When the New Beetle was introduced in 1998 it truly kicked off a retro craze that brought us an entire host of cars inspired by vehicles from our past. Today we have retro PT Cruisers, HHRs, SSRs, Mustangs, Thunderbirds, Challengers, Camaros, 300s, Ford GTs, 350Zs, S-Types, MINIs, Chargers and others. All of them lean on history for styling cues.

The New Beetle would hardly be the first car to stake claim to the ‘first retro car’ title. The Ford Mustang of 1994 had picked up a handful of styling cues from older models but fell shy of being considered a retro car at the time. The Dodge Ram of the same year brought fenders back into vogue for pickup trucks, but again featured thoroughly modern styling. But, there are other cars that looked back decades to find their inspiration, and many of them never made it to our shores.

Pictured below is the 1989 Nissan Figaro concept. This concept car would go into production in 1991 essentially unchanged. Approximately 20,000 were made during the single year production run. Most importantly, the Figaro marked a turning point away from the awful box-like cars coming out during the 1980’s. The limited production run, 1-liter turbocharged engine, and America’s general dislike of micro-cars ensured the Figaro would never be made available in the US.