The 2010 Prius. Credit: Toyota
The thing about the Prius is that you know it’s going to be a high volume car (yes, even in this economy, car sales will pick up again eventually).
So, given that we’re going to see a lot of them on our roads, why couldn’t Toyota make them look cool too?
I mean, the technology is great, but the car looks like someone took a particularly uninspired brick, tried unsuccessfully to streamline it a little so they could toss it further, and then called it a day when they got to the rear doors.
I’m not asking for Italian sportscar styling here, just a little inspiration, like the good people at Toyota actually care about the product they put out.
Because now the car looks like they really couldn’t care less about it.
Styling is of course a matter of taste. I’m sure there are people out there who actually like the way the Prius looks, but they have to be few and far between.
Design has never been Toyota’s strong suit, but the Prius has to be their worst looking model ever. Still, you can’t argue with success, and they do sell a lot of cars.
Strange old world.
2010 Prius. Credit: Toyota
Actually, quite a lot of people like how the car looks, including myself. It’s distinctive, and more, it’s functional and gets the job done. We accidentally got one as a rental In California and LOVED it. No sound at all. Which makes this video from weeds really relevant:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ftJX_HZ5S4g
They purposely made it look nerdy, knowing that “nerdy” people are going to be the ones that would buy it… Think about the first person(s) you knew who owned one.. c’mon.. they were a little nerdy, right? I’m not kidding. It’s a purposeful reaction against beautiful (and inefficient) cars. I don’t think it’s glamorous, but yet I respect the design a lot.
*yet I respect the design a lot