The best game ever: Guess the car by its tail lights | Axon's Automotive Anorak

Time was that from a distance, most vehicle tail lights looked pretty much the same, with just a distant red glow, irrespective of the shape and size of the actual car’s rear lamp unit. Take one of the most distinctive of all car back lights, for example; the famous round ‘ban the bomb’ units of the Mark I Ford Cortina. Though very easy to identify in day light, in the dark and from a distance, the three distinct sections of the Cortina’s circular taillights become very difficult to make out, with just an overall indiscernible red glow.

Times have changed now, however, with technology and the need for strong brand identity enabling vehicle designers and engineers to create and produce distinctive, marque ‘signature’ family-look taillights units that really stand out and make a brand statement, even in the dark. Like studying the heavens for recognisable stars, as highlighted on The Sky at Night, car spotting at night has now become easier and more engaging, so next time you’re out on the roads in the dark, be sure to try and spot the cars in front of you just from the shape and style of their rear lights. In my view, here is a quick top 20 summary of car marques that arguably today feature the most recognisable rear light units. Happy hunting…

Kia

Kia seems to has become the master of distinctive rear light designs. Take its latest Sportage, for example, with its sharp red upward arrows, resembling an inverse Nike ‘tick’ logo. Kia’s EV6 matches its glitzy show biz ‘starburst’ headlamp surrounds with a distinctive gradual descending arc of small horizontal LED lighting filaments, whilst its Xceed features a litter of glitter scattered around its rear lamp units. The Kia e-Soul uses a large letter J shape (in reverse on the near side), while the Niro has a distinct stretched arrow shape.

Hyundai

Hyundai, Kia’s owner, also employs noticeable tail lamp forms to grab driver’s attentions. Though generally quite forgettable, at night the mid-size Hyundai Bayon crossover has big inward pointing red arrows, clearly inspired by the near-identical arrow rear lamps used on the infamous 1959 Edsel Bermuda and Villager station wagons. More satisfying are the twin Ford Mustang-esque units used on the Tucson, these resembling a couple of vulture talons resting on a perch in the dark. Hyundai’s Ioniq 5 features a quartet of rectangle shapes, spookily floating across the car’s tail, and its Kona has a ‘light sabre’ brightly spread across the tailgate, supported by some additional lamp units seemingly randomly stuck on as a bit of an afterthought.

Volvo

Volvo. The Swedish marque’s recently deceased British chief designer - Peter Horbury - first introduced Volvo’s high waisted/bulging thighs signature design in his V70; the popular estate car that became synonyms with Volvo’s modern design language. The V70’s distinctive bulging form give Volvo its now characteristic ‘big thighs’ shape, inspired by Volvo’s heritage by the wide hips and heavy tumblehome of the late-1940s/50s PV444/544 models. This has given all subsequent Volvo models a distinctive tail light shape, as typified by the XC40 SUV model, and perfected on the recent C40, which is very easy to identify from the rear at many paces in the dark.

Land Rover

Land Rover, having relied on indistinct small circular rear lights for years (Lucas units shared with the Hillman Imp) for its Series III/Defender 4x4s (plus Austin Maestro van units for early Discoveries), Land Rover now has some of the most recognisable tail lamp forms. The small round edged box ‘blobs’ on the new Defender models are unmistakable, as are the circular ‘orbs; used on the previous-generation Discovery models. The majority of the current Land Rover family now feature distinctive horizontal forms, with the vague profile of plastic handled cups, as found in a picnic hamper.

Toyota

From decades of making bland, unadventurous designs, Toyota went uncharacteristically wild with the rear lights of the last generation Prius. Resembling lightning bolts and looking like a cheap French countryside nightclub neon display, the rear end lighting of the last Prius was quite unique and made it easier to spot your Uber minicab late at night. Though no longer made, the Prius’ dramatic rear lights must have given inspiration to the tail lights of the Toyota Aygo X, which are almost as dramatic and resemble an electrified bent metal coat hanger wire ‘buzz’ puzzle found at a village fete.

Volkswagen

Not usually known for its daring rear lamp design, those of latest VW Tiguan vaguely suggest a shot gun profile, as used for 007 James Bond movies. The Volkswagen T-Roc and larger Touareg feature similar shot gun tail lights.

Mercedes-Benz

In the dark the illuminated double-deck rear light shape of the recently retired Mercedes E-Class Estate (and C Cabriolet) suggested the profile of pursed lips or a no-slip snow shoe grip. Depending on the accurate fit of the tailgate, often the two sections of these ‘lips’ didn’t quite align correctly. The more recent Mercedes-Benz GLB/EQB crossovers seem to enjoy a better panel fit, as the alignment of distinctive long strip with curly ends rear lamp display usually seems more precise.

Tesla

The Tesla Model Y and Model 3 share the same ‘neatly folded paper clip with square-ish cupped ends’ graphic when illuminated and stand out strongly.

Renault

Back in the 1970s and 80s the original 1972 Renault 5 hatchback was one of the few cars easily identifiable in the dark due to the unusually high position of its telltale upright rear light units. Today, a few more modern Renault’s can be named at night, such as the Arkana, with its full-width illuminated central strip light with curly ends. Both the Captur and new Austral feature an exaggerated letter C, with the cute electric facelifted Zoe identifiable by its twin short but thick LED red lamps, set in a tilted diamond light unit.

Alfa Romeo

Alfa Romeo has a tradition of creating stand out rear lighting units. Its iconic 156 was trend-setting in introducing handsome horizontal tail lights, later much copied by multiple car makers, and its 2010 Giulietta hatch was one of the first to feature an illuminated bar running across its tailgate, with curled ‘pig tail’ end lights, making it very easy to identify from afar in the dark. Today’s Alfa Tonale rear end has three shallow cup shapes, mirroring the trio of headlights at the Tonale’s front end.

Peugeot

The 208 has three short flecks of light, set in a horizontal unit, this thinking also being shared with the Peugeot 3008 and 5008 crossovers. The 308 and 508 also use the illuminated lighting trio, but set at a much jauntier angle and more widely spaced.

Nissan

Inwardly-pointing arrows, of deferring lengths and angles, are a feature common to current Nissan models, including as the Leaf, Juke (formed to suggest lips when lit) and Qashqai.

Jaguar

The tail lights of the undeservedly unsuccessful Jaguar XE feature a single horizon strip with ‘cup’ dips (double in the case of the XE, but single for the XF, F-Type, F-Pace, etc. Very recent facelifts for some Jaguar models

Citroen

Though historically more identifiable by profile than most car marques, at night on the road most Citroen’s blended into the dark from a distance from behind, the current Citroen C4, C4 X and C5 X all feature a set of back lights with odd angled LED strips, resembling the slashes of a knife blade,

Cupra

The range-topping Formentor has a long strip of red light, backed up by oval shapes at the end of either wing. The Cupra (and Seat) Leon shares a similar lighting profile style when illuminated.

BMW

The BMW iX’s single illuminated red band looks far better from behind than it’s stylistically-challenging front end. The BMW X2 has a more complex bent paper clip illumination, but the X1, X3, X4, 1- and 4-Series feature a neater single strip with a kicked up (and sometimes twisted) chubby end pieces..

Bentley

Both the Bentley Bentayga and its more glamorous Continental GT sister feature floating roundels as for rear illumination, looking like pouting lips.

Aston Martin

The most distinctive member of the Aston Martin family at night is the DBX, the prestigious SUV featuring one long continuous curved ribbon of light, spread across the car’s rump, it resembling the shape of a road sign for a hump backed bridge,

Lexus

The latest Lexus RX has a continuous red strip with arrow-esque kick ups and sparkling ‘fairy’ lights at either end, an interpretation of this theme also being reflected in the lesser Lexus UX and NX SUV models.

MG

The MG 3 is noticeable in the dark for its distinctive upward arrow shape.

Mini

The Mini Hatch, Convertible and Clubman models must be the most distinctive of any cars in the dark due to their clever, amusing and patriotic Union flag emblems, split across the left and righthand sides of the car, thus creating a complete Union flag.

Enjoy your nighttime car spotting, and take care out there on those dark and wintery roads…