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From a budget subcompact with squared-off fenders to a six-figure luxury off-roader, the best boxy vehicles of 2026
Car design spent the better part of four decades chasing the opposite of what buyers want right now. Engineers in the 1980s smoothed every panel into an aerodynamic curve to cut wind resistance, and that rounded look only grew more exaggerated through the so-called jellybean era of the 1990s and 2000s, until sharp edges nearly vanished from showrooms entirely. A shopper walking a dealer lot back then would have struggled to find a single vehicle with a flat hood or a squared-off fender, since curved plastic and rounded glass dominated nearly every price bracket. Straight lines had all but disappeared from mainstream design language by the early 2000s.
This pendulum has swung hard in the other direction. Automakers now treat angular lines and upright grilles as a selling point instead of something to smooth away, and the shift shows up across nearly every price bracket and vehicle category. A shopper today can find boxy styling on a budget-friendly subcompact, a three-row family hauler, or a six-figure luxury off-roader, making the current crop of square-edged SUVs unusually diverse compared to past design trends that tended to cluster around a single vehicle type. Off-road capability tends to follow the boxy shape closely, since a flatter hood and more upright windshield often improve visibility and departure angles on genuinely rough terrain.
