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This churning seascape off the coast of Antarctica, not a place you’d think of as the hotbed of car culture, shows in fact an undercurrent of automotive nomenclature: the katabatic wind. Blowing from the Aleutian to the Adriatic, katabatic winds have inspired a wealth of car names over the past 50 years, names of cars both great and not so great. More »
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What does the already-hideous Toyota Camry-powered Mitsuoka Orochi need? What we know it didn't need is an uglier front fascia, ridiculous rear spoiler and pleated Alcantara seats. The Mitsuoka Orochi Premium Gold is the answer to the question nobody asked. More »
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The Mitsuoka Orochi is the ugliest car in the world, but the addition of new wheels and a bodykit make this the most attractive example — which is like being the least awkward member of the British Royal Family. [Minds-Farm] More »
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The Mazda MX-5-based Mitsuoka Himiko is surprisingly gorgeous (for a company that makes the Orochi, the ugliest car we've ever seen and the Viewt, the weirdest) but also unsurprisingly familiar.

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If you haven't seen this week's blisteringly fast episode of Top Gear already and you plan on doing so without having plot details spoiled, you should probably ignore this post in its entirety. The rest of you should hit the jump. More »
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We've already shown you our list of the ten ugliest cars currently sold in the United States. Although epic, it meant exclusion of some fantastically ugly cars sold only on the international marketplace. Until now. After scouring the globe from Australia to Russia, these are the ten top cars that make us want to run from the computer and hurl ourselves out the nearest open window. Vote for your favorite foreign fugly-mobile in the poll at the bottom or chime in via the comments if you think we've missed one. More »
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As we get ready for next week's LA Auto Show, we're working on cleaning our SEMA and Tokyo Motor Show pictures off our camera. The first ones from Tokyo we need to get rid of — for fear we'll break our shiny black DSLR due to accidentally dropping it while retching — are our newest shots of the Orochi, a mid-engined "super car" from the folks at Mitsuoka. While it's certainly exotic-looking (and by exotic, we mean "fugly") Mitsuoka's contention of "super car" status is probably more wishful thinking than reality, as the Orochi's powered by a 3MZ-FE V6 mated to a five-speed auto tranny. If it sounds familiar, it should — it's the same six-cylinder found in Toyota's 5th gen Camry, Solara and Highlander. The Orochi weighs just under 3,500 lbs, so that not-so-huge powerplant gives Mitsuoka's "new hotness" a mere 230 HP — about 10 horses less than a 2000 Dodge Intrepid R/T. It's hard to call something a "super car" when it's got less horses under the hood than an LH-platformed Mopar. Still, if you drive one of these limited-edition $91,000 cars, you'll certainly be noticed. Of course, you'll probably be laughed at too.
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