America is home to some of the biggest automakers in the world, and as such, sees a lot of homegrown concept cars. Concepts are a great way for companies and designers to try out ideas before considering the realities of production. They allow for complete creative freedom, and that leads to some very unique designs.
Sometimes, those designs are incredible, even if they never make it to production. Ford is one particular example, as they have a history of making amazing concept cars and then never taking them any further. But, not every concept deserves a shot at production. These cars were all so terrible or hideous that it's a relief they never got offered to customers. As unique and weird as they are, nobody's sad that they didn't make it onto American roads.
8 Plymouth Expresso
Through the early '90s, things were looking good for Chrysler. Their products were selling well and were seen as innovative, a big improvement from several years earlier when they'd been bankrupt. That innovation came with plenty of missteps though, and one of their biggest is the Plymouth Expresso.
It looks like a take on the Japanese kei car class, but with none of the charm or practicality. There's just way too many rounded edges on this car, and the intensely yellow color doesn't help either. The right kind of small car could have been revolutionary for the US auto industry, but this certainly wasn't it.
7 Dodge Super 8 Hemi
Originally unveiled at the North American International Auto Show in 2001, the Super 8 was supposed to be a combination of several classic Dodge designs. Instead, it's one of the most impressively out-of-proportion cars to ever hit the show circuit.
Its sheer weirdness meant there was some interest in the car, and it featured in the video game Midnight Club 3: DUB Edition. The virtual world is where it belongs though, as nobody would want to actually drive a car with proportions like this everyday.
6 Buick Signia
This misshapen Buick was based on the Park Avenue sedan, and debuted in 1998. It was the brand's first attempt at making a crossover and, well, it's not a good one. Its long perspex back has elicited some comparisons to a hearse, and who knows what's going on with that weird front end.
The concept did actually have some features that would have made it practical, like plenty of headroom and built-in roof rails for cargo hauling. The ugly rear hatch was also fully removable, meaning that the Signia could also be used as a sort of short-bed pickup. Even with all those practicalities, it's still too ugly for anyone to ever want one.
5 Chevrolet Astro III
This concept is a bit different from the other cars on this list in that, purely as a design, it's actually pretty cool. But, take it away from the auto show circuit and into the real world and it's a different story. It's safe to say that most drivers would feel like an idiot if they had to raise the body shell to get out of their car, and there's no cargo space either.
The pointy nose is very reminiscent of the Space Race era, but turning corners on tight roads would be nearly impossible. Also, there's no way of seeing behind the car so drivers would just have to guess whether anyone was behind them when reversing. So, a cool design but utterly useless as a road car.
4 Chrysler Imperial
This Chrysler Imperial Concept was unveiled in 2006 and reportedly gained serious interest among executives for a production version. Thankfully that didn't happen, as the car looks like a mashup of lots of luxury cars and simultaneously manages to have no distinct design of its own.
The suicide doors are clearly inspired by a Rolls-Royce Phantom, the wheels could be from a Bentley and the front just looks like a pirated version of a 300C. It's not the most offensive of designs, but it's a car so utterly devoid of its own character that it's a relief it never got made.
3 Aurora Safety Car
The idea behind this concept was to make the safest car possible using the technologies of the time. That time was 1957, and seemingly the designer of the Aurora decided the safest thing to do was make the car look hideous.
Its bulbous, overblown proportions look most similar to Erwin Wurm's "fat cars", although those are intentionally designed to be distorted and strange. The Aurora just seemed like a bad attempt at "function over form", but to the extreme where it's probably one of the worst looking concept cars ever.
2 Chrysler Pronto Cruizer
Most car fans agree the Chrysler PT Cruiser isn't the prettiest of cars, although it does have its fair share of fans too. This Pronto Cruizer takes the PT and makes it a coupe, and it manages to be even more mis-proportioned than its production cousin.
One of the PT's main redeeming features was its practicality, but this coupe version removes that altogether. The roof is now raked sharply downwards, making for a strange silhouette that would look more natural for a Hot Wheels toy car than a real one.
1 Plymouth Voyager 3
In the strange and unpredictable world of concept cars, this minivan-Smart-car-bendy-bus hybrid is possibly one of the strangest. In an effort to differentiate their product from the wave of other minivans at the time, Plymouth decided to make theirs in two parts.
The first was a small hatchback vehicle that looks a little like an early take on a Smart car. The second was an attachment that joined onto the back whenever the car needed to take more passengers. Unsurprisingly, the end product is hilariously weird and Plymouth never considered making it into a production car. Ironically, the issue of one person driving a huge car is still prevalent today, but this strange Plymouth definitely wasn't the solution.