was part of Ford, and because of this, the X-Type was built on a modified version of the platform used for the Ford Mondeo Mk2.

Jaguar purists couldn’t get over this fact and the association with a less luxurious brand has unfairly sullied the legacy of this refined, beautifully balanced car. The estate (pictured) looks even more poised than the saloon.

In 1983, Toyota launched ‘Flagship 1’, a now-legendary project to create the world’s best car. The result, $1billion and an unbelievable amount of research and development later, was a new brand, Lexus, and its first car, the 1990 LS 400. Established automakers accused Lexus of selling the LS 400 at a loss to unfairly disrupt the market, but customers didn’t care.

They knew they were onto a good thing and soon Lexus was selling more cars in the USA than its German competitors. Its imposing size, classic proportions and clean, refined body lines mean that the original LS 400 still has great presence.

Created as a competitor to the BMW 5 Series and Mercedes E-Class, there wasn’t even a hint of aggression about the 2001 Lancia Thesis. This car was above all that. Its surfaces were draped over the body, and it looked untroubled by the need to barge other vehicles out of the way.

All other cars would simply move aside when in its vicinity, but unfortunately for Lancia, the concept didn’t chime with customers and only 16,000 of these beautiful retro-modern marvels were built in the eight year production run.

Aysar Ghassan leads the MA in Automotive & Transport Design at Coventry University