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THE physical attraction game started with the dawn of dating. As the ages came about, physical beauty was enhanced with the aid of make-up, hair, clothes and so on. With cars, it is the same. Early car designs came as is. Like it or not. Then aftermarket body-styling accessories arrived to enhance designs or to just make some of the more laughable. Still, it was in the eye of the beholder.
Every person has their own taste in the way a product looks. Each decision should not be criticised maliciously. If a car designer decides on a certain look, the company accountant might curb his design with cost-cutting measures.
Automobile design usually begins with a simple idea of how the new vehicle should look like and how it will attract the attention of many buyers and make a lot of profit.
Those ideas are then created in the form of drawings, which are then further developed until they become a full-fledge concept vehicle. During this process, designers may work alone, but will usually work in teams, bringing in both other designers and also engineers to help create the most realistic concept as early in the process as they can.
Once that concept car is finalised, the technical process of the design development takes over. Here is where computer-aided drafting (CAD) is used to bring the concept vehicle to life in three dimensions. This allows a designer to bring more detail to their concept than they ever could do on paper, taking into account everything from the shape of the door handles to what the vehicle looks like on the inside. At this point, the concept can be seen almost in its final form.
The approval
If an automobile designer presents his design to the board of directors, there could be a senior decision-maker with eye issues that might insist on a redesign or else. The car designer complies and allows grudgingly his design to be reworked. The first generation Ssangyong Stavic MPV and Hyundai Matrix come to mind.
There have been repeat offenders to the automobile design world and this is where auto journalists and their readers will respond with a lot of negativity and then you see this ‘quirky design’ selling better than expected in many countries around the world. The most obvious repeat offender in recent times was Ssangyong when in 2007 they released their first-ever pickup truck with this outlandish ‘bird beak’ inspired look. This was the Ssangyong Actyon.
If a car designer presents his latest grille to a focus group and they love it, you might not love it and still, production continues. Nobody is forcing your hand to buy this new BMW. However, rest assured this new look will sell better than the old in the coming months. The latest BMW front nose design is still a hot controversial topic.
If a car designer redesigns a current model for the mid-life facelift and it comes out looking rather odd, then best you buy the older version at a discounted price and be happy. Remember the W210 Mercedes-Benz E-Class? The previous model W124 Mercedes looked much better. Even till today!
Surprisingly, some car designers will be asked by the management to get inspiration from a globally successful car and here is why an almost identical looking vehicle will come from their factory, halfway around the world some five or six years later. The 2001 Hyundai Sonata comes to mind, which had a very similar look to the W210 E-Class we mentioned above.
Then there are car designers that have been given orders to extend the current product lineup design into a brand new vehicle type. They must keep the current sedan design language for the brand's first SUV. ‘Make it work’ will be the statement and ‘make it look outstanding’. This was the Bentley Bentayga luxury SUV which continues to carry the same design language with its first version.
These above are just some examples that triggered our memory. What are yours? – The Vibes, February 12, 2021
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