According to Auto Express today, this is Ford's new City Car, or "Ka" as they like to brand it here, or "Kak"* as I like to call it. My first thoughts are - it looks quite a bit like a StreetKa...
A StreetKa named "Desire?" I think not - I could never desire one of those - there is no way one of those could ever look good.
OK, I'll take that back too. However, that doesn't detract from my initial problem. My second thoughts on seeing the car, probably unfairly, were that it reminded me of an old Isetta Bubble-car:
It's not clear from the article or the photo if the new Ka (assuming it will be called a Ka) is a two or four-seater - I'm guessing a four-seater but you'd have to all be very good friends in there.
The current Ka hasn't really hit the public's imagination - possibly because it was a joint venture with Fiat and their 500 which seems to do a much better overall job of being a good small car. So this time, they've gone back to new radical design. Will it be case of "The Emperor's New Clothes" like "Roger and Val Have Just Got In" and like I felt the original Ka was?
When that was launched, I remember thinking how ugly that was too - I particularly disliked the grey plastic bumpers which invaded the whole front and back of the car. All the motoring journalists raved about it though. The general view of the general public was women loved it and men hated it - the women must have won out though because it ran from 1996 to 2008.
*Scouse (and maybe from other bits of Britain too) word meaning "excrement"
"kack" is more or less the same in German as well.
ReplyDeleteI had a Ka as a hire car back in January. It terrified me. I couldn't help but think that somewhere an elephant was missing a rollerskate.