Lexi
When Toyota decided that they would always miss out on selling cars to the (even) larger Americans with fatter wallets with the Toyota brand name, they cunningly purloined an untainted word, and new car brand; Lexus. What does this mean ? “not cheapo-Japanese Toyota”, “aspirational chic modern”. Actually it means “man’s defender” in Greek. Moving on….
So the LS400 luxo-barge was born.
Now that market is swamped, and “Japanese” has lost those 1960’s connotations, Toyota have to change tack. Ah Ha – We need to tap into our unique cultural heritage and get into origami-for-grown-ups. Scything lines – yes !, jagged angles – you bet !, disrupted surfaces – of course !. The result is spectacular mix of jerky styling touches, acute “ticks”, and that grotesque “I’m a fish who has swallowed a house roof“ front end. Whatever type of stimulant these people are on (just coffee of course), I want some; it will keep me twitching for 48hours solid though, just like those designers.
At least these Lexi NX and RX cars are impossible to not notice, even if they ran out of inspiration when it came to their names.
Japanese Yoof-wagons
Not everyone can afford a big blingy mid-upper scale SUV man-defender. So how do you lure the 18-24 yr old future TechCo MediaVlogger KoolKidz segment onto the car-owning ladder ?
You start with a cheap hatchback chassis, jack it up to SUV height, add metal bulges, wondrously odd light cluster shapes in random locations, and a smattering of shiny bits. Then you SHRINK the interior to reinforce the point that you are YOUNG and definitely NOT A FAMILY PERSON. Voila, the Nissan Juke and Honda CH-R
Why Why Why ?
Because they sell, in their thousands. At least they did. Fortunately their time has passed as sales decline. Shame. Not.
VW line-fest
What is the VW designers’ core tool ? A ruler, to draw all those straight lines. It’s the antidote to the obsession with the deep contour profiling that the latest metal superforming manufacturing machines can achieve. Everyone can do that, so the inmates of the largest car company in the world (up to 2018 that is) rediscovered their old Helix drawing sets, and got their rulers out.
Polos and Fabias had begun to look too ordinary, so the answer had to be more lines. Everywhere, especially horizontally, to emphasise that they are not small hatchbacks, but racy low slung sporty beasts that happen to be really good at transporting 4.5 people and/or the monthly Lidaldi load home presumably.
Lines aren’t all bad. Look at the current Skoda Superb. Just the right balance of straight and gently curved, with a crisp finish. Superb in name; superb in appearance. Jozef Kaban I salute you. No wonder BMW have kidnapped him to be their new Design chief.
Different – because we can
Car Designers always want to stand out from the crowd. Unfortunately they have a compulsion to be Different, for the sake of it. I bring you these two fine examples…
Volvo XC40. If you are going to major on the dreaded crossover-SUV “I’m a hip-surfer-dude, not-an-accountant” market, this is how to do it. A fine car. But guys, why the plethora of different shapes ? that kicked up rear quarter ? that dent in the lower door panels ? the irregular grey plastic down below ? The overall shape is fine; just stop tinkering.
Volvo XC40. If you are going to major on the dreaded crossover-SUV “I’m a hip-surfer-dude, not-an-accountant” market, this is how to do it. A fine car. But guys, why the plethora of different shapes ? that kicked up rear quarter ? that dent in the lower door panels ? the irregular grey plastic down below ? The overall shape is fine; just stop tinkering.
Or perhaps the Citroen C3 AirCross. What is an aircross ? (A Red Arrows manoeuvre ? a religious sign of blessing ?….). In terms of car design, it is:
- an explosion of red splodges on mirrors, roof rails, interior surfaces, light surrounds, and wheel hubs
- a front bumper that looks like it came from a dodgem car
- squared-off wheel arches and lights and assorted, mainly false, grilles
- fussy bright-look cloverleaf alloy wheels attempting to hark back to past Alfa Romeos
At least you don’t have to suffer the ugly squidgy plastic door protectors they put on other models
Car designers of the world – trust your artistic instincts. A beautiful shape doesn’t have to be compromised in the search for a new angle or a difference.
The Friends of Good Car Design 