SLIDESHOW
The slow starters that became stars
Some cars are born into greatness. Any Bugatti, Ferrari or 21st-century Porsche, for instance. For other cars, though, greatness comes later. They have to earn every ounce of it and go through periods when it looks like they will never achieve anything.
Here are some of the cars, then, whose ascension to stardom was far from guaranteed.
RONAN GLON
Chevrolet Corvette 1953
The original Chevrolet Corvette put a far greater emphasis on design than on performance, initially being fitted with a straight six that produced just 150bhp. Annual sales targets of 10,000 seemed wildly optimistic with its sloth and quality problems. Production totalled just 3640 cars in 1954, and many of these were unsold, so GM considered cancelling the model more than once. Chevrolet saved the Corvette by improving its build quality and making a V8 available in 1955. Sales didn’t cross the 10,000 threshold until 1960, however. But the rest is history: nearly 1.8 million Corvettes have been sold to date, and an eighth generation – newly mid-engined and offering right-hand drive for the first time – went on sale in 2020.