There are many, many worthy contenders for the title of worst car ever to be sold in the UK - it isn't something you can decide easily. When you also consider that in general car development has come a long way over the years, a bad car by modern standards might not necessarily be that awful compared to one from the 1980s. But then again, does that make it even worse when manufacturers horrendously miss the mark in this day and age?

Personal taste and prejudice will always come into it when picking the worst cars ever sold so here at Auto Express we've used the tried-and-tested approach to delivering our top 10 worst cars by leaving it up to you, our readers.. We assembled a shortlist and your votes in the resulting poll have determined which really are the worst of the worst.

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Truth be told, time sorts the men from the boys and exposes the truly rubbish from the merely mediocre. While there are cars from yesteryear that may have appeared fine for the time, looking back now it is easy to realise just how bad some of these were. There are, of course, some models which were horrendous from the get go, providing marques with a reputation which could hang over them for decades to come.

How the worst cars are made

These days, car manufacturers spend millions on vehicle research and development to ensure that it's nearly impossible to produce a bad car. Focus groups let firms know what buyers want, and regular planning meetings help to ensure that every department, from engines and chassis to design and marketing, is 'on message'.

Once a new car is in development, it will be benchmarked against its key rivals to ensure that it can match and preferably beat what's already being sold. With all of these things in place, a car manufacturer really will have tripped up quite badly if it manages to produce a total dud.

What are the WORST cars ever? Here's our top 10, as voted for by YOU! Read the list here: http://aex.ae/2fn6J4S Posted by Auto Express on Sunday, November 6, 2016

However, it hasn't always been like this. In the past, it seemed like some manufacturers had a 'suck it and see' approach to launching a new model. Some cars probably had good feedback when released as a concept, yet the final production model was so badly executed that it destroyed the goodwill of any car buyers who may have been tempted to buy it.