#5 Nissan Qashqai & X-Trail Premium
Why are they here? They’re just like Ford’s sad Vignale line, and that’s enough words wasted on these cars…
#4 Honda Civic Hatch
Why is it here? The Civic hatch may yet end up a good-looking car, but as a spicy concept previewing a more mundane production model this fails miserably, looking more like something out of the covers of Max Power magazine…
#3 VW T-Cross Breeze
Why is it here? I understand the T-Cross Breeze is meant to be a close preview of a Polo-based SUV, but where the previously-shown Taigun was spunky and the T-Roc was aggressively sporty, the T-Cross just looks like a rounded brick. That the body style emulates one of the silliest cars in production, the Range Rover Evoque Cabriolet, just worsens its case.
#2 Italdesign GT Zero
Why is it here? Because it shows that Italdesign is having a hard time rebounding from the funk it has found itself just before VAG bought it in 2010. Or is it VAG’s conservative approach that translates into the GT Zero looking like an off-the-peg, generic competitor to the Tesla Model S / Porsche Mission E with splashes of a modern Lamborghini?
#1 DS E-Tense
Why is it here? It’s not because it’s ugly, or technically boring – it’s because as a shining beacon for the nascent DS luxo-brand the E-Tense makes no sense. If you start a new brand you want your concepts to preview what you may make in the near future. As is, a mid-engined, electric supercar whose styling is flamboyant if overdrawn has so little to do with DS’s near future (small European and large Chinese crossovers) that it has me wondering whether it would not work better as a pie-in-the-sky Citroën…
