Saw one of these sitting last night, in the burgundy-ish color under yellowish streetlights, and all I could think was "Is it a car or a cockroach?" You'd think for $87k they would manage to avoid looking like something that should be stomped on!

Here's another interesting image, courtesy of the Beijing Olympic effort... Has Gaia worship gotten a foothold in PRC sports architecture?

For the record, I would never mistake that for a cockroach, but then I've never lived in a neighborhood where the cockroaches were armor plated, and had their growth hormones interrupted by emanations from Sodium Halide street lights.


Thia on the other hand, will likely be viewed by George W. Bush and cronies as a UFO which has landed. They will likely present satellite photos to the UN, and use it as justification for a planned invasion of eBay...

Several years ago I ran across an article on auto body design. There are only two fundamental designs that work well in the wind tunnels: the wedge and the chicklet.

So the chicklet body design is coming into vogue. If you squint hard enough, everything aerodynamic on the road is either a bug or a single-bladed axe head.

The Prius seems to be a hybrid both on the drive train and body design. That might be a subliminal message thing.