In 2015, Toyota announced it was discontinuing the Scion XB, an anomalous blip in the arc of US auto life. This perfect square of a car attracted a cult following (if you visit the right message boards) but was widely written off as quirky, ugly, and, of all things, impractical. Nevermind the fact that its original design was based on an idea to create, “a car as a social space or hangout in Japan, where young people lack privacy at home.” In the US, though, its “anti-aerodynamic shape suggested a lack of interest in speed, acceleration or other values associated with the traditional auto enthusiast.”
Still, in the mid-2000s, more than 61,000 American drivers picked up a Scion XB. As sales began to slump, though, the team over at Toyota faced a serious reckoning: follow the times and sand off a few corners, or stand their cubical ground? In the end, market forces prevailed and, with each passing year, the Scion got less and less boxy until it was eventually shelved completely. What a pity.
This was all, it should be said, in the pre-electric vehicle age. Though Scion devotees may overlook this fact, cars that resemble toasters on roller-skates (the words of the NYT’s Phil Patton, not mine) don’t score very highly in JD Power Associates fuel-efficiency reports. Look around these days and you’ll notice that almost every car is rounded off, even those with boxy origins. Take the Volvo 240 wagon, affectionately dubbed ‘the brick,’ for example. Today, it looks more like a cylindrical bullet. Many others, still, have assumed the form of the Kammback, a now-ubiquitous teardrop-shaped vessel named after German aerodynamicist Wunibald Kamm.
In truth, it’s both environmental regulations and matters of taste that have led us to the age of curved cars. As detailed by Vox, beginning in the late 1970’s American automakers had to meet Corporate Average Fuel Economy standards that resulted in better mpg each year; this happened decades after Americans got a taste for European cars, which were more aerodynamic and, to many, seen as luxurious.
Suffice to say, there’s a lot working against a boxy car resurgence. That’s why, some weeks ago, I was pleasantly surprised to see a few photos of a new Hyundai concept EV. It looks something like a Tokyo city taxi mixed with a Town Car, and it is very cool.
This has me feeling optimistic about the possibilities of an electric vehicle future. In addition to the bonus of, well, saving the planet, it’ll be interesting to see if the conventions of modern auto design can take a step back and get a little more creative (if impractical). So when we can all pilot ultra-efficient electric cars and charging stations abound, who’s to say the boxy renaissance isn't also on the horizon.