Who You Calling Ugly?

Nissan and Fiat are trading barbs about which company's vehicles are uglier.

It all began a week ago when Fiat introduced the 500e electric minicar at the Los Angeles auto show. Matt Davis, who heads Fiat product marketing in North America, told Bloomberg News In a veiled reference to the Nissan Leaf EV that "ugliness is probably one of the worst forms of pollution."

Simon Sproule, who heads Nissan's global marketing communications, retorted to Automotive News on Wednesday that "many would describe many of [Fiat's] products as visual pollution," citing the Fiat Doblo delivery van as one example.

Wags say both companies have their share of styling dogs or cutting edge designs, depending upon the observer's perspective.