You Clean Up Nice: 5 Cars with Designer Style Over Simpler Bones

A new Hagerty feature looks at cars that made strong visual statements despite having comparatively modest foundations—arguing that “all hat, no cattle” doesn’t always apply when the body and styling are genuinely compelling. The piece opens with Nissan’s Figaro, a retro-modern kei-era design described by a New York Times critic as “postmodernism” that blends influences from multiple classic small-car icons. Built on the March/Micra platform, the Figaro came with a small one-liter engine and a three-speed automatic, yet its full-length canvas roof and Italian-inspired look helped it stand out. The article then sets up additional examples of designer style over simpler mechanical roots.