Picture five years of a Leslie Nielsen-type driver putting cups of coffee, diet coke, shakes and what have you in the "cup holder", cursing as they inevitably and repeatedly fall over at the worse possible moment, spilling on to laps, pants, seat covers, car seats, passengers...
Saying, "What a stupid design for a cup holder!" then forgetting until the next time.
Meanwhile, every few months coming across this odd piece of plastic in the glove box...what could this possibly be?