At one point in your lifetime, you may have come across a vehicle that didn’t look like anything else you’ve seen. There may have been a flashy accessory, a strange contour, or maybe it had an unrecognizable logo. Chances are, that car was produced by a minor car brand.

Minor car brands are the unknowns of the car manufacturing industry, because they produce specialty cars. They may vary from purely electric-based vehicles to neoclassical eye candy. Each come with their incentives, such as tax deduction on electric vehicles or bragging rights with the aesthetics. Below are 11 minor car brands that you didn’t know existed.

Coda

Lithium iron phosphate batteries are this company’s specialty. When they’re not producing batteries, they’re producing car bodies that use these batteries. Coda is known as a minor car brand that produces fuel-efficient cars that run on a powerful battery.


Fisker Automotive

Fisker Automotive doesn’t just sound like a can of tuna that you’d feed your cat. It’s a minor car brand that manufactures luxury hybrid vehicles. If the luxury wasn’t enough incentive, the yearly tax deduction will be.


Panoz

Panoz is the result of a pharmaceutical mogul who decided his financial portfolio needed its own race car manufacturing company. Their most notable car is the Panoz Esperante. This little-known car brand produces sports cars for competitive racing and road cars for competitive bragging.


Green4U

Green4U isn’t just a minor car manufacturer, but an all-around green vehicle producer. They’ve made eco-friendly vehicles for airlines, individual consumers, and even the military. Green4U is manufacturing an electronic vehicle that has substantially lower operating cost than the leading brand. It’s the Great Value brand of electric cars.


VIA Motors

If you’ve seen a GM model car without the GM branding, chances are it’s a VIA motors vehicle. This manufacturer purchases GM cars and refurbishes them to be electric. They pull a quick switcheroo to sell a greener vehicle.


Zimmer

Known as the Golden Spirit of vehicles, Zimmer pushes the production of neoclassical cars. Whenever there’s an old car showcase, you might find a Zimmer model. They make them aesthetically pleasing without the utility of a standard car.


Lucid Motors

Lucid Motors specializes in electric vehicles. Coincidentally, close to 300 employees from Tesla Motors jumped ship to work at Lucid, so you know their cars are electrifying. The reason why there’s so many electric car companies in the state is because they all graduated from a traffic school California.


Faraday Future

Faraday Future isn’t just the name of the next great sci-fi novel. It’s an electric automotive startup that’s taking over the south. This company makes electric sports cars that aren’t just used for sport. They’re used for leisurely driving… at high speeds.


Local Motors

Local Motors makes their cars available to the public in more ways than consumer distribution. All their vehicles are open sourced and available to the public. Some of their vehicles include the autonomous bus or the completely 3D printed car.


Elio Motors

Elio Motors is pushing the boundaries with their innovation. Those boundaries being the line between car and motorcycle. This minor car brand recently released the three-wheeled autocycle. It’s an automobile containing everything you would find in your standard sedan, but without the unnecessary fourth wheel.


Vehicle Production Group

No – Vehicle Production Group isn’t the generic placeholder for a flashy name in the works. It’s the legitimate name of the company. They’re responsible for the design of most mobility vehicles. They’re highly accessible vans and cars are built with a large door and ramp.