The latest trend.

The news headlines in the UK are currently full of the governments latest big idea - the introduction of electric vehicles.

Now the more cynical amongst us may well conclude that it is actually a ruse to distract our attention from the usual fare of astoundingly corrupt politicians, the failed economy, and the bankers continued huge bonuses.
The electric vehicle bandwagon was eagerly seized upon by the politician Peter Mandelson (himself previously twice removed from office in disgrace ) who has announced that the government is considering offering a cash sum of £5,000 against anyone willing to go electric.

Now is it just me, or are the current crop of electric vehicles such as the Nissan above rather unappealing? It's not often that I concern myself with modern cars as I much prefer the character and style of a classic, but on occasion I have also looked at a classic and wondered "What were they thinking?"

Case in point would be this 1950 Martin Stationette. For curiosity value alone it has to be preserved but who could honestly imagine wanting to own and drive one back in 1950 when there were so many fabulous makes and models out there?

There followed the charming (but equally ridiculous) Peel Trident (below) which came into being for reasons of fuel economy. Cars such as these speak of an era where the gullible public succumbed to the tax breaks and incentives offered by the government to drive such things, but frankly, thank god there were still the Buick, Pontiac, Chevy etc. drivers back in those days that chose to stay mainstream!

So I guess what I'm saying in this post is that on the odd occasion that I have seen a peculiar looking vehicle in a museum, and have wondered to myself "Who would have wanted such a thing?"
The answer is the same sort of people who would trade in their car today for something like the electric Nissan in the first photo!
If electric cars are the future, then I think they need to advance considerably in design before being touted to the general public as a viable alternative, which is happening in Britain currently. Failing that I have a plan....

Many of the cars from the classic era had a frontal arrangement that gave a happy 'smile', just like the cute little Panhard below.
In fact the Panhard looks like a childs pedal car made large. Perhaps if the British government want to hoodwink the public with their electric car stunt they should make electric cars look like overgrown, smiling pedal cars? At least that way if our politicians do insist on treating us like children, we would then be able to act like them!