A blog devoted to RANTS ON AUTOMOTIVE DESIGN, car reviews, and - above all - fugly autos. whether looking for vehicular plagiarism or rides of extreme tastelessness, you've come to the right place.


Thursday, January 21, 2010

Chevrolet Aveo

However ugly the Ford Edsel was considered in it's time, it ain't got nothin' on this mug.

Attack of the Clones: Infinidia Fugelantra



Where do you find inspiration when it's time to pen a new luxury sedan? Why, in mediocre South Korean economy cars of course. The new Nissan Fuga / Infiniti M look very similar to the Hyundai Elantra (albeit much sexier).

Attack of the Clones: Kiacura Sorento MDX



Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery? I consider both these cars attractive, and the Kia has a bit more interesting surface detail, but the resemblance is remarkable.

2009 Toyota RAV4



I don’t know what’s in the water over at Toyota, but they’re managed to pretty much ruin (or melt?) the looks of all of their offerings lately. Take the RAV4, which original was a pretty good looking (if slightly generic) SUV. Then they rip off it’s modestly attractive girl-next-door face and slap on this ugly and slightly frightening mug.

2007(+) Honda CR-V



The current CR-V is one awkward looking SUV. It’s almost as if Honda designers tried to see how weird they could make it look and have the public still want to buy it. From it’s rounded DLO at odds with the square roofline, to the strange pinched rectangle crease surrounding the rear license plate, to the odd rounded rectangular protrusions in it’s black plastic skirting, to the grille within a grille up front – it’s a mish-mash of shapes, all of which don’t quite gel.

Chrysler Sebring



Although this car has marginally gotten better looking in recent years, it’s still a noteworthy design and sales disaster of this decade. The original Sebring (sedan) was a slightly European take on the American mid-size sedan, with clean lines and an egg-crate grille. The current design is an art-deco disaster, all the more upsetting as it was released after the successful and much-lauded 300. There were a lot of raised expectations for this car, and a lot of people were let down. Basically they took a Crossfire – a car which didn’t exactly fare the concept to production journey all that well – and added two more doors, gave it a tall and narrow stance and stuck on some mismatched taillights. I mean – what’s the deal with the taillights? The fender mounted pieces look like they’re from a different car than those affixed to the trunk. It kind of looks like what you see on some run-down older cars, where they had an accident and replaced portions of the taillights with pieces from a scrap yard, except it’s from a newer (or older) model and slightly different. At least the (eventually) fixed them, and got rid of the hood strakes.