Detroit Auto Show – Dodge Circuit EV – All Circuits Are Busy. Try Back in 2010. – List – NYTimes.com — This has got to be the worst looking electric vehicle ever designed. It looks like it was done by a high school kid using after-market parts trying to copy a design from a 1970’s Hot Wheels toy. And the color? Cripes! Chrysler is doomed.
Chrysler calls this all-electric performance sports car a prototype — but didn’t say whether it will be first Chrysler electric vehicle to be produced out of its ENVI portfolio of “production-intent” vehicles.
WHAT THEY SAID The Dodge Circuit EV displays bold exterior and interior styling with outstanding performance, zero gasoline consumption and zero tailpipe emissions. It has all new front and rear-end designs from the version that was shown in the fall.
Note the use of the word “bold” rather than the word “hideous.”
It looks like a mishmash of parts from various models. Charger, Avenger, Viper parts stuck together.
Chrysler will be just a distant memory at this time next year anyway…
Before slinging around such dramatic accusations it’s best to remember what a truly hideous vehicle looks like, i.e. the Pontiac Aztek.
Looks like a matchbox car. So why does Detroit big 3 feel they must WOW us with impractical vehicles in a time when they are making lousy real world vehicles. Maybe they should stop dreaming and start dealing with their problems today. These kind of car designs even if produced are not going to be big sellers.
Even the $40,000 Volt is not going to turn a lot of heads at that price. It’s almost like the big three are always trying to one up the rest.
The car looks good to me and if I had the money to blow on it I would buy one.
Doesn’t look any worse than the Tesla Roadster, in other words it looks pretty cool to me. As far as the color, Dvorak must not remember the Chrysler/Dodge heyday in the musclecar era as this color along with many others is right from their paint warehouse i.e. Hemi Orange and Plum Crazy.
#1 I would say it looks more like they took a bunch of spare Lotus bodywork and glued it to a Dodge Neon.
It does look like a Tesla / Lotus Elise with a Viper front end.
With the physics of aerodynamics, all electric vehicles will end up looking the same. The teardrop shape is the best and you see it with the Prius and new Insight.
We are entering a period of automotive homogeneity and styling will become secondary to substance.
Looks just like every other car that they make.
It doesn’t look all THAT bad. You want to see ugly, go find a Pontiac Aztek. Gak.
Half of the ugly is the orange paint job.
That’s not just all-out ugly, that is dumb-and-a-half ugly.
That’s so ugly that car washes will throw up on it.
That’s so ugly that it’s in my dictionary as the picture for ugly.
That’s so ugly that when it was entered in an ugly car contest, they said, “Sorry, no professionals.”
That’s so ugly it scares flies off of road kill.
That’s so ugly that its shadow quit.
That’s so ugly that when it was used as a getaway car, they let it get away.
That’s so ugly that people at the car show pay NOT to see it.
That’s so ugly that dogs refuse to chase it.
That’s so ugly that it makes blind pedestrians cry.
That’s so ugly that they won’t let it on ferries.
That’s so ugly that people go out as it on Halloween.
That’s so ugly that it looks like it was designed with a fork.
That’s so ugly that Edsels are jealous.
That’s so ugly that its license plate reads “FKN DOG”.
That’s so ugly that its own mirrors keep breaking.
That’s so ugly that the car company committed suicide.
It’s a Lotus Europa with a Chrysler grill stuck on the front:
see: http://tinyurl.com/9fzxjb
AN ORANGE NIGHTMARE!
I like it, yep it’s a lotus alright. Who am I to judge though I think mini’s are cool.
Chrysler stopped being a car company, decades ago. They make car badges.
I guess beauty is in the eye of the beholder. As Chuck mentions, it does look remarkably like a Lotus Europa.
As to some of the other people here…
What. Do you want all cars to only look like square drab utilitarian people transporters?
http://tinyurl.com/9q7f2d
That is my definition of ugly.
#11 – Is that Mustard Orange there, Angry Whopper?
As was stated. It’s a Lotus Europa with running gear by Chrysler. I don’t think it looks bad at all.
you’re right about the color, they could have used a much better one. but i am thinking they wanted to show the aero lines to the people at the show, something that a red or a black might not do as well for photos.
that being said, it’s actually not that bad a car from a design standpoint. it’s definitely not an Aztec (the Windows ME of pontiacs). the side scoops and the hood scoop are not bad looking. if i had the cash, i would drive it.
Tailpipe? Does it have a tailpipe? And where do you get the plutonium to generate the electricity to run the thing?
Oh, come on it’s not that bad! Not as hideous as the BMW 7 series rear end.
I think is a good looking car… well it would be in black or silver.
As ugly as the new Honda Insight or Toyota Prius, or any number of in production cars. Ugly—it’s the new hot!
One more proof that the big 3 are out of touch with reality.
To all of the people that say it looks like a Tesla or a Lotus, that is because it (like the Tesla) is based on a Lotus.
I think it looks decent, not quite as good as a real Lotus, but a hell of a lot better then a Prius!
As far as the color goes, I might be in the minority, but I am a big fan of orange cars. Show cars are supposed to be flashy anyways.
JayT I completely agree. That makes 2 out of 26, hehehe.
Lotus and mini-Viper, count me in!
Why weren’t there any condemnations of the Honda electric shown earlier? The Honda prototype CRZ shown last year was sublime, but who buys a prius for looks?
Come on, this is pretty spiffy for an American car company. They haven’t had the design force since what ummm 1970s at least.
What happened to fuel efficiency ?
Aren’t we going the wrong way here ?
Yet I guess it is what to be expected
More money for the bailouts
Aside from the color, does it really look any worse than a Tesla?
It’s no uglier than the Tesla. I say good on you, Dodge!