Comment by beefield

7 years ago

> That is the goddamned ugliest vehicle I've ever seen.

Let me try to beat that:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiat_Multipla#/media/File:Fiat...

40 comments

beefield

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munificent  7 years ago

What I find fascinating is how strong my negative visceral reaction to that thing is. It's a car. Who gives a shit whether it looks "good"? What even is my internal metric for "looks good"? I have no idea, but, God, this thing is revolting.

My hunch is that this is because we use some of the same mental wiring for processing human faces to process the front of a car. (Automotive designers refer to the front of a car as its "face".) So we think it's ugly because some of the same wiring that recoils to disfiguring human faces is kicking in.

I just stumbled onto: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26181746

toddmorey  7 years ago

Unlike say the Aztec, this truck is “radically functional” design. No paint and simple geometry make it easier to manufacture and more durable.

I don’t think the mandate was “make this look strange” as much as it was “make this thing rugged and fast and powerful and we’re perfectly fine with it looking strange”.

We’ll see if they were successful, but I like the ambition. I’ll be curious, too, to see if some of this more radical thinking comes over to the Tesla Semi.

  • lwansbrough  7 years ago

    Radically functional... unless your intention is to use it as a work truck.

    • toddmorey  7 years ago

      What aspects make you think it’s not useful as a work truck? I’ve done construction and see quite a bit of appeal. Fits 6 people, lockable bed cover, good towing capabilities, rugged body construction, no paint job to ruin, onboard power and compressed air...

      10 replies →

  • toddmorey  7 years ago

    Also curious to me was the mention of a totally new and customized UI for the truck. Would love to see it!

IndrekR  7 years ago

I was discussing this the other day with an automotive designer. Yes Fiat Multipla is ugly, but imagine the courage Roberto Giolito (the designer of Multipla) had when he proposed this to the management of FCA! Almost nobody in modern automotive industry dares to match this outside of the concept cars.

situationista  7 years ago

The Multipla was also very successful, and also happens to be one of the few Fiats that hold their value. A utility vehicle doesn't necessarily need to be attractive to be successful...

  • newnewpdro  7 years ago

    The aesthetics of the Multipla didn't look out of place in China, where it was sold as the Zotye Multiplan and Zotye M300 Langyue.

    As China's economy grew a number of American truck/van designs started looking more weird to western eyes like the Multipla than anything the likes of Dodge had previously designed. Designs target intended markets first and foremost.

GordonS  7 years ago

On the rare occasions I see a Multipla in real life, I actually have feeling* of disgust and revulsion - it really is a hideously ugly car.

I think there is something insect-like about the bulbous part that houses the lights - I wonder if perhaps something about the shape is triggering something innate, similar to how we may be hard-wired to fear snakes?

pluma  7 years ago

I think the Fiat Multipla is distinct in that it is unlovably ugly.

I can get behind the ugliness of vehicles like the Cybertruck because it just looks absurd, but the Fiat is just grotesque.

  • gnode  7 years ago

    I wonder if this is because the curvature of the Multipla makes us interpret it as organic and deformed, like a teratoma; it makes us feel disgust.

    The Cybertruck is overtly synthetic and brutalist. It's to be admired for its impressiveness, not its beauty.

  • kome  7 years ago

    I like the Fiat Multipla! It is cute, it looks like a beluga. De gustibus...

buboard  7 years ago

ok the multipla is clearly leftover parts from 2 other car models stitched together in the midline. top one was a van, bottom part was a convertible