Every major car manufacturer's most iconic model

Built under licence in Germany, the Seven was the first car produced by BMW. It was also, despite its humble station in life, very tunable, and performed exceptionally well in both racing and record breaking. Production ended in 1939, but the Seven remains popular (as both a road and a competition car) among classic enthusiasts to this day.

Austin-Healey 3000

The 3000 was the last and greatest of the ‘big Healeys’ co-developed by BMC and the Healey sports car company. Derived from earlier 100-series models, it was fitted with a 2.9-litre version of the BMC C-Series engine more commonly found in large saloons.

As well as being the epitome of the ‘hairy-chested sports car’ in road-going form, the 3000 was one of the most formidable rally cars of the early 1960s, and performed well (if less successfully) in long-distance sports car races.

Bentley Arnage

If one car represents the entire history of the Bentley marque, it’s the Arnage. It was named after a corner at the Le Mans circuit, where Bentley won the 24-hour race five times between 1924 and 1930, and was mostly powered by a development of the 6.75-litre L-Series V8 engine which dated back to 1959.

Yet it was also a thoroughly modern car, introduced near the end of the 20th century and surviving for the first decade of the 21st. Its spirit lived on in the later Mulsanne, and still does in today’s Flying Spur.

BMC Mini

At least historically, if not financially, the Mini was the crowning achievement of the British Motor Corporation. In fact, it was never branded BMC (because nothing was) but instead wore the badges of Austin, Morris, Innocenti, Authi and, in three-box saloon form, Riley and Wolseley, though it was eventually sold simply as Mini.

Less than a decade into its production life, which began in 1959, it was three things at once: everyday family transport (that was much more comfortable and safer than the microcars it largely supplanted), a car celebrities wanted to be seen in and a ferocious competitor in racing, rallying and almost every other form of motorsport. It was already seriously dated by 1980, but was so well loved that it remained on sale for a further 20 years, finally disappearing shortly after it was placed second behind the Ford Model T in the one-off Car of the Century list.

BMW M3 E30

BMW has been producing M3 performance saloons since 1986, and they have all been magnificent in their way, but there’s a magic to the original E30 model which, we think, has never quite been captured since. It was the only one in the series with a four-cylinder engine (of either 2.3 or 2.5 litres), and if you think that’s disappointing you probably haven’t heard one screaming away at full throttle.

Fabulously nimble even in road-going form, it was also a brilliant racer, winning Touring Car championships right up to World level, and one of the most exciting (and best-sounding) rally cars of the late 1980s and early 1990s.

Buick Riviera (first generation)

Buick first used the Riviera name for the two-door hardtop version of the Roadmaster in the 1949 model year before applying it to a separate model over eight generations. As with the BMW M3, the first of these is the one which floats our boat most effortlessly. It doesn’t hurt that the smaller of the two available Nailhead V8 engines measured 6.6 litres (the larger was a 7.0), but it’s mostly about the styling, courtesy of GM design chief Bill Mitchell. It could easily have been a Cadillac, where indeed it was originally destined.

For a mainstream car introduced in late 1962, it looked incredibly modern, and might still have seemed reasonably fresh if it had been on sale a decade later. From the W-shaped nose (as seen from above) to the sharply angled C pillar, it was very distinctive, and as American as apple pie with popcorn and a large Coca-Cola.

Cadillac Escalade

There are many reasons to recoil at the idea of Cadillac being represented by the Escalade on this list. You might feel it doesn’t bear comparison with a 1950s Eldorado or a 1930s V-16, or maybe you feel uncomfortable about a vehicle favoured by LA-based celebrities, or perhaps you detest enormous SUVs. But there’s no doubt that it has been the GM luxury brand’s great success story of the 21st century so far.

Sales of the Escalade (in both standard and long-wheelbase ESV forms) bombed during 2022 because production was severely limited by supply chain issues – and yet, despite that, it was still easily the most popular Caddy of all in the US, and the leader of the full-size luxury SUV category by an even greater margin.

Chevrolet Corvette

There is simply no argument about this one. The first-generation Corvette might have been a slow-seller to begin with, but it took off when Chevy made its new small-block V8 engine available in 1955, and it has been at the top of the game ever since. Claims that it is the world’s most successful sports car in automotive history are as solid as the Rockies.

Today’s Corvette, the first with a mid- rather than front-mounted engine, is as much of a triumph as any of its predecessors. In its home country, it’s up against 11 other models in the premium sports car sector, including two Porsches. In 2022, it outsold all of them put together.

Chrysler 300

Chrysler produced a great many cars called 300 in the 20th century, most of them in either the ‘letter’ or ‘non-letter’ series. Our choice isn’t one of those. Instead, we’ve gone for the much more recent 300 (sold in Europe as the 300C, though this was applied only to lower-spec versions in North America) which has been produced in two generations since the 2005 model year, and was also briefly marketed as the Lancia Thema.

The 300 re-established Chrysler’s discontinued tradition of building large, rear-wheel drive saloon cars, often powered by a mighty V8 engine (in this case, the latest in the Hemi series with capacities of up to 6.4 litres). As such, it more or less stands alone among Chrysler products of the past few years, and can be considered iconic for that reason, as well as being a representative of icons from another era.

Citroën DS

It could have been the 2CV, but no – we went instead for the much grander DS range. While the 2CV had contemporary rivals, the DS was the car the rest of the motor industry took a long time to catch up with, to the extent that it did at all. From the start, it had hydropneumatic suspension and high-level rear indicators. In 1967, 12 years into its life, these were joined by directional headlights, which made the DS even more exotic than it had been originally.

And it looked just amazing. French Philosopher Roland Barthes (1915-1980) wrote in 1957 that it “has fallen from the sky inasmuch as it appears at first sight as a superlative object”. Of what other mainstream car, with a production run of well over a million, could that ever have been said?

Datsun 240Z

Known in Japan as the Nissan Fairlady Z, this was the first in a long series of high-performance coupes with increasingly large numbers in their titles to reflect the rise in the capacities of their (always six-cylinder) engines – at least until the current model, known simply as the Nissan Z, came along in 2022.

They form a proud tradition, but it was the 240Z which first showed that Nissan – not known before 1970 for anything like this – could create such a car, and do it so well.

De Tomaso Pantera

The Pantera was by far the most successful model from the small Italian company founded in 1959 by Alejandro de Tomaso (1928-2003). It was preceded by the Vallelunga, which had a 1.5-litre pre-crossflow Ford Kent engine, and by the much more powerful V8 Mangusta, which was rather tail-heavy and reportedly quite a handful to drive.

These were relatively short-lived cars, which could not be said of the Pantera. With lots of power, and stability to go with it, it remained in production for over two decades, all the way from 1971 to 1992. If there is a single model car to remember De Tomaso by, it’s this one.

Dodge Charger Daytona

Dodge has produced three Charger Daytonas, but there’s no doubt that the first was the most spectacular of them all. It was one of the Winged Warriors, a subset of the Aero Warriors built for sale to the public in just enough numbers for them to be eligible for NASCAR racing. A regular Charger in most respects, it had an aerodynamic nose to reduce drag and an enormous rear wing to increase downforce.

As well as looking extraordinary, it had a fantastic competition record, at least until the rules were altered to slow all the Warriors drastically. Bobby Isaac (1932-1977) won the NASCAR championship in 1970 in a Daytona, while Buddy Baker (1941-2015) used his to become the first driver in series history to record an average lap speed of over 200mph (at the Talladega Superspeedway) in the same year.

Ferrari F40

The F40 was the last Ferrari road car to enter production during the lifetime of Enzo Ferrari (1898-1988), and was named for the fact that it was announced during the 40th anniversary year of the company building its first car under its own name.

To a limited extent, it was a descendant of the 1970s Ferrari 308, but it looked almost completely different, like a racing car adapted for the road (even though that process actually happened the other way round). For 1987, the turbocharged F40 was almost shocking, and had something of the “fallen from the sky” aura which Roland Barthes had seen in the Citroën DS three decades before.

Fiat Nuova 500

Fiat has created several models called 500 (or cinquecento, which means the same thing in Italian), but the most celebrated of them all is the second in the line. It manufactured from 1957 to 1975, and was known originally as the Nuova, or ‘new’, 500 to distinguish it from the pre-War version usually referred to as the Topolino.

This 500 – the only one with a rear-mounted engine – was austere and functional, and designed for Italian motorists who could barely afford anything else. There’s nothing at all glamorous about that, but the 500 wormed its way into people’s hearts, partly because it was so familiar, partly because it was one of the most charming mass-production cars ever devised, and partly – with four million made – it was the car that properly put its home nation on four wheels, often for the first time in its owner’s life.

Ford Model T

The most iconic Ford? The Model T might be the most iconic car, full stop. It was intended to put Americans (and to some extent people in other parts of the world) on the road and, for better or worse, it did. With the help of the industry’s first moving assembly line, Ford built around 15 million examples, a very high figure now and quite astonishing for the period from 1908 to 1927.

In 1999, the Model T was named Car of the Century. It may, in time, be hailed as the car of every century. It changed the world in a way that no automobile ever will again.

Hillman Imp

The Imp was as out of character for Hillman as a two-seater sports car would be today for Dacia. Introduced in 1963, in the decade when the brand’s line-up included the very conventional Minx and Hunter, it was by far the smallest Hillman (a direct rival to the Mini), and the only one with a rear-mounted engine.

The engine in question was an all-alloy overhead-cam unit designed by Coventry Climax and capable of producing enormous power for its size when appropriately tuned. Imps and their derivatives (including several kitcars and single-seaters) were therefore extremely successful in competition, helped by their excellent handling. Unfortunately, the road-going version never achieved the popularity of the Mini, but what a car it was.

Hindustan Ambassador

Motorists who live far from India have little reason to know much about Hindustan Motors. If they do, it’s almost certainly because of the extraordinary Ambassador. This started out in 1957 as a locally-built third-generation Morris Oxford but was gradually developed over the years, latterly being powered by Isuzu engines.

For most of its life, the Ambassador would hardly have been considered a great car in the west, but it suited the Indian market perfectly, being robust, reliable and roomy. Remarkably, Hindustan persevered with it for more than half a century, making the Ambassador one of the longest-lived cars in history. Around 900,000 were made until production ended in 2014.

Holden Maloo

Australians are very fond of high-performance, saloon-based pickup trucks known locally as ‘utes’. One of the most famous is the Maloo, which was based on several generations of the Commodore, and is our favourite Holden.

It was available in the UK for a few years, wearing Vauxhall badges. Testing a £51,500 example with a 6.2-litre V8 engine in 2012, we suspected that it wouldn’t sell well here (it didn’t), but concluded: “If somebody wants a Maloo, they’ll just want one, so go with what makes you happy.”

Honda Civic Type R

Yes, of course we know about the NSX, but it’s the hot hatch version of Honda’s mid-sized hatchback that gets our vote. The little monster is now in its sixth generation, having made its debut in 1997 with a high-revving and very powerful 1.6-litre engine.

From 2001, Type Rs have had a 2.0-litre motor which originally revved to 9000rpm and usually produced at least 200bhp. A major change occurred in 2015, when the new Type R went on sale with a turbocharged version of the same unit. The rev limit was substantially lowered, and the engine note was far less arresting, but the power output jumped by 50 percent. The current model produces 324bhp and can accelerate from 0-62mph in 5.4 seconds.

Hummer H1

It’s possible to look critically at every Hummer, even the relatively small H3 or the current Pickup EV which, though colossal, is at least powered by electric motors rather than a heavily polluting internal combustion engine. However, no Hummer has ever been viewed with such a polarised mixture of admiration and horror as the original H1, which is why we think it’s the most iconic.

The H1 (a name adopted when GM bought the rights in 1999) was the civilian version of the military Humvee developed by AM General. Absolutely no one needed such a thing, which is partly why it was so sought after. As the behavioural economists will tell you, being able to afford something very expensive and completely useless is one of the most powerful status signals you can send to other people.

Jaguar E-Type

Known officially in North America as the XK-E, the E-Type was introduced in 1961 as the latest in a line of two-seat Jaguar sports cars. It was technically innovative, it was powered by a proven six-cylinder engine (later joined by a V12) and it was competitively priced.

None of this explains why it represents Jaguar on this list. It’s here because it was simply beautiful – more so, you might say, than anything else the company has ever built, and perhaps more than anything anyone else has built either. Yes, cars are functional, mechanical objects, but some of them transcend that simply because they look so satisfying. Few have ever done this as effectively as the E-Type.

Lamborghini Countach

We haven’t actually researched this, but it seems likely that the Countach featured on more posters on car-loving children’s bedroom walls in the 1970s than any other Lamborghini. For its day, it looked incredible, with its low, wide, wedge-shaped body and the amazing feature of scissor doors. When it was launched in 1974, there was simply nothing like it on sale.

Of course, it didn’t matter to the kids that the rear visibility was terrible, and adult fans didn’t seem to mind this either. Aesthetically speaking, things just got better when Lamborghini added a big rear wing. Eventually, the shape dated, as shapes do, but Countach production continued until 1990 – an impressive run for a supercar.

Lancia Stratos

In the early 1970s, Lancia did well in international rallying with the Fulvia HF, a front-wheel drive coupe with a 1.6-litre V4 engine, but the sport was developing so rapidly that something else would clearly be required soon. The Stratos, introduced in 1974, represented an almost unbelievable leap forward. It was vastly more modern than the Fulvia, and had a Ferrari Dino V6 engine mounted between the rear wheels.

It was also devastatingly effective. Lancia won the World Rally Championship (open at the time only to manufacturers, not drivers) three times in a row from 1974 to 1976, and although production stopped in 1978 the Stratos won its 18th and last WRC round three years after that. Nearly half a century after its first appearance, it remains one of the most exciting rally cars ever devised.

Lincoln Continental (1970s)

The Continental of this decade was one of the grandest US luxury cars, and in a way represented the end of this type of vehicle as it had previously been understood. To some extent, it was also a step backwards. From 1958 to 1969, Continentals had featured unibody construction, by then the obvious way to build a car, but for 1970 Lincoln reverted to the old-fashioned body-on-frame method.

As rival brands downsized their largest models, the Continental actually grew, partly because of legislation requiring more substantial front and rear bumpers. At its peak, it measured 5918mm (233.0in), which made it the longest car in North America and one of the longest in the world. The 1980 Continental which replaced it was more than a foot shorter.

Lotus Elise

If Lotus fans had been given a vote here, there would have been a lot of support for the Seven, the original Elite and the first-generation Elan, and there’s a strong case to be made for all of them. However, we’ve gone for the Elise, which is certainly the most iconic Lotus of the modern era, and arguably of the company’s long history.

In each of its three generations, the Elise followed the old Lotus principle of being fast not because it was especially powerful (though outputs did increase over the years) but because it was light. The lack of weight was also a major factor in its superb handling. If founder Colin Chapman (1928-1982), who died long before it went into development, had still been around, we think he would have been very pleased with it.

Mazda MX-5

The small, open two-seater sports car with a front-mounted engine and rear-wheel drive, of which so many had been produced earlier in the century, was almost extinct when Mazda launched the MX-5 (or Miata or Eunos, depending on where it was sold) in 1989. The Japanese company therefore had this sector of the market almost to itself, but that was no guarantee of success.

What made the MX-5 an instant hit wasn’t that the fact that it had much power. It actually had very little in the early days, but it was outstandingly good in every other area, and wonderful to drive. Mazda has kept the basic concept going for four generations, and was rewarded in 2016 by reaching a production milestone of one million units. No other car of the same type has ever come remotely close to this.

Mercedes 300 SL Gullwing

The 300 SL was an outlier in the Mercedes line-up of the 1950s, and was not originally planned as a road car at all. It started out as a not very powerful, but exceptionally light and aerodynamic, sports racer which finished first and second in both the Le Mans 24 Hours and Mexico’s Carrera Panamericana in 1952.

A road-going version was suggested by US importer Max Hoffman (1904-1981) in September 1953. Mercedes had one on display – still with the gullwing doors and direct fuel injection of the racer –  at the New York International Motor Sports Show just five months later, and offered it for sale from then until 1957. It was replaced by a mechanically similar roadster which remained on the market for six years. The roadster was a beautiful car, but we prefer the Gullwing.

MG MGB

The MGB was the first road-going MG sports car with unibody construction rather than a body bolted on to a chassis. It was available as both a roadster and a coupe, the latter known as the MGB GT, and had a very production run from 1962 to 1980. In that time, it became the first MG to reach sales of 500,000.

Within the MGB range, the most iconic model is surely the 3.5-litre Rover-engined GT V8. Despite its fame, it was on the market for less than four years, and only 2591 were built. It was relaunched much later as the RV8 (with a 3.9-litre version of the same engine), which was manufactured from 1992 to 1995.

Mitsubishi Evo

In each of its ten generations, the Evolution derivative of the Mitsubishi Lancer was a four-door saloon with four-wheel drive and a turbocharged 2.0-litre petrol engine. In 2014, Mitsubishi UK, celebrating its 40th anniversary, built 40 examples of the Evo X FQ-440 MR, which produced, as its name suggested, 440bhp. At 220.2bhp per litre, this is the highest specific output of any four-cylinder road car, and second overall only to the Koenigsegg Jesko.

Evos were fabulous high-performance road cars, but their greatest value was the publicity they gained for Mitsubishi due to their success in international rallying. Tommi Mäkinen (born 1964) won the World Rally Championship for Drivers every year from 1996 to 1999 in these cars, and Mitsubishi won the Manufacturers’ title in 1997.

Nissan Skyline GT-R

Like the Datsun 240Z mentioned earlier, the Skyline GT-R is an outlier in the Nissan range. It’s almost unbelievable that the company which produced the Micra, the Qashqai and the Sunny could also come up with something like this.

There have been Skyline GT-Rs in six generations since 1969 (though with a 16-year gap), and the legacy has been carried over to the current GT-R, which no longer bears the Skyline name. All versions produced since 1989 have been outstanding and, we think, worthy of the icon title.

Opel Manta

For a mainstream manufacturer, Opel has built some astonishing cars, including the enormous 24/110 Regent luxury model of the late 1920s and the beautiful little two-seater GT of 1968-1973. But if we’re going to name the brand’s iconic model, it has to be the Manta.

By this we mean not the first-generation Manta, produced in the first half of the 1970s, but its replacement, which had a 13-year production run starting in 1975. It was simply a restyled version of the contemporary Opel Ascona/Vauxhall Cavalier, but it looked wonderful. The most celebrated version is the Manta 400, which Opel used in international rallying during the Group B era. At the top level, it was demolished by the four-wheel drive opposition, but it still looked fantastic, especially when driven by the likes of Russell Brookes and Jim McRae.

Peugeot 205 GTI

By the 1980s, Peugeot had developed a reputation for producing good but unadventurous cars. That changed dramatically in 1983 when the company’s 104 was replaced by the 205. This was immediately hailed as one of the finest European superminis, and it is still thought of in similar terms four decades later.

The most exciting 205 was the mid-engined, turbocharged, four-wheel drive T16, but only enough of these were built to allow Peugeot to use modified derivatives in Group B rallying. The front-wheel drive GTI, available with either a 1.6-litre or later a 1.9-litre engine, was the iconic model, not only within the range but in all of Peugeot history. It was quick, it was beautiful, it was affordable and it was an absolute riot to drive. Peugeot has arguably never built a hot hatch to match it since, but then who has?

Porsche 911

It’s not even close. There have been many great Porsches over the years, but this is the one everybody knows about and nearly everybody wants to have. Porsche did its best with a series of front-engined sports cars, but none of them survived the 20th century. The rear-engined 911 has been around for 60 years, and there’s no sign of it ever going away.

There have been many developments, of course, yet the basic shape and mechanical layout have never changed. The 911 formula worked back in 1963, and it still works today.

Renault Clio

Renault had an extremely hard act to follow when the time came to replace the 5, which had been produced in two generations since 1972. Its next supermini might also have been called the 5, but by 1990 company policy dictated that Renaults had to be given names rather than numbers, so it became known as the Clio.

There have been five generations of Clio, and they have all been successful – even the ordinary versions, not just the considerably more exciting Williams (pictured), V6 and Renaultsport models. In 2006, the Clio became the first car ever to win the Car of the Year award twice (having originally done so in 1991). Only the Volkswagen Golf and the Opel/Vauxhall Astra have achieved the same feat since then.

Rolls-Royce Phantom (seventh generation)

Over nearly a century, though with some gaps, there have been eight generations of Phantom. As the most iconic Rolls-Royce, we’ve nominated the seventh, which was launched in 2003, and was the company’s only offering for several years.

It was the brand’s first model after the takeover by BMW, and remains its flagship. Of all 21st-century Rolls-Royces, this one and its eighth-generation successor are the ones most closely aligned to the super-luxury vehicles of the past.

Rover SD1

The SD1 might have been the most shocking mainstream British car introduced in the 1970s. The old ‘auntie Rover’ jibe suddenly became irrelevant when this astonishingly modern-looking car hit the market, transforming the public perception of the brand like no model before or since.

Some of the engines in the range were best avoided. The SD1 was at its best when fitted with the celebrated 3.5-litre Rover V8, based on a Buick design. This was the right engine for the car, and made it a formidable weapon in Touring Car racing for several years.

Saab 96

The 96 did not spring from nowhere. It was an evolution of Saab’s first model, the 92, and the succeeding 93. But it was the ultimate Saab of its era, not least because it bridged the old and new, being fitted originally with a tiny two-stroke engine and later with a Ford V4.

With the 841cc two-stroke, it became the smallest-engined car ever to win the Monte Carlo Rally, and it still is. It remained competitive in international motorsport with the V4. In road-going terms, the introduction of the larger 99 in 1968 hardly affected the 96 – it was still in production as late as 1980, 20 years after it first appeared.

Seat Ibiza

There was some enthusiasm among our voters for the SEAT 600, which contributed enormously to the Spanish economic miracle, but in the end we went for the Ibiza. It was introduced in 1984, became the first car marketed in the UK as a SEAT the following year, and is still the brand’s supermini representative nearly 40 years later.

The first Ibiza owed a great deal to Fiat, but since the early 1990s all versions have relied on Volkswagen technology. They are the equivalents of VW’s Polo in almost every respect other than styling, and are generally cheaper.

Studebaker Avanti

The short-lived but fascinating Avanti was very fast for a car of the early 1960s, and extremely unusual for the time in having disc brakes at the front. Despite all that, it’s an icon more because of its futuristic fibreglass body, designed by Raymond Loewy (1893-1986) and looking absolutely nothing like that of the Studebaker Lark, which shared the same chassis.

The Avanti was the car which should have saved the by then deeply troubled brand, but Studebaker was already too far gone, and collapsed a few years later.

Subaru Impreza

Until the late 1980s, Subaru was a subject of only mild interest outside Japan. The Legacy moved things forward a long way, but the big change came with the introduction of the smaller Impreza. While the Legacy had done well in international rallying, the Impreza became one of the dominant cars in the sport, bringing Subaru unprecedented levels of global publicity.

All Imprezas have had a low centre of gravity thanks to their flat-four engines, and most have had soft but well-damped suspension. Turbocharged versions perform very well, but even an Impreza with very little power can be wonderful to drive, as in the case of, for example, the superb 1997 Impreza Sport.

Tesla Model S

Say what you like about Tesla (and almost everyone does), it has become a very significant part of the motoring world in little more than a decade. That’s not because of its first model, the Lotus Elise-based Roadster, an interesting device but aimed at a small corner of the market.

No, the game changer was the Model S. Very roomy inside, it was also extremely fast if fitted with two motors rather than one, despite weighing more than two tonnes, and of course it didn’t consume any type of fossil fuel. And with a real-world range of well over 250 miles, it was the first electric car where running out of juice was mostly not top-of-mind for its driver. Other Teslas are now available, but the Model S is the one which brought the brand to life.

Toyota Land Cruiser

The Land Cruiser name was first used in 1954, but it was applied to a vehicle launched three years earlier, so in a sense Land Cruisers have been around for over seven decades. There is almost no connection between the current model and the original Jeep-like military vehicle, but that’s part of the point.

Toyota has evolved its off-roader to meet changing requirements (usually involving toughness and go-anywhere ability), so at any time in its history there has always been someone somewhere in the world who would rather have a Land Cruiser than anything else on four wheels.

Vauxhall Lotus Carlton

The Lotus Carlton is one of those icons which stands out from everything else its maker produced. Each of the small number of cars built left the Opel factory in Rüsselsheim as a Vauxhall Carlton (or Opel Omega) 3.0 GSI, and was then taken to the Lotus factory in Hethel, where the straight-six engine was enlarged to 3.6 litres and fitted with twin turbochargers.

With appropriately high-octane fuel, the power shot up to over 370bhp, making this a staggeringly fast four-seat saloon for the early 1990s. The braking and suspension were uprated appropriately, so the Lotus Carlton handled beautifully and could stop urgently – a point lost on those who claimed at the time that it was too fast for the road.