24 Wild Car Designs From Conservative Automakers

While plenty of outrageous cars are out there, especially the one-off concepts often spotted at car shows, car manufacturers are, for the most part, very risk-averse.

Car designers may go overboard sometimes, but the bean counters and safety brigade soon rein them in. Most of the time, there isn’t as much money to be made from going wild as playing it safe. Luckily, sometimes conservative carmakers actually do make outrageous cars, and we’re here to celebrate that today as we look at 24 wild car designs.

Lexus LFA

Lexus is known for its safe, comfortable, and super-reliable SUVs and sedans. However, the Japanese luxury carmaker went off the rails and created one of the most advanced supercars the world had ever seen.

The LFA was unveiled in 2009 after Lexus had worked on the concept for a decade. It looked wild, and a handbuilt 4.8-liter V10 engine that produced more than 550 horses proved that the LFA was more than just a pretty face. The LFA was so expensive to develop that Toyota didn’t make any money on this project – even though the car sold for $400,000.

Renault Sport Spider

French automaker Renault is best known for its affordable everyday cars and work vans, but in the early 1990s, they wanted to build something that would promote them as a sporty brand.

They came up with the Renault Sport Spider, a model that would serve as a sports car for the road and a race car in its own one-make series. Renault made the Sport Spider available to the public in 1996, and the first road cars didn’t even have a windscreen – because racecar. The naturally aspirated 2-liter engine was positioned behind the driver and produced 148 horsepower.

Cadillac XLR

For a long time, Cadillac was known for its luxurious land yachts. Their interpretation of luxury meant always going bigger and making the suspension as soft as possible. We’re not sure what got into them in the early 2000s, but Cadillac thought building a boxier and more luxurious version of the Chevy Corvette would be a good idea.

To be fair, the Cadillac XLR looks excellent! It was based on the then-current C6 Corvette platform, and Cadillac added features and interior comforts. Unfortunately, the XLR wasn’t successful, mainly because it was much more expensive than a Corvette and offered less performance.

Dodge Viper

Dodge’s history with muscle cars goes all the way back to the 1960s. However, the American manufacturer’s cars were pretty bland ever since the mid-70s. In the late 1980s, Chrysler president Bob Lutz suggested that they should build a modern Cobra.

A few years later, the Viper was born, and it didn’t look like any Chrysler product before it. Under the long hood, there was an 8.0-liter V10 engine developed by Lamborghini. Dodge didn’t even bother with any safety features, making the Viper one of the most evil-driving road cars ever.

BMW I8

BMW didn’t have to make the i8; some say they lost money on every car they sold. That’s completely irrelevant because it’s one of the coolest cars to emerge from Bavaria in recent years.

The i8 was BMW’s first mid-engined car since the M1 – and we all know how they struggled with that project. It had a carbon fiber monocoque and fancy hybrid tech. The engine was only a 1.5-liter 3-cylinder from the Mini Cooper, combined with a 1.5 kWh electric motor. The BMW i8 produced 369 horsepower and went from 0 to 60 mph in 4.2 seconds.

Mitsubishi 3000GT

Mitsubishi certainly wasn’t known for building fancy sports cars back in the late ’80s, but that was soon about to change. In 1990, they released the 3000GT, one of its era’s most technologically advanced sports cars.

The Mitsubishi 3000GT is a front-engine, all-wheel drive GT car. The engine was a 3-liter, 24-valve V6 unit in naturally aspirated or twin-turbocharged form. The 3000GT also featured active aero, AWS, and adaptive suspension.

Volkswagen Golf GTI W12-650

Volkswagen means people’s car, so they’re mainly producing sensible models regular people can afford and drive daily. Granted, they’ve built some entry-level sports cars, such as the Corrado and Scirocco, and there’s the Golf R and GTI.

Back in 2007, the German carmaker decided to build something completely different. They took a run-off-the-mill Golf and put a 640 horsepower twin-turbo 6.0-liter W12 in the back. VW claimed this monster would sprint to 60 mph in 3.7 seconds, with a 202 mph top speed.

Chevrolet SSR

Chevrolet has a model in all the well-established automotive markets. They’re not known to venture out of that realm very often, but strange things happen when they do. The SSR, a retro-styled convertible pickup truck, was one of those strange things.

It was pretty much useless as a truck, and some say it was even worse as a sports car. Still, it does look fantastic, and we’re glad Chevrolet exited their bubble for a while – even if it’s not likely to happen again anytime soon.

Porsche 959

Porsche may be a sports car manufacturer, but they weren’t known for their wild designs in the 1980s. Evil tongues will tell you that the 911 still looks the same as in the ’60s.

The 959 was no joke, and it came about at a time when Porsche was staring bankruptcy in the face. Building a road-going AWD sports car for Group B rallying was a crazy idea, and each vehicle cost more to build than they could sell it for.

Rover 75 V8

Another carmaker that was hemorrhaging money while developing a crazy concept was Rover. The British carmaker commissioned Prodrive to convert the Rover 75 to rear-wheel drive and fit a 4.6-liter V8 engine from the Ford Mustang under the hood.

It’s no wonder the company eventually went bankrupt – did anyone think a niche product like this could save the company? At least they went out with a bang!

Volkswagen Phaeton

The Volkswagen Phaeton may not have a crazy design, but then-chairman of the Volkswagen Group, Ferdinand Piëch, did have some crazy demands the car had to meet.

Perhaps the most pointless of them all was the one that stated owners should be able to drive the Phaeton all day at 186 mph with a 122 °F exterior temperature while maintaining the interior temperature at 72 °F. The Phaeton’s top speed was electronically limited to 155.3 mph, so why set the bar so high?

Ford GT40

Henry Ford II was so annoyed and frustrated after Enzo Ferrari pulled a sneaky move on him in a business deal that it resulted in the GT40. Ford decided to crush Ferrari at its own game – the 24hrs of LeMans.

Ford based the GT40 on the Lola Mk6, one of the most advanced racing cars of the time, hired Carroll Shelby to help turn it into a race car, and slapped a big V8 in the back. The rest, as they say, is history, and Ford won the 1966 LeMan.

Edsel

Edsel was another one of Ford’s pet projects, but unlike the GT40, Edsel crashed and burned. You’d think a company that altered the automotive landscape forever through sheer innovation would know better, but that clearly wasn’t the case.

Ford was known for its everyday vehicles and workhorses, and the Edsel brand was created to take a solid chunk out of the premium market. Ford didn’t do their homework, though. Their research was shoddy, the marketing was overhyped, Edsel’s build quality left a lot to be desired, and there was a recession. It’s probably the worst thing Ford has ever done.

Toyota Aygo Crazy

The Toyota Aygo is a tiny city car designed to thrive on the narrow streets in European cities. A 3-cylinder 1.0-liter engine powers it, so we’re not talking high performance here. Toyota then decided to turn it into something extraordinary.

Toyota ripped out the rear seat to fit the 1.8-liter engine from the MR2 and Celica in the middle. They then fitted a turbocharger on it, so it produced around 200 horsepower. The Aygo Crazy’s exterior also lived up to the name, as Toyota went all out and fitted wider fenders, large wheels, and a big wing.

Plymouth Prowler

At a time when Plymouth was in a staring competition with death, and all their cars were rather bland, the Prowler emerged as the company’s savior. We all know that didn’t happen, but the Plymouth Prowler was a fantastic car.

The retro hot rod-looking machine was unlike any other new car. Naysayers will moan about how it only had a V6 and auto transmission, but the Prowler is severely underrated and deserves more respect.

Renault Clio V6

Renault built the Clio V6 to promote their new MkII Clio, although they only share a few parts. The standard Clio is a small, front-engined hatchback, mainly used as a city car or grocery-getter.

The Clio V6 featured a widebody, and the engine was placed where you’d typically find the rear seats – meaning it was rear-mid-engined, like a supercar. It even had its own racing series for a while, taking over where the Renault Sport Spider left off.

Volvo P1800

Volvo has been around for almost 100 years now, and during that time, it’s never been known for its outstanding sports cars. The only exception was when it released the P1800 back in 1961.

The P1800 looks nothing like a Volvo. It was so stylish that it became the vehicle of choice for Roger Moore’s character, Simon Templar, in the TV series The Saint. It didn’t just look good, though. It was reliable as well. Irv Gordon and his Volvo P1800 hold the world record for the highest mileage car. When Irv passed away in 2018, the P1800 had covered over 3.2 million miles.

Volkswagen W12 Nardo

Volkswagen boss Ferdinand Piëch tasked Giorgetto Giugiaro and the Italdesign team to design a VW sports car and what a sports car it was. The W12 Nardo was shown at the 2001 Tokyo Motor Show. It featured a 600 horsepower engine – enough to send it from 0 to 60 mph in 3.5 seconds and on to a top speed of 221.8 mph.

By February 2002, a Volkswagen W12 coupé snatched up all the world records for speed classes over 24 hours at the Nardò Ring. The VW covered a distance of 4,809.8 miles at an average speed of 200.6 mph). That’s an impressive people’s car.

MG XPower SV

MG had built some fun cars in the past, but by the time the XPower SV came to be, it was a mere shell of its former self. The carmaker was also going bankrupt. Creating a very niche performance car rather than developing new versions of its core family cars would obviously solve all its problems… or so they thought.

The MG XPower SV sports car was developed in Italy, finished in the UK, and featured an American 4.6-liter V8 from the Ford Mustang. It looked terrific, and it flopped spectacularly. By the time the company entered administration, they’d only sold nine XPower SVs.

Lincoln Blackwood

Lincoln has been Ford’s luxury division since 1922. The company was mostly known for its luxury sedans, but in 1998, the Lincoln Navigator SUV took North America by storm. For the first time, Lincoln had now sold more vehicles than Cadillac. Conquering the pickup truck market was the next obvious move.

Enter the Lincoln Blackwood, a luxury pickup truck based on the Ford F-Series. Unfortunately, it wasn’t as good as the Ford. It was also quite useless since the bed had a permanently mounted tonneau cover. Needless to say, it was a massive flop and was discontinued after one year.

Honda NSX (1990)

While Honda had produced some fun and sporty cars over the years, it was known for its durable and somewhat boring everyday vehicles. Nothing was boring about the NSX, though.
Formula One legend Ayrton Senna helped develop the mid-engined aluminum-bodied wonder. The NSX was so good it humiliated Ferrari and its 348. Even the McLaren F1 designer Gordon Murray said it was better than all the cars he’d used as references when developing the McLaren.

Mercedes 190E Evo II

Mercedes-Benz needed a car that could beat the E30 M3 in the DTM racing series, and the answer was the 190E Evolution II. In order to homologate it for racing, Mercedes had to build 500 road-legal cars.

The M-B 190E Evo II had a huge body kit and an even bigger wing – and it was functional, too. Under the hood, the road-going car had a 2.5-liter inline-four engine that produced 232 horsepower.

Lancia Stratos

Lancia has always experimented and innovated with its cars. The things they did weren’t always successful, but at least they tried. However, they took things to a whole new level with the Lancia Stratos.

It featured a Ferrari-derived 2.4-liter V6 engine that was mounted behind the driver. It was a rally UFO that didn’t look like anything else out there. The Stratos dominated the World Rally Championship for years, and it still looks fantastic today.

1967 Toyota 2000GT

Toyota mainly focuses on sturdy everyday cars, so the 2000GT came entirely out of left field. The sporty Toyota is undoubtedly the most beautiful Japanese car ever made, and it can even hold its own against some legendary European models.

The 2000GT was styled like a Japanese E-Type, but it’s not all show and no go. A raspy 2.0-liter straight-six produced 150 horsepower, which was decent in 1960.