Somehow, someway, at the turn of the 20th century, two car companies thousands of miles apart from each other devised two of the ugliest motor vehicles ever assembled within 24 months of each other. Two family SUVs with aspirations of reinventing the wheel managed only to make journalists gasp and wretch when they had their covering removed. Most in the audience desperately wished they'd stayed on.
In truth though, between the Aztek and the Multipla, one is a truly revolutionary design that happens to be spit-ugly, and the other is just, well, ugly. Let's take a look a what's what and why.
Today, let's pit two of the ugliest cars ever made against each other to see which had potential and which was doomed from the start.
Two Companies In Peril
It can be argued both the Multipla and the Aztek were conceived in desperation. The late '90s had not been kind to either company. General Motors was hemorrhaging money after decades of being having their profits eaten alive by Japanese imports. There's a running joke that Fiat's been in a constant state of near disaster for the last half-century at least and probably much longer, and the 90s were no exception.
While Pontiac tried to capitalize on the late 90's "Xtreme" craze with a radical design aimed at 20 somethings. Fiat was aiming to create a chic and refined MPV for the European market.
Both companies needed something special to turn the tides in their favor. In 1999, both companies unveiled concepts for what would eventually become the Multipla and the Aztek. Initial responses were solid all around. Despite not being sold in America, Fiat displayed the Multipla concept at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. GM, too had a warm response to the Aztek. Critics applauded its aggressive but smooth lines. So what the heck went wrong?
A Cringe-Worthy Reveal
For how smoothly these two cars' development may have gone, their production unveiling was an equal and opposite nuclear meltdown that's still talked about 20 years later. Anecdotes about journalists gasping in shock as the production Aztek was revealed to the world are abound. There was a feeling among critics like the car had been designed by committee and that the people who designed the front end never bothered to talk to the people in charge of the rear.
The Multipla fared no better. Critics applauded the car's efficient use of interior cabin space but couldn't get past the fact it looked like something you'd find parasitically feeding off your internal organs. A Sunday Times article perfectly explains how critics felt about the Multipla when it was new.
" The tragedy of the Multipla is that it's Elephant Man-Esque exterior enclosed a genuinely clever and spacious interior, and it wasn’t bad to drive, either. It’s a shame, then, that you’d rather walk than be seen in it."
A Tent? Really?
General Motors was criticized in the 90s for not being bold enough. So they went completely overboard with the Aztek. Pontiac fitted several gimmick features to drive home the Azteks image as a rugged off-roader for young, Californian adventures. Some of these gimmicks included a center console that doubled as a beer cooler and a tent, that's right, a tent. It managed to make the car look even uglier.
What On Earth Was Fiat Thinking?
The Italians have no excuse for making ugly cars. With more famous styling firms per capita than any other country, there was a slew of options Fiat could've used to make the Multipla more appealing to people with functioning retinas. So why the Multipla ended up looking like it did? It leaves us all scratching our heads.
Which Is Worse
Despite equal levels of ugliness, one of these cars is clearly the worse of the two, but we'll break it down for you before giving our final verdict. To come to this decision, we had to consider all the variables that went into making both cars.
On the one hand, General Motors was criticized in the 90s for not being bold enough. So they went completely overboard with the Aztek. Pontiac fitted several gimmick features to drive home the Azteks image as a rugged off-roader for young, Californian adventures. On the other hand, Fiat was trying to apply a more European approach in response to similar criticism as GM.
While the Aztek failed to woo buyers with gimmicky accessories and aggressive marketing, the Multipla was genuinely innovative in many ways. So much so, the model received a de-uglified facelift that eliminated many of the car's awkward bulges and curves. This lasted until 2010 in Europe and 2013 in China. The Aztek faded out of existence in 2005, and Pontiac itself followed a few years later. If not for a starring role in the iconic Breaking Bad tv show, the car would still be seen as a total joke.
A Lesson In Being Too Radical
So it's pretty clear that the Multipla was objectively a better vehicle by far than the Aztek. That doesn't stop both cars from being burned into the cultural zeitgeist as the ugliest cars at least of the 21st century, if not ever.
If there's one thing to be learned from these two ugly ducklings of automobiles, it's that sometimes, the status quo is better than re-inventing the wheel for no other purpose than proving a point.
Sources: Sunday Times, Manhattan Museum of Modern Art