9. Renault Le Car
Back in the early ’70s, economy models were very popular, and foreign companies started importing cars on the American market in significant numbers. French company Renault was present in the US and thought that it would be a great idea to send its new supermini called Renault 5 to America. Called Le Car, the new car was meant to be a competitor to the newly introduced Volkswagen Golf/Rabbit and various Japanese imports. But there was a problem.
The US safety standards imposed the use of different bumpers and grille, and the 1.4-liter four-cylinder engine only developed 51 hp in the US-spec model. Painfully slow, strangely designed, small, and badly put together, Le Car soon became a subject of jokes, and it was considered the worst choice in the compact car class. Renault struggled to sell them and eventually pulled out of the market. Despite the success of Renault 5 in Europe, Le Car is considered a terrible failure in the eyes of the American car public.