Nissan cube

Tuesday 27 January 2004 — This is almost 21 years old. Be careful.

Dave B. sends along news from Tokyo of the Nissan Cube. Dave is disturbed by the asymetric rear design. I’m disturbed by the thinking behind the design:

The design team’s four key themes of “naughty, relaxing, compact and agile” are embodied in the design.

Naughty?

In addition, care was taken to achieve a distinct car-like stance that fosters feelings of lasting attachment.

and

The interior design exudes a sensation of relaxing in one’s own room, sitting on a comfortable sofa and surrounded by favorite pieces of furniture and audio equipment.

It’s a car.

Comments

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Martijn 6:56 AM on 27 Jan 2004
Well if it had been a Ferrari or some other stiking model...ok..but this thing, hah! "Design team" I can't imagine it took a whole team to design that. Looks like a Postman Pat rip off to me: http://www.theatreroyalnorwich.co.uk/show/july-2002/Postman-Pat.jpg
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andrew 9:46 AM on 27 Jan 2004
I think that I am going to puke. If you are going to make a butt-ugly car that looks like it was made from cardboard, please, PLEASE do not paint it milk-of-magnesia blue...

I am sure that it gets a kabillion miles to the gallon too. Or at least you only have to wind the rubber band once a day
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Sylvain Galineau 12:00 PM on 27 Jan 2004
It's got to be fuel efficient. The uglier and functionally deficient, the more environmentally friendly, usually.
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Bob 12:03 PM on 27 Jan 2004
To quote a Paul Graham essay:

Have you ever seen an old photo of yourself and been embarrassed at the way you looked? Did we actually dress like that? We did. And we had no idea how silly we looked. It's the nature of fashion to be invisible, in the same way the movement of the earth is invisible to all of us riding on it.

Conversely, the Nissan Cube may look like vomit on wheels to us now but if enough of these boxy things surround us, we'll quickly stop noticing.

--bob
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Alan Green 8:14 PM on 27 Jan 2004
If it were ten foot tall and amour plated, it would not look out of place in a riot.
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Fred Kiesche 4:26 AM on 28 Jan 2004
Ah, where's the AMC Pacer when you really need a ugly car? Or the Aztec? Or the Yugo?

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