Americans seem to like to define themselves by their cars. I like to resist that, but I do appreciate good design, and I do recognize that an item as large and visible as a car can’t help but contribute to your personal brand. For what it’s worth, this (not the precise example in this photo, but very close) is my car: a 2004 Scion xB in the “release series” limited edition (#1394 of 2100) color called “hot lava.” It’s square and it’s hip. And orange.

Or it was hip. This summer, Scion redesigned the xB and the 2008 model looks like this:

Overnight, I’m no longer so hip and my car is suddenly exceptionally square.