I don't think people would have minded very much if they had taken one of their existing chassis and swapped it for an electric drivetrain, but kept the design mostly the same.

This thing looks fine as a standard passenger EV

I'd honestly disagree there. It looks like someone wearing oversized clothes, which isn't helped by its colour scheme.

It stands out in a bad way, compared to a modern passenger EV, which arguably looks nicer because it's less awkward.