Attending an auto show used to be a high point of my year, so I have wondered why this year’s Seattle event was so disappointing. Could it be harder to impress an old fart who has “seen everything”?
Geography could also be a factor: Seattle’s show is pretty small compared to its big brother down in Los Angeles, so it didn’t have any major reveals.
Beyond all that, 2026 doesn’t strike me as a high point for the American auto industry. Most models are hold-overs, and the few new ones are uninspiring — if not downright ugly.
Whatever the reasons, I have had photos from the auto show rotting away in my computer since November. So let’s bite the bullet and look at a few choice examples. To make this article manageable I am focusing narrowly on Subaru, Honda and Hyundai-Kia.
Subaru goes all in on the Tonka toy look
Take the redesigned Subaru Outback (please?). The catsup oracles decided that the venerable all-wheel-drive wagon needed to be turned into a full-fledged sport-utility vehicle even though it had been selling an admirably steady 150,000-to-160,000 units per year during the first half of the 2020s. That wasn’t very far below the lower-priced and smaller Forester.
The new Outback is almost two inches higher (68.1 inches), an inch-and-a-half wider (75.8 inches), and has more headroom and cargo capacity due to a boxier shape (Gluckman, 2025).
I suppose one could argue that people want more room these days, and Subaru presumably saves on development costs by putting the Outback on the Forester’s platform. However, the big question is whether the Outback is now too similar to Subaru’s other two SUVS — the Forester and the high-end Ascent. In light of the Ascent’s declining sales, it might have made more sense to give the SUV a shorter, two-seat version and leave the Outlook as a more car-like wagon.
And then there’s the styling. Whereas once upon a time the Outback was one of the cleaner-looking vehicles to come from the Japanese, it now has an over-amped Tonka toy look. It’s hideously ugly even by our currently debased SUV standards. Indeed, the styling is so bad that it reminds me of an Eastern Bloc car during the postwar era, when the commies desperately tried to copy western cars but just didn’t have the skills to pull it off. Only now the ugliness is intentional.
To make matters worse, it takes some discernment to tell the difference between an Outback and a Forester. All of which points to another option: Why not just add a somewhat stretched version of the Forester?
Whatever happened to Honda?
For a number of decades I pretty much only bought Hondas. They had clean, almost Germanic styling and were arguably more roadworthy than competing Toyotas. Yet I found them to be reasonably reliable.
While walking around the Honda display at the auto show I tried to resurrect some old enthusiasm for the brand — but I just couldn’t manage it. Say what you will about the current state of Honda’s engineering, but I just can’t stomach the brand’s design direction.
The Prelude is a case in point. Car and Driver had trouble giving the revived sporty coupe an endorsement, noting that it is “charming” but “doesn’t pencil out” compared to the competition. That’s partly because of a relatively high price for front-wheel drive and no manual transmission (Capparella, 2026). See, the old rear-wheel-drive and stick-shift diehards haven’t all died off yet.
Road tester Joey Capparella (2026) called the Prelude “a looker with a curvaceous shape.” Even so, the design strikes me as odd rather than cool, with its platypus nose and hunchback roofline.
The weak styling isn’t worth the space limitations of a low-slung coupe. A Civic Type R “hot hatch” makes more sense if one wants a high-performance compact. Alas, its styling is entirely too busy for my taste (Fink, 2026).
Hyundai-Kia: The best and the worst of times
Hyundai and Kia deserve credit for coming out of nowhere to become some of the most well-rounded brands in the U.S. auto industry. Although they have a minimal presence in the truck field, they have been reasonably successful in covering pretty much everywhere else — from economy cars and electric vehicles to minivans and luxury cars. Such a broad lineup could prove to be a crucial advantage in the next few years given the many uncertainties hovering over the auto industry.
The two Korean brands have also been unusually aggressive in exploring nascent design trends. This has both a good and bad side. For example, the Hyundai Ioniq 6 arguably represents a breakthrough in advanced aerodynamics, so it’s too bad this design came out after sedans were eclipsed by SUVs.
On the other side of the coin, both brands have been leading champions of sci-fi styling. Sometimes it works, but other times Hyundais and Kias can remind me of Virgil Exner’s weirder designs. For example, the Kia K5 is a disciple of wildly squiggling lighting at both the front and rear. It’s certainly distinctive, but will it withstand the test of time? I suspect not much better than a 1961 Plymouth.
The Kia EV6 is more successful in its lighting experimentation — particularly in the rear. However, a facelift has given the front a boomerang quality. That’s a downgrade from the lovely feathered headlights on previous models (go here).
And behold the postmodern Kia EV9, which reminds us that there is still a fine line between clever and stupid.
Hyundai has also explored unusual lighting treatments. At least to my eyes, the most aesthetically successful approach has been on models such as the Santa Cruz, which has a constellation of horizontal mini-lights. But then there’s the Palisade, with stacked vertical lights that make the SUV look like a high-rise building.
How will auto historians look at the 2026 models?
After attending the 1967 auto show with my dad, he said that he wasn’t impressed by the new offerings. I disagreed. In retrospect I can see that this was an off year for American car design, but I was only 10 years old at the time so was still viewing cars with fresh eyes. Frankly, any auto show was exciting.
Here we are almost 60 years later. When I see a new design I tend to first notice ways that it is derivative. After all, most of the time there is very little that is new under the sun. And if a car does display a genuinely different approach, I can be skeptical if it deviates too much from traditional notions of aesthetic beauty.
Also see ‘Why do Japanese automakers continue to make their vehicles look so scary?’
For example, I have not warmed to the neo-industrial look of the Hyundai Ioniq 5 (go here). And I would be downright embarrassed to own a goodly number of SUVs or trucks that sport what might be called the “brutalist” look (go here). It’s no accident that I prefer recent Mazdas, because this is one of the few brands that has not yet abandoned the curvaceous and more understated forms of the past.
I must acknowledge that the 2026 cars I most heavily criticize could plausibly end up being viewed as iconic designs by future automotive historians. That said, those cars could also be dismissed as evolutionary wrong turns akin to most of Detroit’s 1958 models. If I were a betting man, I’d bet on the latter.
NOTES:
Sales figures from Good Car, Bad Car (2026).
Share your reactions to this post with a comment below or a note to the editor.
RE:SOURCES
- Capparella, Joey; 2026. “2026 Honda Prelude Is a Charming Coupe That Doesn’t Pencil Out.” Car and Driver. Posted Posted Jan. 27.
- Fink, Greg. S.; 2026. “2026 Honda Civic Type R.” Car and Driver. Accessed March 21.
- Gluckman, David; 2025. “2026 Subaru Outback vs. 2025 Subaru Outback: How They Compare.” Car and Driver. Posted April 16.
- Good Car, Bad Car; 2026. Sales figures for individual nameplates. Accessed March 19.
The Subaru Outback was the last affordable station wagon although it began heading in the SUV direction with the 6th generation (2015–2019). It has now gone a bridge too far and I have sworn off the brand. I currently drive a 2015 model.
I had a 5th Gen Prelude (1997-2001) Honda Prelude which I bought because a car magazine touted it as the best handling car under $25,000. I found it to be too much a grand tourer and lacking in tactile thrills. I normally keep a car for a decade but sold it after two years. Should have bought a Civic Si.
I had a Kia Soul for one year before the Outback. I liked it, it had plenty of room and drove well. I hit a deer, which damaged the grille and the hood latch was sometimes recalcitrant. Then I forgot to tighten the plug after an oil change and wrecked the motor. Kids had begun stealing them and Kia only offered to reimburse me for a “Club” rather than address the problem. I won’t buy a car from them after that insult.
So that leaves me with Mazda. I owned at least one Miata (OG series) for 25 years, sometimes three. I have no complaints other than I sometimes needed more cargo space. Having an open top sometimes helped there. I would buy another Miata without hesitation, maybe a Mazda3. Or a Civic Si.
Well , as a guy who was born in 1951…I have every program from the New York International Auto Show from 1956 until 1974, so when I become depressed over the current ugly or non descript SUV’s and giant useless trucks I can always escape and pull out my old issues !
Thanks for the “walk-along” Steve. It was like being at the show with you and hearing you point ou things that may have been missed. I wholeheartedly agree with the “Eastern Bloc” take on some designs these days, and Hyundai-Kia now takes up Subaru’s usually “Asian Weird” look.
Much appreciate the brief take on the show and wouldn’t mind reading about the rest of the show.
Steve, I agree with your styling observations and I doubt age is clouding your judgement. It seems some maker’s taste level has deteriorated to Angry LEGO, and the pinheaded Prelude, although a new and shiny coupe, is a major disappointment to many who owned or appreciated earlier models and their refined style.
Went to an auto “show” this spring for the first time in decades. A petting zoo provided the “entertainment.” At least in the past, I got bags of brochures for the effort. Now nothing creative to compare when I got home. Spoke with a salesman – to prevent him from dying of boredom.
For 10 years auto styling from the Asians primarily has grown stranger angrier and bizarre. For 1 thing perhaps these auto companies that turn out these highway eyesores have no heritage – as the American companies have in spades.
They have no where to turn – it seems – to create a legible and pleasing and long lasting look to at least protect their costumers investment. Is this the grotesque side of planned obsolesenc?
The customers’ children begin to beg the parents to ” get rid of that car”.
Of course the home grown product has produced its share of child frightening designs themselves. The Lincoln MKT, Ford Explorer , Chevy Camaro to name a few.
For me I can only look away when I see one coming. This is similar to the ”MCMansion” craze of a decade or 2 thankfully in the past.
The American car manufacturers have also turned away from much of their heritage. We used to go to the LA Auto Show every year. We quit going around COVID and haven’t returned. The most interesting exhibit is the one with the vintage cars. More manufacturers pull out every year. Also gone is the fall ritual of the model year changes.
As I get older, I get used to my car… husband and I drive the same brand, four years apart, and it would take a lot now for me to switch. I would only have to shop one brand the next time around.
Times change. We’re in our own little world of car fans of a certain age, 20 or so regulars who know Hudson isn’t just some river in New York. We remember the annual changes because we were around in a time when people were moving out of 15 years if dreariness, and meanwhile going from coal and steam to jets and high octane gas. Design was also changing in architecture furniture and appliances. You can tell the approximate age of a photo then by the style and color of appliances. There was a car based culture you couldn’t imagine today. The make, model, and year of the car you drove said a lot abojt your status. Hot rods, speed shops, cujstomizing. And to beat a dead and decaying horse, ars simply did not last as long. Midas Muffler, AAMCO transmission, Rayco seat covers, Ziebart rustproofing, were there so people could eke out another couple years on their car before it heads to winter beater status. The car culture is now a shrinking niche, with people like us essentially talking to themselves on forums such as this.
If this is true then why bother doing Indie Auto?
I live in a realm where it is possible — and even admirable — to entertain more than one thought at a time. For example, I think my piece acknowledged that times have changed, and people my age may be less able to recognize the value of the emerging state of the art than young whippersnappers. At the same time, I think there is a role for what we might label an automotive historian: Someone who stands back and analyzes trends over time.
That analysis will inevitably be colored to some degree by one’s age (as well as any number of other factors, such as one’s socio-economic background or even the part of the country where one was raised). I think it is important to acknowledge that. However, I would suggest that this doesn’t completely delegitimize analysis from old farts like me. After all, us seniors may be better able to see the repeated patterns of the auto industry because we have lived through them — and saw the cause and effect.
One of those patterns is how design trends in the U.S. auto industry have had a tendency to spiral into excess. As a case in point, the 1959 Cadillac had much larger tailfins than the 1949 model. By the same token, the 1978 LTD was a bigger and more extravagant example of the brougham trend than its 1968 predecessor. These illustrate the general tendency for U.S. automakers to keep on playing a “mine’s-now-bigger-than-yours” game of one-upsmanship until the market shifts. Typically, the last one holding the bag ends up getting burned the most (to mix metaphors).
It seems to me that we are seeing that trend play out right now with brutalist design, particularly for SUVs and trucks. So while the stylistic specifics of a 2026 Subaru Outback may be very different from a 1978 LTD, the spiraling into excess is the same basic game.
I feel that Indie Auto is the perfect site to comment on current trends because it seems like we’re rehearsing for re-enactment of the Great Shake-Out of 1957. Companies are struggling to make the right decisions for the future and I think that some will go by the wayside very soon. We can look back at Studebaker, Hudson, Packard, DeSoto and Edsel and see parallels. We can compare the bravado of Henry Kaiser and Malcolm Bricklin to Elon Musk and RJ Scaringe (Rivian). We can look at how Detroit reacted to the rise of imports in the Fifties/Seventies and anticipate the arrival of Chinese cars. “Fasten your seatbelts. It’s going to be a bumpy night.”