Don’t ask how, but I ended up at the New York International Auto Show this afternoon with some friends. I’m not a car buff. I haven’t owned a car since 2003. But I’m kind of interested in the machinery of branding, industrial design and politics that produces the cars we drive. (Related post.)

Most cars are boring. But once in a while, a car appears that’s fascinating because it’s unbelievably bad. You stare and wonder how an act of pure bungling ever made it off the drawing board, much less onto an assembly line.

I think I found one. Behold, the worst car at the car show:

This picture has not been Photoshopped. It’s actually a real car: the 2010 Pontiac G8 sport truck. Blueprint: Take the front half of an uninspired, plastic-grilled General Motors sedan. Saw off the back and replace it with a pickup bed.

It’s an El Camino for the new millennium. Did someone ask for this?

It’s Australian, and looked a lot better with the metal Holden grille on it. “Utes” are actually pretty popular there.

Will they cross over here successfully, though? I kinda doubt it.