Technology flops

Arguably one of the most high-profile flops, the C5 was British boffin Sir Clive Sinclair’s solution for eco-friendly personal mobility way back in 1985. The battery-powered tricycle, which was steered by a handlebar under the ‘driv

The Austin Allegro is not, it’s fair to say, a car that’s remembered fondly. Charged with saving British Leyland in the seventies, it was underpowered, ugly and miserably unreliable, so much so it was christened the “All Aggro”. Cle

Austin's successor to the Allegro was the Maestro, which was dubbed ‘Cowley’s computer car’ on account of being designed by machines and built by robots. But the tech that really hit the headlines was the space-age digital dashboard

Not all failures are bad ideas. The concept behind the 1988 Honda Prelude’s four-wheel steering was admirable – to improve the manouevrability of the car. In two-wheel-drive cars, the rear wheels are always directed forward, so do n

Creating a popular new market sector is a holy grail for manufacturers. And in hindsight, US brand Pontiac’s idea to fashion the crossover class in 2001 was a good one. A compact car with SUV looks, the Aztek targeted ‘younger drive

This wasn’t a crackpot invention from a bedroom engineer in the back of beyond. The 1957 Nucleon had Ford’s might behind it. In an era where atomic power was enthusiastically investigated, the idea of a nuclear car with zero-em

Can General Motors’ EV1 really be considered a failure? Or was it just too far ahead of its time? Produced and leased by GM from 1996 to 1999 in the US, it was the first purpose-built electric vehicle in the modern era from a major