World’s most popular car brands as seen through the eyes of artificial intelligence

With the recent invention of artificial intelligence or ‘AI’ being able to generate imagery, here at Hippo Leasing, we thought we’d see how AI Image Generators would interpret, and consequently create, imagery based on what car manufacturers say about the design of their vehicle.

As a result, we have taken snippets of the descriptions used by car manufacturers about the design of their cars. These words were then inputted into AI Image Generators to see how the same car would look through the eyes of AI.

The world’s most popular cars through the eyes of AI

Most Popular Hatchback: Toyota Corolla

According to Car Industry Analysis, the most popular hatchback worldwide on the market today is the Toyota Corolla. When referring to the Toyota website, they describe the Corolla as having:

“… a distinctive and strikingly sleek exterior, which can be made even more eye-catching with a variety of bi-tone paint options. A low bonnet increases the driver’s field of vision while an impressive wide grill and stand-out LED headlights add to the refined profile.”

AI Input Criteria

We then input certain words and phrases from the description provided by Toyota into AI Imagery Generator ‘DALL.E mini’ by Craiyon, which creates a collage of nine different images based on the entered information. These were:

“Car / distinctive / strikingly sleek / eye-catching / bi-tone paint colours / impressive wide grille / refined profile.”

Image Generated

The AI Image Generator then produced the following…

As you can see from the image generated, the AI pictured a much sleeker and sportier car than anticipated. The Toyota Corolla is the manufacturer’s flagship hatchback and does have a sporty-look variant in its GR SPORT model, however, the AI seems to have gone a step further and developed a car with a more polished sports-coupe feel. 

We then followed the same methodology for other popular cars to see if the AI could get any closer to the actual real-life vehicles.

Most Popular SUV: Toyota RAV4

Toyota describe the RAV4 as:

“Powerful with a real road presence, the RAV4’s strong body draws the eye from the elegant front LED headlights, along the bold silhouette and through to the unique LED rear lights – producing a look that is individual and refined.”

AI Input Criteria

“SUV, powerful, strong body, elegant, unique, individual, refined.”

Image Generated

The AI certainly captured the SUV element here, with all images generating large 4×4 type cars. It could be argued, however, that the ‘elegant’ and ‘refined’ elements of Toyota’s RAV4 are missing though, with the AI producing a far bolder and boxier look to its cars that resemble something more like a Mercedes-Benz G-Class.

Most Popular Pick-Up Truck: Ford F-150

Ford’s F-150 might not be available in the UK, but it doesn’t stop the American go-to truck from being the world’s most popular Pick-Up Truck. Ford’s website uses words and phrases to describe their F-150, such as:

“Tough and productive”, “supreme comfort”, “off-roader”, and “big front grille.”

AI Input Criteria

“Pick-up truck, tough, productive, comfort, off-roader, big front grille.”

Image Generated

As you can see, the AI has managed to produce a car that genuinely resembles an F-150 pretty closely, which is remarkable. The big grille and ‘tough’ looks are definitely captured in these images, especially those on the top line. 

Most Popular Sports Car: Ford Mustang

Ford also has two of the most popular cars worldwide when figures are broken down into body types. In the sports car category, their Mustang tops the charts. Ford describes the Mustang as:

“Streamlined”, “aeronautically inspired”, “an icon”, “fun”, “has new unique colour choices”, and “aerodynamic”.

AI Input Criteria

“Sports car, streamlined, aeronautical, iconic, fun, unique colours, aerodynamic.”

Image Generated

Wow! Has there ever been a greater contrast in styles? ‘Sports car’, ‘streamlined’, ‘aeronautical’, ‘iconic’, ‘fun’, ‘unique colours’ and ‘aerodynamic’ are all certainly apparent, but the AI seems to have taken a 1950’s concept car theme for the vehicles it has generated. The complete opposite end of the scale to how Ford’s ferocious-looking Mustang has been designed.

Most Popular EV: Tesla Model 3

Tesla has taken the world by storm and has been a key trailblazer when it comes to electric cars. Their Model 3 is currently the most popular EV, and their site describes its design as:

“Built for safety”, “brighter”, “more spacious” and “enhanced comfort”.

As this wasn’t too much to go off, we researched how others described the design of the Tesla Model 3, such as Business Insider, who said the Model 3 was:

“Subtle”, “graceful”, “disciplined”, and “restrained”.

AI Input Criteria

“Electric car, subtle, graceful, disciplined, restrained, safe, bright, spacious, comfortable.”

Image Generated

The AI interestingly sees the Tesla Model 3 in a much more futuristic way and has lent on a design very reminiscent of early EV concept art, where cars went from saloon-type shapes to smaller and almost bubble-like in design. We see a little bit of the BMW i meets the Seat Ami here.

Most Popular Hybrid: Honda CR-V

The Corolla covered earlier is also a Hybrid, so next on the list is Honda’s CR-V, which sold over 900,000 units and was the third best-selling car last year. Honda describes their hybrid as:

“The spaciousness, combined with its distinctive, sporty design, provides real driving pleasure for you and your passengers… The CR-V is so spacious. The open, airy feeling creates a relaxing and comfortable ambience combined with the practicality and convenience of a large boot.”

AI Input Criteria

“Hybrid car, spacious, distinctive, sporty, relaxing, comfortable, practical, convenient.”

Image Generated

The AI’s version of a Honda CR-V is quite accurate in comparison to other attempts at recreating the types of cars. The size and shape of the cars in particular are pretty close to the real CR-V, as well as the overall look and feel.

Most Popular Saloon: Nissan Sentra

The Nissan Sentra is another car not available in the UK, but outside the UK it’s the best-selling saloon with nearly 700,000 units sold last year worldwide. Nissan describes the Sentra as:

“Crisp and modern, the 2022 Sentra features advanced technology and a premium feel inside and out.” 

They also refer to the Sentra as:

“Compact”, “stylish”, “sculpted”, “painstakingly crafted”, “serious attitude”, “sport-inspired”, “aggressive”, “powerful”, “exciting”, “crisp and modern,” and “sporty“.

AI Input Criteria

“Sedan, crisp, modern, premium, compact, stylish, aggressive, powerful, exciting sporty.”

Image Generated

Similarly, to the Honda CR-V, the AI’s attempt at recreating the Nissan Sentra is relatively accurate. It’s created a saloon car with an executive feel and in the right colour scheme and style of the American-based saloon.

Conclusion

As you can see from the images generated by the AI, some get pretty close to how the actual cars look in real life and then some are a complete contrast. 

The AI did a really good job at recreating the Ford F-150, with the first row, in particular, looking almost identical. It also did pretty well with the Honda CR-V and Nissan Sentra, getting the overall size and shape of the cars accurate as well as some of the styling features too.

At the other end of the scale, we have the images generated of the Ford Mustang, a tough, bold and fierce-looking muscle car.

How AI Interprets Car Slogans

After looking into how AI Imagery Generators perceive different cars using their features, we then wondered how they’d interpret manufacturers’ slogans and/or taglines.

Audi

Slogan/Tagline = “Vorsprung durch Technik” (Progress Through Technology)

Image Generated

The AI has interpreted ‘Progress Through Technology’ by generating what appears, for the most part, to be holographic images of Earth, with some showing human hands interacting with the hologram. Could this be the AI telling us that we’ll be able to interact, or control, our planet through technology in the future?

BMW

Slogan = “Sheer Driving Pleasure”

Image Generated

AI seems to picture ‘Sheer Driving Pleasure’ as a nice drive in the countryside on a summer’s day. It does seem pleasurable.

Mercedes-Benz

Slogan = “Best or Nothing”

Image Generated

We have no idea what the AI has in mind when it comes to ‘Best or Nothing’. But what we do know is that it is very, very weird.

Honda

Slogan = “The Power of Dreams”

Image Generated

The visualisation the AI has come up with for ‘The Power of Dreams’ seems logical, although somewhat trippy, and a little bit spiritual/Godly at the same time.

Jaguar

Slogan = The Art of Performance

Image Generated

‘The Art of Performance’ through the eyes of AI is quite interesting, as it appears to focus on the theatrical version of ‘performance’, instead of other things such as mechanical performance or athletic performance.

Toyota

Slogan = Let’s Go Places

Image Generated

The AI seems to want a trip to the beach, as all the imagery it has produced from the phrase ‘Let’s Go Places’ pretty much centres around a seaside setting.

KIA

Slogan = Movement that inspires

Image Generated

The AI has interpreted ‘Movement that inspires’ as dance.

Skoda

Slogan = Simply Clever

Image Generated

We’re not entirely sure what the AI’s goal was when visualising ‘Simply Clever’, but it seems to be Art of some kind or a new form of typography, maybe?

Tesla

Slogan = The Future is Sustainable

Image Generated

Green is the theme that the AI has produced when visualising ‘The Future is Sustainable’. It pictures what seems to be a green version of Earth, sometimes cupped in human hands.

Mitsubishi

Slogan = Drive your Ambition

Image Generated

The AI has produced a varied assortment of visuals for Mitsubishi’s ‘Drive your Ambition’ slogan. We get a curved road in most pictures, some with a human either on or to the side of them, and some show people looking out of the window while parked by the side of the road.

AI vs AI

We then thought, what would happen if you input the same criteria into other AI Image Generators? Will we get the same outcome or something entirely different?

AI vs AI: Audi – ‘Vorsprung durch Technik’

As you can see, there’s a huge difference in how the various AI Image Generators interpret Audi’s ‘Vorsprung durch Technik’ slogan. In comparison to how DALL.E mini visualised the slogan, Hypotenuse AI delivered two medieval, yet futuristic, sets of armour. Dream AI produced a rather odd timeline-looking visual, which goes up to 2080, and Night Cafe produced a landscape picture of what looks like another world close to Earth, in the future.

AI vs AI: Tesla – Model 3

As for the comparison between Tesla Model 3’s, the AIs definitely still interpreted things differently, however, it’s a lot closer than Audi’s slogan. They’ve all created a curvy car, and picture it in a futuristic, clean design. The only main differences are that all except Hypotenuse shape the car in a bubble-like, small hatchback style, and all except Dream have the majority of the car coloured white.

We hope you enjoyed seeing artificial intelligence interpretations of the world’s most popular cars. If you would like to lease one of the real most popular cars, you can with Hippo Leasing. If you need any help or have any questions, please feel free to get in touch and one of our team will be on hand to assist you with anything you need.