When will automakers realize that people aren't buying "enviro" cars because they're FUGLY!!!!

Make an all-electric car that looks like a goddam Mustang, for crying out loud.

Design will go a long way in bringing around the red staters.

/yes - it is a generalization.

Ugh. What an ugly piece of crap. Reminds of that first Hybrid Honda Accord, where they put a piece of the body panel across the rear wheel wells.

Where do they get their idea of futuristic design from, Sleeper?

atomsmoosher:

Ugh. What an ugly piece of crap. Reminds of that first Hybrid Honda Accord, where they put a piece of the body panel across the rear wheel wells.

Where do they get their idea of futuristic design from, Sleeper?

You are thinking of the Insight, not the Accord.

Just make my goddamn flying cars already, or at LEAST one that can carry on a conversation. Wouldn't hurt to add "Super Pursuit Mode" as an option. ;)

I wouldn't care if it looked like the Borg cube if it got more than 100mpg and didn't cost several thousand dollars more than a similar conventional version.

Comic Book Guy

You are thinking of the Insight, not the Accord.

I sit corrected. I know they have to make these cars lighter, but can't they do that without the excess plastic cladding.

Then again, I can imagine that some tools buy these things just because they are a status symbol and want to be seen in a cheezy little contraption.

Why wouldn't it meet US emissions standards. My VW diesel gets up to 53 MPG and it's not a problem in most of the US. (stupid california)

The article seems to imply that there are new standards coming out.

It looks funky, but I don't hate it.

I still don't get the half-covered rear weels though.

labman
Why wouldn't it meet US emissions standards. My VW diesel gets up to 53 MPG and it's not a problem in most of the US. (stupid california

Emissions is for what come out the tailpipe, not fuel economy..

Executives said the fuel economy rating of 70 mpg would be about 30 percent higher than that achieved by a production vehicle

Sounds exactly like the ~50 mpg that you can get in an unobtrusive 134 hp volkswagen diesel engine. The car would have to be pretty darn clean to be an advantage over what's already available.

labman:

Why wouldn't it meet US emissions standards. My VW diesel gets up to 53 MPG and it's not a problem in most of the US. (stupid california)

/I usually average about 49 MPG. It's too hot around here to do without AC most of the year.


I'm only getting about 41 mpg in my 2001 Golf with the AC running. What are you doing right?

Why do people make an ugly ass baby concept car, and then, paint it in a super ugly ass color?

/if it were in black, it would only be 90% as ugly

It doesn't matter if it gets 100MPG. People will not buy it.

1. Its diesel.

2. Its fugly.

Like it or not, the public has an adversion to diesel powered vehicles. Hybrid sales are way outpacing sales of diesel powered vehicles that have greater fuel economy, performance, and nicer lines (looks). Wheter its true or not, when people think of diesel they think of pinging loud engines, belching black smoke, grimy gas pumps, beer bellied redneck truck drivers, and nasty interstate truck stops.

Additionally, people will not buy fugly cars. Why the heck do the automobile manufacturers make such hideous looking cars when they create something that gets good gas mileage?

Seems to me that the automobile manufacturer that makes a line of cars and trucks thats are affordable, get great gas milage, and look great would have a huge competitive advantage. Call me crazy, but this idea may actually work!

Step 1: Become a consultant to the automotive industry with the novel idea of making good looking economical cars.

Step 2: ???

Step 3: Profit.

Badger:

I almost bought a 1980 VW Rabbit that got over 50mpg. It had a perfect security system because it said "DIESEL" on the back...

I've got an 81 VW Rabbit Convertable

Yah, all the girls think its hot. Well.. maybe not, but it still runs with 190K+ miles on it and i bought it for $1000 two years ago.

NikolaiFarkoff: Yep, there's no future in Diesel.


VW has certainly sold a lot of them in Europe and Canada. Just because Americans are ignorant about diesel engines in passenger cars doesn't mean there's no future in diesel.

Especially if fuel prices keep rising, which I'm fairy sure will happen.
/waiting for the day when I can burn 100% bio in a future volkswagen....mmm...french fries.

"When will carmakers learn that people won't buy ugly blah blah blah blah"

Dudes, it's a Benz AND it's Bionic. Codename Boxfish, no less. People won't buy ugly cars? Get this... some people really like the styling on the PT Cruiser, the Element, etc. I see people driving the lowest-end C230 "Sports Coupe" Benz all the damn time, and the thing is an ugly piece of crap... but it's a Benz.

And you should see the smug look of self-satisfaction on the faces of those drivers. Imagine that look if they were driving a Bionic Diesel FishBenz.

Yeah, I think you're right Big Tuna. Little adjustment. There.

fark, it looks like the Billy Crystal character from Monsters Inc.

I submitted this ugly-ass car as a photoshop thread a couple days ago - denied. Anyway, the car is designed after a boxfish, which is supposed to be SUPAR AERODYNAMIC! Or hydrodynamic, I guess, since it's a fish.

BigTuna

The Moller flying car really isn't that close.

It has been under development for over 40 years and has sunk $70 million-- still no flying car.

I'm not holding my breath.

Unfortunately, with the price of deisel, a 70 mpg car is about the same as a 40 mpg that runs on gas.

But it is funny how fuel economy doesn't factor into the US standards at all. It is a pretty farked up country when a Hummer getting 7 mpg is considered more enviro friendly than a deisel getting 70.

BigTuna: It's closer than you think.

Yeah, right.

Moller was going to be releasing the Skycar "next year" back when I was a teenager. I'm old enough to have teenagers now.

He'll probably still be ready to release it "next year" when you have teenagers too!

Taunches, here is one of the other trim models...

That is quite possibly the ugliest automobile I have ever seen.

/including the Aztek

Jesus P. Christ. WHY do they ALL have to look so unbelivably retarded and alien?

With the exception of the hybrid-electric Honda Civic, every single hybrid / 50+MPG car out there looks disgusting. Even the Prius, which is probably the most acceptable excepting the Civic again, looks freaking stupid. Jeez.

What kind of job security do you have to have to submit a car design like that. *barf*

I sure hope Chrysler teaches Daimler how to do climate control. And console layout. And dome lights.

But don't hold your breath. It took thirty years for Daimler to give in and make seats that fit people.

"Emissions standards would be met in part with a particulate filter and with DaimlerChrysler's "selective catalytic reduction" system -- the injection of urea solution into exhaust."
So in other words, they're pissing into the wind?

Wow... what are these designers on? The back end of this is about as aerodynamic as a wal-mart shopper.

"...and with DaimlerChrysler's "selective catalytic reduction" system -- the injection of urea solution into exhaust."

ok, that's just gross. i don't even want to know how you refill the car with urea

I can handle the Diesel part, but I draw the line at Fugly and it looks smaller than my desk. I've got a wife and four kids; where the heck am I supposed to stuff all of them and their stuff???? That's the problem with all of these super economy boxes, they don't account for the typical American need to carry a fair number of people and cargo on a regular basis. That's why I drive an SUV and bought my Wife a mini-van. We'd never survive if we had a crackerbox like that. I know it'd be hard to build a 70mpg SUV, but why can't they build a 70mpg mini-van? Don't waste my time with tiny clown cars.

I think we can expect this car to be the final reward challenge prize on the next Survivor. They have a long tradition of giving away the ugliest cars known to man.

damageddude

I'm still waiting for the car that will drive itself so I can sleep when I'm on the road

I do this already.

...what?

Not near as ugly as the Aztek, and look how many of those damn things are on the road.

"Bionic Car?"
Neeneeneeneeneeneee!

isnt the boxfish named after a basic 'box' to start with? making the car styled , actually , after a box and not a boxfish?

"Emissions standards would be met in part with a particulate filter and with DaimlerChrysler's "selective catalytic reduction" system -- the injection of urea solution into exhaust."

So I'm going to have to fill another tank full of urea and occasionally replace a filter to get that 70mpg? Extra maintenance sucks.

Looks like it gets absolutely shiat visibility out the back. I assume they plan to implement some LCD monitor rigged to a camera on the back of the car. Other than that and the fact that it is ugly, I say the more eco-friendly cars the better. Be it diesel, hybrid, fuel cells, whatever.