The Taycan is gorgeous.

The 80s racing Volvo station wagon was sick.

That reminds me of the Opel Ampera. The original 2013 model was a decent looking sedan.

But every new model in that line has been a fugly hatchback…

I think no one competes with Tesla Model 3 because they're behind on tech. Only BMW i4 is in the same category I think.

What's wrong with hatchbacks for you? Is it just the appearance? Genuinely curious. Toyota Crown is a fastback sedan, although it's quite tall and I assume the rear glass is a liftback.

I think you're right, but optimising for drag is going to change all cars into the same thing. If brands want to retain any kind of identifiable look, they need the engineering to give them some slack.

The front grill isn't a problem for Ferrari design language. The 296 "grill" is mostly the haunches. An electric 296 would just flatten that out.

Similar story on drag, once you get rid of the mid engine air intake, drag would probably be within respectable drag for EV.

Questions would be about if they want a lot of battery range. This would screw up weight and ride height.

But ask a mainstream manufacturer to make an EV car and they look stupid half the time.

IMO, it's probably more that they overdesign them. They want the EV to look futuristic and unique compared to their regular cars, but their cars already look like that to some degree, and so they overcook the design into looking like some science fiction vehicle. Take the Ferrari, for example, they tried to make it have a floating arch where the hood would normally be.

That's fine for a movie or video game, but in real life, coupled with the practical limits, it just doesn't look very good.

I don't agree on the Prius. The 2026 version has worse consumption and a smaller trunk so it could look more like any other SUV. People buy these cause they are the best economics for the size and Toyota made it more like "what they think a phev suv should look like". I'd say that's the opposite of your point.

Tesla look like poo. Polestar are nicer by a mile but the backwindow is veey EV aesthetic

The fact that you're mentioning it in the same sentence as a Hyundai is the problem with the Ferrari design. It just looks like a much cheaper car.

I agree, debates about the ugliness or attractiveness of inanimate objects are very confusing.

The Renault 5 EV is really cool.

It’s definitely not possible to create something that looks exactly like that with modern safety design standards but they are being very stupid by not at least trying to evoke that more in their cars.

Then again, as far as I understand it, rich people are completely detached from my idea of good taste. So we might like the classic designs and the companies might know their customers prefer novelty or “the next big thing” over that kind of continuity

They just reissued the Testarossa.

And it’s a hybrid.

Yeah definitely, like if Audemars Piguet released watches that didn't look like an Audemars Piguet they'd definitely get a similar reaction from similar clientele.

Hyundai's Ioniq Venus concept actually kind of looks like if Ferrari designed a Prius

And of course they chose dookie color to showcase it😂 not even the classic red color Ferrari is known for.

I'll preface this with the fact that I'm not really a "car person", much less someone in the market for a Ferrari. I'd say it looks like a Ferrari from the rear more than the front. Isn't that what you'd expect? It hasn't got a traditional engine in it, so if you designed the front to look more like a traditional Ferrari, you'd have to design it to look like it has a traditional engine, but then form wouldn't follow function, so it would be less beautiful by that standard. If I were a really rich person looking to buy an expensive car, which I'm not, I'd think I might consider it.

Yes, because it’s got the giant yellow Ferrari logo on the side of it.

Yeah, that's exactly it. It doesn't seem bad. It just seems out of place based on the price point and clientele.