VIDEO: Remembering the Pontiac Aztek launch with C&D

For the past decade, the Pontiac Aztek has been the poster child for design execution gone wrong. The malformed 'ute was intended as one of the first crossover vehicles – part minivan and part SUV, with enough space to enable drivers to go further, and with more stuff. After all, the rear seats were removable, when the hatch was open, you had access to a kickin' boombox, and the center console was removable when you needed a cooler on the fly. Instead, the Aztek was the butt of quite a few jokes, and its plastic-clad ugliness became a microcosm of all that was wrong with the domestic auto industry.

When the Aztek came in 2001, though, the public (and the motoring media) wasn't exactly sure what the quirky little Pontiac actually was, as evidenced by this amusing eight-year old video shot and edited by Car and Driver. Hit the jump to view the five-minute flick, and rewind back in time to the starting point of one of Pontiac's biggest mistakes.

[Source: YouTube]

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