What Will Be

In the future, in the book store, there will be tomes of books logging automotive design. This is nothing new as you can get one of these tomes in any bookstore today. The difference is that in the future, the authors will be citing the following examples as mile stones of the new milenia.

Now it is very easy to fill this up with the hot cars of today, but will we look back and say that the look of the Chrysler 300C was a pinnacle of excellence and set a new course for the proceeding models? I doubt that greatly.

In the mid 80's, American cars looked like this:

This is a 1985 Dodge Diplomat. The next year this car was put in dealership show floors:

This is a 1986 Ford Taurus. This car 'shaped' the industry standard for the following 21 years by rejecting the status quo of boxy geometric cars and brought in the concept of smooth curvy contours without being bulbous, which had been going on for some time most notably in convertibles and specialty one-offs.

Since then, American cars started to look more like this:

This is a 1988 Oldsmobile Cutlass Ceiara Coupe

While none of these cars are very pretty, they prove a point. A single radical concept can completely shift the direction of the industry. As I look about at the models out now, I see some changes happening. Small cars are making a comeback and I blame Daewoo. Their Lacetti, excuse me, Chevy Aveo has sold more units that all other subcompacts combine. I see rear wheel drive on the rise as well and I blame Mercedes. Their E-class, excuse me, Dodge Charger and Chrysler 300C have reawakened the pleasures of rear wheel propulsion have overcome the practicality of front drive which has been dominating the market for the past 20 some odd years. Front wheel drive is cheaper to manufacture and has better traction in precipitation and is lighter. Rear wheel drive is easier to fix, has better weight distribution ergo better road manners. I remember only 5 or 6 years ago where if you wanted a rear drive passenger car you had to order one from Germany and that shit ain't cheap.

In order for a car to push the path of progress in the automotive world it has to do only one thing: sell a crap load. Now in order for this to happen, a couple things must be attained.

A) It must be affordable. this is not to say cheap, but most people do not spend more than say $30,000 on a new car. Never has there been an epic car that revolutionized the industry that cost more than an island in the Caribbean. Point in case, the Taurus would cost about $20,000 when adjusted for inflation. Not bad for a snazzy midsized 4 door.

B) It must be attractive inside and out. The Mazda protege drove beautifully but was as interesting as a cheese sandwich to look at so it didn't sell amazingly. Mazda fixed that cheese sandwich thing and gave the car a new name and now they are everywhere.

C) It must separate itself from the herd. This is can be done by either dramatically styling a new car or giving it massive performance numbers although that gets expensive very easily so most car makers go for the style thing. That might work for a little while but if the car is a chore to drive or has mechanical problems sales will drop after the first quarter. Take for example the new VW Bug. It came out and sold a whole lot of cars very fast. It was well engineered [Save the problem with the turbo models transmission] and so after the wow factor wore off, people were left with a dependable fun small car.

If all of those criteria are met then sales will soar. Don't believe me? look at every single standard-setting car that has come out in the last 50 years. they have all those qualities and maybe a few more I didn't mention. like reliability. That's a biggie, actually. I'm now making that letter D)

I'll set the alarm for 6...

Most people do not have a specific concept of automobiles and yet everyone in most cases do have a general concept about automobiles. Look at my Friend Stephanie; she knows that automobiles get her from point A to point B and possesses a small degree of knowledge of how they do it. What she does know in great length, however, is how they look. If we were to come across a S2000 ( http://automobiles.honda.com/s2000/ ) as we do on our walks around her block she will proclaim exuberantly on its "Cuteness."

I, of course, am more interested in its 110 bhp/L figure.


But so what?


I'll tell you.


Stephanie represents your average young adult female who does not harbor an exceptional admiration to all things CAR. She likes make-up, synth-pop, and gothic maternity fashion design. I, for sake of this argument, type cast her as your average non car lover.


Now I ask you: name a cute car...


If you responded to that Q with an A along the lines of "VW Beetle" or "Mini" you, infact, are a car person and likley don't know it yet. That is the answer us car people would give. That is the result of the word "cute." Cute does not imply sexy, powerful, viscious, or profound. Cute implies small, deminutive, youthful, and wholesom. That is exactly what the beetle and mini are.

Now I will ask you to pass judgement on the folowing peice of Italian automotive design:





This is the Alfa Romeo Brera. It is the most one of the most radicaly styled mass produced automobiles currently on sale now. If you think this car is cute, you are not a car person.

This car is not cute. This car is viscious and clean, think edge of a razor cutting through milan. It has chiseled features with an organic shaped profile. Dramatic front facia work including 3 resecced headlights in a deep bevel focus you eye on the dynamic trademark triangular grill that overflowes into the "Bottom Feeder" air dam. The stark crevaces of the hood streak back to the side mirrors where the rest of the car disappears in this photograph.

Every designer knows the back of a car is the hardest to nail. This is even more difficult if the car happens to be a hatchback, as is the Brera. The fender flares are modest by sports car standards, but combined with a vetical pinched waist 'sill' that runs from the center of the back above that tailights around the side and into the front fenders a la Volvo S80 from days of yore give it a muscular stance and a very good example of 'looking fast while standing still'. Even more striking is the upside down soft pentagon rear windscreen. It is eccentric by almost all standars, despite hatchbacks having decidedly greater freedom in that catergory [Remember the Honda CRX and its bi-level rear windscreen that spanned from the hatch into the rear panel seperated by a peice of the frame? And if that is too before your time it's also on the second generation Toyota Prius.]

Design is the first thing that hits you when you see anything. In this case, it's in car form and extraordinarly well executed. All of this and I havent even scratched on the car's performance prowess...

High Contrast Headache

I might be persuaded to give a nickle to anyone who can positively identify what this is a picture of. Perhaps even a quarter if you give me the origins of its scenery...

TEMPAX EDAX RERUM

That would be Latin for "Time destroys all." What a pretentious language that is...

It's Easy To Make The First Move...

This is purely a catalyst, do not be deceived.

I will however make an attempt to illusion you otherwise.

I was told in a past era I had a vertigo-educing manner of writing, void of any feasible algorithm that could dictate what would proceed on paper. I was told that in much diffrent words and quite some time ago. Perhaps time has destroyed what they meant to say, or at least what they meant. I refuse to put much thought into it as what a usless thing it is to look for what could be instead.

I can't predict the future.

I may add more rehtoric to this.

I may let this entity gain in mass and dimension.

I may let this entity gently sink into obsucrity.

I may learn to spell.

It's all gravy though, I mean it is easy to make the first move.