Today, as I was driving into to town, I followed a Nissan Leaf – Nissan’s electric car – down Edgewood Road. I couldn’t help but notice how  on-purpose-goofy it looks and it started me thinking about how not-goofy Michele’s stepfather’s new Tesla looks. It got me wondering Why do electric cars, even hybrids, look a little goofy on purpose?

I think that the answer is that they want to distinguish themselves from regular cars. They seem to be say Hey! Look at us, we are building and electric car or Hey, look at how different our hybrid is from a regular car. They are selling these cars to people who want us to know that they are different so they give them an out of the box design. It may be out of the box design but, I think, it is in the box thinking. Electric cars are different, so let’s make them look different.  

But Tesla is different, they are trying to make their car look normal. Their pitch is that Tesla is a better car, not a different car. I think that this is real out of the box thinking.