> And why does it seem like there's an unwritten law that any sufficiently fuel efficient car has to look like a robot turd?
Concept cars have always looked like that. Even before the 'concept' was a fuel-efficient one. I remember going to autoshows (living in the Detroit-area the International Auto Show is just downtown every January) in the 90's and seeing sketches of cars that looked like that (style-wise), and sometimes prototypes on display as well. I think that it's more of an auto-industry thing.
Concept cars have always looked like that. Even before the 'concept' was a fuel-efficient one. I remember going to autoshows (living in the Detroit-area the International Auto Show is just downtown every January) in the 90's and seeing sketches of cars that looked like that (style-wise), and sometimes prototypes on display as well. I think that it's more of an auto-industry thing.