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The problem with cars is the classic one of them being at least partly an emotional purchase, rather than a more strictly practical one, which makes marketing a large factor in sales success. Even the people I know that couldn't care less about cars have a favorite one (though most classics weren't designed by committees or marketing departments). I don't think the same thing could be said about toasters, though catchy design has made its way into the appliance segment in about the last 10 years, so my long-abused analogy is dating badly. Nevertheless (and unable to let my analogy go quietly into that good night), those appliance designs are, as theunchoosen suggested for ways of improvement, predominately done by engineers and made attractive by designers. Form follows function. That should be the mantra of any designer, however, nowadays most of the people referred to as designers are really just stylists. A designer should be involved with product functional improvement as well as appearance. The engineers should be there to slap them into sensibility if the design violates physics or common sense. That push-pull relationship between engineering and design is what works best, but only if the relationship is equal, which it isn't when marketing gets involved and sides with the designers/stylists or imposes "design" of their own [shudder].
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