The market leaders in the motor industry are always looking for ways to get an advantage over the competition. They’ll look for ways to trim costs in production and logistics, they’ll improve engine efficiency and performance – they’ll investigate any opportunity that’ll elevate them above their rivals. Every now and again, one of the car companies will do something a little outside of the box, to bring an innovation to market that they believe will revolutionise the industry. There have been many of these over the years, from seat belts and airbags to rear-parking sensors and sat-navs, that have become the norm in car production. However, over the long history of the car, there have been quite a few innovations that didn’t quite stand the test of time. For the most part, it’s easy to see why. We’ve listed our six favourite short lived innovations – not all of which are awful ideas.
The five best failed car innovations

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