Nissan and Fiat marketing heads trade insults over 'visual pollution'

A war of words has erupted between Fiat and Nissan's marketing departments over their electric vehicle designs, the Leaf and the 500e.

Matt Davis, head of Fiat product marketing, told Bloomberg News before the launch of its all-electric 500e at the Los Angeles show last week that "ugliness is probably one of the worst forms of pollution," seen as an indirect attack on Nissan's electric offering.

The then 500e came under attack with Nissan criticizing the fact that it was created only to meet Californian emissions requirements.

Neither of the carmakers' design teams have waded into the catfight as of yet, but Nissan's marketing department was quick to defend the Leaf, even going so far as to accuse many of Fiat's products as "visual pollution," which is, in our opinion, fairly harsh.

"Let's face it, Fiat has not shied away from controversial styling themselves," Nissan's head of global marketing communications Simon Sproule told Automotive News Europe sister publication Automotive News today, citing the Doblo as a prime example.

Considering this is an argument between marketing departments rather than designers, the whole thing seems rather petty – couldn't their time be better spent trying to promote their products? Certainly the US sales figures of the Leaf don't make for happy reading while Fiat expects to lose $10,000 on each 500e it sells in the U.S.

Maybe it's time to put the handbags away before this gets really personal.

By Rufus Thompson