Why Must “Green Cars” Be Ugly?
I don’t know about you, but with few exceptions the most fuel efficient cars tend to be ugly ducklings as well. As a pre-boomer, I grew up with cars that looked good, drove fast and made a statement. This new breed of cars also says something, but is it what Americans want to hear? My generation was raised on fins, chrome, and whitewalls. If we didn’t own a car with these features, we wanted one. Cars were status symbols. The bigger the better, because what you drove suggested how well you were doing. Just like today, some folks went for more than they could afford and were, in effect, car poor. And it was men, for the most part, who connected with the cars they drove — particularly single guys. I suspect the clean car concept will be lost on them. It’s the rest of us who are being sold on the importance of saving the planet by driving an environmentally friendly automobile, no matter how uncomfortable, how small and how ego deflating this may be. Now, some people may no want to be se
