Back in the earliest days of automotive construction the material used was their limiting factor. Cars that were built in 1890 were made out of very strong planks of hardwood. For one thing this meant that curves were out of the question, and almost every car looked the same because they were basically small wooden sheds set atop a rolling platform that served more function than anything else. Fifty years later, it was science that began to determine the shape of cars. As we recognized the need for increased efficiency, aerodynamics began to influence car design and thanks to newfound metal working techniques, this meant that designers were able to create solid structures whose lines weren’t determined by 90 degree angles.

Taking a note from boat designers who had been shaping vessels designed to move through the dense fluid with ease, automotive stylists quickly adopted the streamlined boat hull design into their car’s bodywork and started to become more about personal expression than pure function. 
Just because they are a functional aspect of our daily lives doesn’t mean that they don’t evoke emotion much like a painting or sculpture can.

The next generation of cars are going to be more about personal convenience and identity than transportation, so it will be more about what can I do in my car and what can it do for me, literally, then ever before.