5 beautiful flop cars: From Hyundai Santa Fe to Ford Fiesta!

Looks are not everything when it comes to buying cars. A well-designed product may not gain as much attention as the other well-packaged products backed up good service network in India. Here are a few cars that failed to pull the car in the showrooms but make heads turn on the roads.

Fiat Grande Punto

The Fiat Grande Punto had an aura to it and was one of the classiest designed cars sold in the Indian market. The car was born on the drawing board of famous Italian designer, Glugiaro and it did look striking. The Grande Punto was quite an attention grabber, thanks to its simple yet captivating design.

The Punto never made it big in India. Car enthusiasts did respond to the offering from Fiat but on the sales chart, the Punto never became as “grande” as its name, at least not in the Indian market. The Punto is also regarded as enthusiast’s car because of its handling capabilities.

Ford Fiesta

The Ford Fiesta was the first car to introduce the new family design of Ford to the Indian market. The Aston Martin-inspired grille and a sleek body design caught numerous eyes on the road. The car also offered top-class handling through its sharp steering set-up that made car lovers happy. And the 1.5-litre diesel engine that produced 89 Bhp – 205 Nm did put a smile on the driver’s face. However, the car was not captivating enough for the mass segment buyers in its time.

Renault Fluence

The French carmaker offered many options in the Indian market but most of them were ignored by the mass-segment car buyers. As the name suggests, the Fluence was quite fluent in its body design. It had a flowing body design that made the whole car look fabulous. The D-segment car faced stiff competition from the likes of Toyota, Chevrolet and Hyundai and finally, the beautiful body did not help it survive in the Indian market for long.

Maruti Kizashi

Maruti tried to enter the premium segment of cars in India with the launch of Kizashi. The CBU vehicle looked extremely sophisticated but also carried a big sticker price. The Kizashi had premium looks with a powerful design and many admired the sedan on the road. The Kizashi was also quite powerful but offered only one 2.4-litre petrol that generated 175 Bhp – 230 Nm. The absence of a diesel engine and a big sticker price kept buyers away from it.

Hyundai Santa Fe

The Hyundai Santa Fe was the flagship of Hyundai brand in India. It was a very modern looking SUVs that did not follow the strict butch design that was common in other SUVs. The Fluidic design language of the Santa Fe gave it a very pleasing design, which was appreciated by many onlookers.  However, the car came to India as a CKD (Completely Knocked Down) kit, which did not allow Hyundai to price it aggressively compared to its competitors. The SUV was powered by a 2.2-litre, 4-cylinder engine that generated 194 Bhp – 421 Nm making it quite powerful.