This picture of the upcoming Fiat 500XL mini-minivan floated around the Internet in the past week and just about everyone's first reaction was about how ugly this car is. It may be a small people mover, but there's no getting away from the ungainly profile.
It's not like they had a great starting point, though, as the standard Fiat 500L hasn't exactly set new standards for car design as much as it's been a successful reinterpretation of a Mini Countryman. But in the case of the 500L, it doesn't have the same off-putting image of being too long for its own good like the XL does.
Photo: Fiat
In fact, the Fiat reminds me of another XL that was just too long and too ugly that it should've been stopped before it was started.
Apparently, no one at GM was looking that closely when they decided to release 7-passenger versions of the oft-rebadged GMT360 SUVs of the 2000s. The Chevrolet Trailblazer EXT and GMC Envoy XL, pictured below, (and the Isuzu Ascender, for that matter) had higher roofs and bulbous rear ends that were totally incongruous with what was going on in the front.
The standard GMT360s were all decently styled vehicles, but the extended versions were just plain ugly. Of course, there were lots of GM products from this era that looked like they weren't really given a once-over before they went from concept to reality.
Photo: General Motors
There are more than a few vehicles likely consigned to the history books that threw away the more careful lines of the originals for the sake of adding a few seats or cubic feet of cargo space, only to ruin the styling of the whole thing. After all, more isn't always better.
So what other automotive extension jobs should never have seen the light of day?