Ten Cars That Kicked off Major Design Trends

Technically, the Audi S8 was the first to get Audi's signature LED running lights, but the R8 moved them from the bumper to the headlight assembly and started a craze. Not only did Audi begin putting LED running lights on its other models, so did everyone else. Heck, even the 2017 Mitsubishi Mirage is getting them.

From Road & Track

Some of the best-looking American cars ever designed were built in the 1950s and '60s. These cars borrowed heavily from airplanes and rocket ships for their designs, the most iconic element being the tailfin. While earlier cars used a similar design element, the one that kicked off the craze was Harley Earl's 1948 Cadillac.

Before the second-generation Dodge Ram hit the streets, trucks were mostly seen as utility vehicles. They weren't a style statement, but then the Ram came along and changed that for good. It had a bold, manly look that you couldn't get from other manufacturers. Now every truck in the industry is in a race to see which one can out-bold the others.

The Ford Explorer was not the first SUV, nor was it the only one on the market at the time that it launched, but something about the Explorer connected with buyers. The result was an SUV craze that changed the face of the auto industry. Everyone had to have an SUV, and before we knew it, Americans were driving around in street-legal military vehicles.

It's impossible not to love the Lamborghini Miura, but the Countach is the Lamborghini that's still influencing sports car design today. Everything from the car's cabin-forward design to its sharp angles and wedge shape can still be seen in mid-engine cars that are currently in production.

The coupe-like profile of the Mercedes-Benz CLS sedan led to cars like the BMW 6 Series Gran Sport and the Audi A7, but it did far more than that. Hyundai borrowed the idea for its 2009 Sonata and kicked off the current trend of midsize family sedans being swoopy and interesting to look at. And let's not forget the coupe-like SUVs that cropped up like the Acura ZDX and the BMW X6.

You can still see design elements from the original Range Rover in the SUVs Land Rover builds today, but its design influence reaches far further than the Range Rover assembly line. The Ford Explorer may have started the modern SUV craze, but the original Range Rover created the iconic SUV shape.

The 2004 Toyota Prius wasn't the first Prius ever made, but it was the one that made the word "Prius" synonymous with "hybrid" in people's minds. If you look at other dedicated hybrids like the Chevrolet Volt or the second-generation Honda Insight, it's also clear that the second-generation Prius established what a hybrid is supposed to look like.

The New Beetle only shared a name and a look with the original Volkswagen Beetle, but in 1998 that was enough to make it a huge sales success. The popularity of the New Beetle also kicked off the retro design trend that gave us everything from the Chevrolet SSR and HHR to the Chrysler PT Cruiser and even the 2005 Ford Mustang.