Stop it, Ford, just stop it!

For some reason, Ford has decided that the only way to get its cars noticed in the US is completely outlandish and ugly designs. This was true of the current Focus and Lincoln Navigator, and it's now true of the next Fusion, of which there is a freshly-released new shot of the front end.

With this new design, Ford is creeping ever further from its design leadership days, when the Taurus was strikingly set apart from in competitors...in a positive way. 

True, Ford learned a painful lesson from the Five Hundred and Freestyle, two cars that could be considered styling black holes. Determined never to produce another anonymous car, Ford has swung wildly toward overwrought designs that beg for attention.
The lower bumper of this Fusion is actually heading in the right direction, borrowing some geometry from Ford's European Kinetic design language, which includes the gorgeous Mondeo (pictured).
But the huge chrome grille overpowers these cues, and throws the whole design out of balance. Ford's American design department is degenerating into the type of amateurishness that Hyundai and Kia has struggled for so long to overcome. Plain and simple, Ford needs a new director of North American design. Now.

Chargerghini Revealed

Well, after a few weeks of being a giant tease, Lamborghini's coyness has been rewarded with a broken embargo. The Estoque four-door concept has finally been revealed, and I must say I'm quite underwhelmed. The teaser detail shots got my motor revving, with Lambo's mastery of the details quite apparent. But the car as a whole is pretty disappointing, in my opinion. And then I saw the rear three-quarter shot. Suddenly I knew where I'd seen this car before. 

Okay, so the Estoque Concept doesn't look exactly like the Dodge Charger R/T Concept from 1999, but the stance is pretty much identical, and helps to elucidate why the overall execution of the Estoque already seems dated to me...especially for Lamborghini. Let me know what you all think.