These Automakers Have Had The Biggest Glow-Ups

Earlier this week, we asked our audience which automaker has had the biggest glow-up, either recently or at some point in its history, with now-dead automakers counting. The glow-up could have been purely in terms of design, or when it comes to engineering and reliability. In the original question, Logan talked about how Lincoln has gone through a huge glow-up in recent, and a lot of people in the comments agreed. If I had asked the question, I probably would have talked about BMW — both the Bangle era, and the new Neue Klasse era.

But you're here to read what your fellow readers submitted, and there were a lot of good answers. We expected the Korean automakers to be heavily represented, which is true, but we've got a pretty good variety of different companies here. Some of you talked about American carmakers, while others talked about French brands on both ends of the price spectrum. Without further ado, these were my favorite examples of automotive glow-ups:

A couple come to mind:

1) Dacia – from communist garbage to a real "peoples car" – affordable, good quality, even a decent design

2) Renault (same group) – from forgettable in the 90s/00s to hot stuff in the electric age (new R5, new Twingo)

Agree with your point on Dacia. But Renault made some of the best Hot Hatches in the 90s and 00s. They lost their way in the mid 2010's, and agree now are back with great products.

Hot hatches, yes, true, but the regular cars were, let's say, not something to be enthusiastic about, except the aptly named Avantime. Now, with the new 5, new 4 and Twingo and especially the halo R5 Turbo 3E, they have some eye-opening models.

Submitted by: M B, NewDirection, M B

I totally agree, Renault is on an absolute tear right now.

Cadillac. In the 90s they were boring grandparent cars. Then they brought in the Escalade, CTZ V, ATS V, CT4 V Blackwing, GT5 V blackwing, CT6 V, Escalade V, some really cool cars. And honestly, they're crossovers dont look half bad.

Cadillac went back to beating the world with the Escalade and it gave them confidence to introduce the CTS. Later, that boldness gave us the V-line of cars. Even the XLR and ELR, though they didn't really land, showed a new level of thinking from a brand that, for decades, made FWD floaters meant for driving the golden triangle (Home, Country Club, Church). People who weren't retired suddenly considered the brand. And looking at the lineup now, despite it clearly not being for everyone, they have viable offerings at every level, plus Blackwings.

Lincoln is not as planted as Cadillac right now; Lincoln can't pull off a sedan, and if they rolled out anything performance-related, it would feel off.

Art & Science really took Cadillac's design language to another level

Submitted by: DiamondBiz, potbellyjoe, TS, drb1986, potbellyjoe

I'm on potbellyjoe's side when it comes to this argument:

See, I've always been slightly annoyed by Cadillac's transformation. They went from pure American luxury (historically), to an American BMW. That was never what Cadillac was, and IMO not what it ever should've been turned into. On the contrary, I think while it wasn't perfect, the last Lincoln Continental is much closer to what Cadillac should've been doing based off its history. And, the Lincoln Continental was way more inline with what I'd want from an American luxury car maker. -drb1986

I couldn't disagree more. I think it should be the upper echelon of whatever the American market desires. If that is luxury barges, it's that; if it's huge SUVs, it's that; etc.

In the 80s, the new money went Euro sedans because opulent couches were for grandpas and gangsters. It took Cadillac 15 years to figure it out on the sedan side, but Caddy beat other brands to the punch on luxury full-size SUVs and in many ways still eats their lunch on that. An Escalade is infinitely more recognizable as a luxury item than an X7 or GLS. In fact, the Eurobrands don't get the panache of the Escalade until they are in Urus territory. -potbellyjoe

Oldsmobile right before they were shuttered. The Intrigue and the Aurora were both really sharp, decent-driving, interesting cars.

Submitted by: 05Train

My parents would give me the classified ads to color on when I was very young, and "Aurora" was one of the first words I read out loud.

Bugatti

Submitted by: brian b

What's the word for when you get a glow up but have already been super glowed up?

I would argue Corvette. Yes it's technically part of Chevy, but it's more of a sub brand. And going from the C4 up through the C8, it's definitely improved every generation.

I absolutely do not understand the hatred people have towards the C8. If anything, it should be seen as a major accomplishment where GM actually managed to take the fight to the Europeans in a well built car with a modern engine, mid-ship, and aggressive styling that doesn't blend into the landscape. If it had one fault, and justified, the wall of buttons that went down that angular pillar made zero sense, especially since they all looked the same. Reminded me of the bad old days of Pontiac where they could put 100 similar buttons in a 1 square foot part of the dash. But that's gone now. Now, for under $80,000, you can get a legit mid-engine sports car that will run with all of the European competition, and if buy American is important, and in this case for it is – keep Bowling Green humming along!, now that the Viper is long dead and buried, and the Hellcats are no more, this is it. And "it" is no compromise.

Submitted by: Drg84, Xavier96

Corvette definitely counts for this, and while I'm not a fan of the C8 there's no denying its impressiveness.

Mazda.

"Oh, he's biased because he's driven one for 20 freekin years"

Yes, but that allows for occasional trips to the dealership and rides and drives and they've stepped up their styling game – inside and out.

Their infotainment has been a bit dated; but not sure their (and everyone's) current move toward larger screens means good things. After all, this forum doesn't usually attract a lot of calls to make things newer with busier graphics and more complicated menus.

Mazda. Mazda really moved upmarket from it's reputation in the 90's and early 2000's where everyone considered it a "Japanese rebadged Ford". Which was never quite fair, but also held a lot of truth.

Mazda never got their full fledged luxury division off the ground back in the 90s. It was to be named Amati and their first model was gonna be the Millenia. But (long story short) Mazda didn't have enough money to get it off the ground so the Millenia which was already done became a Mazda and from then decided to move the entire brand upwards to be a little more luxury minded.

Submitted by: DungBeetle62, Mark H, PLAN-B 77

It's really too bad Amati didn't happen. It was gonna have a V12!

When Geely bought Volvo

Submitted by: GlitterGuru

Honestly, yeah.

This might be too early to tell, but Nissan went from Honda/Toyota alternative, to a manufacturer that they will sell to anybody with a pulse, and finally seem to be back to the shadow of relevancy. Some of their newer designs (Z, Sentra, Leaf, Kicks, and arguably the Murano) look like serious attempts to at least regain prominence, and the new Xterra seems genuinely exciting. And no more Altima can ONLY be a positive, right?

Submitted by: disadvantage

Nissan's definitely going through a nice glow-up right now.

Hyundai has to be in the mix. They've come a long long way from the Pony. The original Pony, Elantra, and Sonata were essentially disposable. The first glimmer of what could be was the second generation Tiburon; it at least looked decent. The Genesis coupe and then the Stinger showed the world that they could build legitimately cool cars. Now with the Genesis GV series, the newest Santa Fe and Pallisade, and the Magma line... Hyundai is not the company it was in the '80s.

Hyundai big turnaround imo happened with the 2005-06? Sonata. They had finally made a car that wasn't complete crap. The proof of this is you can still catch one on the road today. And the next gen 2010 Sonata I see them everywhere still. They may not have been the best you could get – but they're mostly reliable which was the biggest hurdle they overcame.

Compared to Toyota, what Hyundai lacks in reliability they make up for in interesting design (function, not form). The Palisade definitely has a design edge over the Grand Highlander in a few areas. You couldn't say that about many Hyundai products 10 years ago.

It's Hyundai/Kia, and it's not even close.

Look at what they built up to 2010, everything but the Tiburon was utilitarian or a rip-off.

Then the 2011 Sonata arrived and shocked the world with its style, tech, and refinement (and then shocked it again with engine failures a few years later), and they've never looked back. Each refresh or new model is a huge improvement over what came before it (with the possible exception of the Genesis Coupe), and several of their latest models have been absolute trendsetters.

If you told someone before 2010 that Hyundai was going to build two nice luxury cars and then spin that off into its own brand to compete with Lexus, they'd have laughed at you. If you told them about the Kia Stinger they'd have asked what you were smoking. If you told them that Kia and Hyundai were both going to build sporty and fun versions of some of their more pedestrian cars and people were actually going to like them, they'd have given you a weird look and backed away slowly.

All of that, and more, actually happened though.

Submitted by: JohnnyWasASchoolBoy, PLAN-B 77, Stephen., MustangIIMatt

The 2011 Sonata really was the turning point.

Another vote for Hyundai/Kia. Even 10-15 years ago, most Kia dealerships around here were still marketing themselves as "buy here pay here" alternatives and advertising things like weekly payments on billboards. Today, upper middle-class households are buying fully loaded Tellurides for $50k+. They are being cross shopped with Toyotas instead of Mitsubishis. Can't think of any many other brands that have escaped the bargain bin so convincingly.

Add me to the pool of folks saying Hyundai/KIA. Go drive a 2001 KIA Rio and tell me otherwise.

Submitted by: Neal Richards, Gordon S.

Kia's design glow-up is particularly insane.

Hyundai is the winner here obviously, despite some setbacks with security, they have vastly improved from being mentored by Mitsubishi to spreading it's wings...Or are they? I would say their daughter company Genesis has had the most disruptive glow up. from a humble sedan under Hyundai, to an eventual Super Car with the Magma GT.

It's gotta be Genesis, right? Who cares about a $70,000+ Hyundai? Nobody. But they'll buy those Genesis models. Shoot, even regular Hyundai's are way better looking than just a couple of years ago.

Submitted by: Agon Targeryan, Yowza

And just think about how Genesis' next five years are gonna blow its existing history out of the water!