The most iconic car adverts ever published

A time when print ads ruled

25 October 2017

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Over the years, you’ll have seen thousands – probably tens of thousands – of car ads in the pages of your favourite magazines

How many do you remember, though? We bet it’s just a handful because, ultimately, most adverts are rather forgettable. But every so often, something comes along that hits the spot – and these are just some of those most memorable from the past half a century or so.
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Volkswagen Beetle (1960)

Arguably the most famous car ad of all time, this ran only in the US but became known globally. Turn over the page and the advert explained why this Beetle was a lemon: the chrome strip on the glove box lid had a blemish. This invention of a term for a flawed car is widely used to this day. The copy in the ad revealed that this car's flaw was rectified by one of Volkswagen's 3,389 quality control inspectors. The final line? "We pluck the lemons, you get the plums."
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Mini 850 (1963)

You can’t beat the period charm of this advert from 1963, four years after the Mini had been launched, by which time it had already become a legend.
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Volkswagen Beetle (1966)

Another Volkswagen ad that somehow started with the premise that its Beetle is a bit rubbish, only to point out that, actually, it’s better than all of its rivals at absolutely everything. Or so VW would have you believe. It featured basketball legend Wilt Chamberlain.
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Audi diesel (1981)

It would be years after this advert appeared that diesels became mainstream in Europe, and it was thanks to the efforts of car makers such as Audi that this happened.
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Mini 1000 (1981)

There’s been a glut of great creatives to go with the Mini over the years. One of our favourites is this ultra-simple advert.
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Ford XRs (1981)

Ford had previous when it came to promoting alternatives within its range. When it introduced the sporting XR2 to sell alongside the XR3 in Britain, it couldn’t resist promoting them both.
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Citroën BX (1983)

What we really wanted was the classic 'loves driving, hates garages’ advert, but we couldn’t find it. So have this car brochure instead. You’re welcome. Today, most car firms focus on style, image, technology and luxury in their advertising, not reliability, which is taken as a given. But back in 1983, advertising the fact that a car wouldn't break down was the order of the day.
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Fiat Panda (1983)

You can never be sure with these adverts whether the car maker in question has delusions of grandeur or they’re just happy to poke fun at themselves. We’ll give Fiat the benefit of the doubt and assume it’s the latter.
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Citroën 2CV (1984)

Citroën wasn’t afraid to take the mick out of the lowly 2CV. Most of the time, the French company focused on emphasising the economy car’s simplicity. But here, it instead took a swipe at the luxury market, proving that, in theory, the 2CV was on a par with rather pricier transport. Yes, flat out at 71.5mph, a 2CV will overtake a Ferrari travelling at 65mph. Who knew?
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Audi Quattro (1985)

One of the reasons for the rise in popularity of four-wheel drive was the incredible impact of Audi’s quattro technology, which, as Audi promoted here, was soon to be available across its entire range.
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Ford Granada (1986)

Anti-lock brakes have been mandatory on all new cars for years, but when the third-generation Granada was introduced in Europe back in 1985, they were still a rarity. So the fact that all versions of the Granny came with an anti-lock braking system as standard was worth advertising.
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Jaguar V12 (1986)

Not many car makers offered a V12 engine in the mid-1980s, so Jaguar played on that by shouting about its 12-cylinder XJS. Although, sadly, it was less keen to promote its sublime XJ12 limousine.
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BMW six-cylinder engines (1986)

British advertising mogul Robin Wight asked a BMW engineer in Munich the difference between a four-cylinder and a six-cylinder engine, the latter favoured by BMW for 2-litre engines at the time. “He picked up a glass of water," Wight said recently. "He said he could put it on the engine block of a four-cylinder two-litre engine, as in a Mercedes – the water would bounce up and down. If he took the glass and put it on a six-cylinder two-litre BMW engine, the water wouldn’t move because the engine was smooth and perfectly balanced.”

Wight returned to London, procured a Mercedes and a BMW side by side, proved to himself that this was true and this is the awesome result. Our sister title Campaign – the ad industry bible – hailed this as one of the best ads of the 20th century.
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Peugeot 205 GTi (1986)

Peugeot came up with a string of brilliant adverts for its equally brilliant 205 GTi hot hatchback. This is our favourite, we think…
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Peugeot 205 GTi (1987)

…although this one is pretty good, too, not least because the payoff is a sly dig at the Ford Fiesta XR2i. Look very closely at the third picture.
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Citroën BX 16 Valve (1987)

This BX campaign took drawing parallels between your product and that of a far more costly alternative to new extremes. We don't think Signor Gandini still drives this car.
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Nissan Patrol (1988)

Frankly, we found this series of Nissan ads rather annoying, but you can’t deny their impact. There were loads of them and that earworm strapline is something that we can all remember even now.
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Peugeot 405 (1988)

While the 205 GTi might be Peugeot’s all-time great, the advertising campaign for the 405 is surely its most memorable. It all starts with the car driving through a field that’s on fire…
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Peugeot 405 (1988)

…and if you’re watching it on the TV, you get to hear the dulcet tones of Berlin's Take My Breath Away, which famously featured in Top Gun.
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Volkswagen Golf GTi (1989)

Volkswagen was at it again. The brand’s confidence in its product was already at a level that it could advertise the fact that its hot hatch wasn’t the fastest on the market – but that there was plenty to make up for that.
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Vauxhall Cavalier 4x4 (1990)

As the 1980s became the 1990s, four-wheel drive suddenly became fashionable for mainstream family cars. Vauxhall’s Cavalier creative was perhaps the most memorable of the breed.
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Ford Fiesta (1990)

Another trend around that time was to offer a hot version of everything – or, in the case of Ford, offer a choice of hot versions.
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Vauxhall Corsa (1993)

As the Corsa replaced the Nova, Vauxhall promoted its new baby as “the supermodel”, which is why it ran a series of adverts featuring some of the most high-profile models of the time, including Naomi Campbell.
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Shell (1998)

Of all the fuel adverts you’ve seen over the years, we bet you don’t remember many of them. But you’ll remember this series that Shell ran as leaded fuel was being phased out in Britain. The adverts highlighted the petrol’s cleaning qualities as well as its ability to burn more completely than rivals.
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MG ZT-T (2001)

As car makers have shifted to focusing on finance plans and fuel economy figures, there have been far fewer truly memorable advertising campaigns over the past two decades. Which is why this one from MG Rover stands out so much.

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