A Teaser Done Right

With nearly every brand releasing one before every major auto show it's hard to get excited by a teaser these days. Audi does score a win with a video about its vital upcoming LA concept that is more about telling a story rather than just a visual tease. The video puts the spotlight squarely on Marc Lichte, Audi's new design chief. The concept is entirely his work and Audi appears to have given Marc significant freedom in shaping its future design. It's refreshing to see a supremely successful brand admit that it has erred and could do better with its design. Although its closest competitors have recently leaned more on the Audi design formula (clone and evolve) than their fans want to admit, it appears that the brand has extracted all that it could from it. The few glimpses of the concept promise the most powerful and impactful Audi design since the Walter de Silva designed A5. The future looks promising but Audi could have a mess to explain if the long overdue and delayed Q7 and the comparatively just slightly overdue A4 aren't true products of the new design direction. If the concept is as great as anticipated, good luck explaining to the public why your newest products don't match it. An awkward moment to have for a brand whose cars supposedly "all look alike". Of course this could all be a real tease and the change might not be nearly as drastic as promised.

Subaru: The Most Baffling Brand In America

As a fan of excellent design this blog is an ardent supporter of the idea that if you make a great design they will come. A great design will usually yield benefits in sales for the brand and it doesn't even have to be beautiful, a properly boxy SUV or pickup can work just as well. With that in mind this blog was a pretty big fan of the fourth generation (2003-2009) Subaru Legacy and Outback. Featuring a crisp and sophisticated design far beyond your standard midsize, the Legacy could have passed as a near premium product. Its Subaru signature all wheel drive, decent interior and stronger than usual available engines let it play in a niche between mainstream and entry level luxury. Unfortunately for Subaru that generation had niche sales figures as well. A funny thing happened next, Subaru design deserted the brand but its sales have surged ever since. It's not hard to figure out the design direction of almost any brand as some lean towards bold, outrageous and swoopy. Others are clean, sharp and lean towards conservative while others still are boxy and purposeful. Subaru design direction on the other hand is impossible to read, its cars lack true beauty, clean lines nor do they make a bold statement. The brand has just enough awkwardness sprinkled throughout to separate itself from mainstream. The Subaru redesign philosophy seems to consist of blowing up its cars in every dimension and adding enough random jagged lines to meet a mandated quota. There are definitely some very redeeming qualities about Subaru that have certainly helped its surging sales over the past few years but it baffles this blog to see Subaru so hot with so little eye towards design*. Nevertheless it certainly looks like Subaru knows what it's doing in the US as it successfully escapes the sales dead zone between mainstream and luxury.

We Will Buy What We Want To Buy

The power of a simple yet bold design is something that is hard to put in perspective at times. It may come as a surprise but the "Geländewagen " G class AMG is the best selling AMG model in the United States. The slowest, heaviest, worst handling AMG you can buy is the most popular one in the land. AMG is spending millions on its Formula 1 program but its most popular model relies on recirculating ball steering, live axles and aerodynamics of a box. The AMG model makes up over 60% of all Gs sold and sales worldwide are surging this past decade. Equipped with the same twin-turbo V8, the ML63 and even the larger GL63 AMG easily out accelerate the G class and slay it in every performance category. In fact even the Ford SVT Raptor and Ram Power Wagon on knobby tires demolish it on the skidpad, as does a 4 ton dually. This matters little to the G class as sometimes a design catches fire and the image it projects becomes everything. The G class enjoys tremendous popularity among image conscious celebrities many years after the Hummer lost its popularity even though the G is the thirstiest SUV on sale in America today. Brands will spend billions on developing new platforms and designs and then millions more advertising them but sometimes as the G proves one of your hottest products will be the one you don't spend any money on. It's hard to understand but people will buy what they want to buy! And all you can do is give them what they want.

The G Still Looks Great

Baby Designs That Rule

Shrinkage in general is never a good thing whether from the warehouse, your bank account or from your favorite sweater. It's also true in design as at best a shrunken-down design ends up being cute but rarely fierce or gorgeous. Fortunately there are exceptions as the following three recent "baby" designs prove that a tailored slim fit look can do wonders at times. Not only do all three do an excellent job of adapting the brand design to their smaller proportions but arguably end up with better and fresher designs than their more expensive brandmates.

Audi A3

The A3 sedan reminds many of the popular fan favorite "B5" Audi A4 based on its size and tidy design. The A3 sedan leans heavily on the current A4 but sharpens up every angle perfectly. It is one of the rare sedans developed out of hatchbacks that actually looks better than its five door counterpart and has a completely own identity. While both are stylish compacts the A3 works the Audi design theme better than its rival CLA does the Mercedes theme.

 

The Antithesis of Clean Design

Cadillac went for a streamlined look with its latest Escalade, the head lights flow into a side profile with subtle fenders and devoid of any unnecessary fender vents. The design works as intended until you get to the second row window that is bisected by dividers and plastic space fillers. On a spotless profile the window sticks out as out of place. Engineering logistics certainly dictate what designers can do with the window but the last generation Escalade was able to keep the glass completely clear of any obstructions. On the other hand, Cadillac's competitor Land Rover was able to do an excellent job cleaning up the side profile on its latest Range Rover Sport model. Gone was the unsightly divider of the first generation replaced with just a small plastic space filler at the bottom. It's a small change but it helps greatly in keeping the continuity of the Range Rover Sport design.

 

Three 1990s Designs That Still Matter Today

The 1990s seems like a long time ago and technology has progressed leaps and bounds between then and now. The smartphone in your pocket has more pixels than the finest TV of the decade and more computing power and memory than the desktops of the day to boot. Likewise, the automotive industry has progressed significantly with minivans that have more power than sport scars of the day and automatic gearboxes with triple the gear count. Yet not all is lost from the decade as the following three designs have each left a lasting legacy that is visible in many vehicles on the market today.

Volkswagen New Beetle

Introduced as a concept in 1994 and as a production car for the 1998 model year the New Beetle was a tremendous sales success for Volkswagen, particularly in the United States. The New Beetle would kickoff the retro themed design party that would last well through the next decade and into the current. Once the hottest trend in automotive design the PT Cruiser, Thunderbird, HHR, Mustang, Camaro and the Challenger would follow in the Beetle's footsteps. While not all proved to be successful in the long run and the retro theme in general appears to be losing steam, the New Beetle has certainly created a long lasting legacy perhaps only overshadowed by its famous rear engine predecessor.

 

The Five Most Influential Cars of the Past Decade

A lot can happen in a decade in the world of sports, politics, art, technology and life in general. The same can also be said about the auto industry. Aside from the Volvo XC90, every surviving model has gone through at least one complete generation and some are on their third. With that in mind let's take a look at five models over the past decade that have had the greatest impact on the industry through their design or technology. The list is in chronological order to avoid picking favorites.

2004 Toyota Prius

It wasn't the first hybrid, it wasn't even the first Prius but the second generation Prius was the one that put hybrids on the map and eventually made nearly every automaker produce their own. Even the German brands. The second generation brought about 20% better city and 10% better highway fuel economy, at the time the Prius posted an unrealistic 60 mpg city and 51 highway labels*. Even more importantly the Prius brought a unique shape to the market in a usable size. The first generation Prius had an awkward sedan shape that didn't help its cause. Toyota would commit the same exact mistake a few years later with the Lexus HS hybrid that struggled to sell as well. The second generation Prius didn't make hybrids cool but it made them mainstream relevant. The latest million dollar halo cars from Ferrari, McLaren and Porsche are all... hybrids.

Best Designed Model From Every Brand

Some brands have so many well designed models that picking the best is a difficult challenge. Some brands not so much, the challenge becomes picking the least offending design. More often then not though there are a couple of models in each brand that you could make a case for as being the company's best product. A few times an excellent and legendary design has gotten up there in age and has been upstaged by a newer model in the lineup. For the most part this list avoids halo cars as those are essentially default picks for every brand and are too easy of a selection and instead looks for design excellence in more mainstream products.

 

2015 Most Anticipated Road Debuts

There is a certain excitement when you first see that leaked photo or an auto show debut of a brand new model online. It's also exciting when you first see a debut live at an auto show before it hits the road. Nothing compares though to the first you time you spot a brand new car on the road. Here are the top three 2015 models I can't wait to see on the road.

2015 Mercedes-Benz C-Class

All the hype around the CLA has done little to  make me comfortable with its design. I am jut not as excited about it as seemingly everyone else. The S-Class on the other hand is a home run and is fantastic, the C-class promises a sportier version of the S-class for the masses. The only potential downfall is around the C-pillar area that might be too compact to properly develop. Still, all the photos promise a best in class design in the hotly contested entry luxury category.

2015 Ford Mustang

Redesigning a retro inspired design is a supremely difficult task. Ford did a good job with the current generation Mustang but the changes were relatively minor. The 2015 version pushes the boundary much further with a more modern look. Yet it still has enough of that retro look to keep the recent lineage alive.

2015 Ford F-150

The big story here is of course the aluminum, the tech and the F-150's continued quest to remain the best selling vehicle in America. The current F-150 has more than adequate styling for a pickup but the 2015 version looks to dethrone the Ram as the best styled pickup on the market today.

Design Analysis: An Emerging Roof Design Trend

The Nissan GT-R, Kia Soul, Range Rover Evoque, Mini Paceman. A super car, a compact, a CUV and an even smaller CUV, in other words four cars with seemingly nothing in common. However, a case can be made that all four feature particularly striking design. Further observation reveals that all four share one particular design element that plays a vital role in setting up their look, the way the roof slopes right after the A-Pillar. The GT-R was one of the first cars to start the trend of having the highest point of the car being right at the A-pillar and then having the roof drop down towards the rear in a straight line. While some might criticize it for giving the GT-R a bulky appearance it certainly works to create a menacing design that is the GT-R. The design element works even better when applied to a wagon shape creating a sportier than typical profile. The Soul was a breakout star for Kia, easily outselling the second generation Scion xB and the Nissan Cube. Aside from its pricing and practicality the Soul's fresh design certainly set it apart from the boxy competition that feature a level roof design. Deciding to not mess with success the second generation Soul features a very similar general profile. Struggling to make a big impact with the traditionally shaped Freelander and LR2, Land Rover went with a more daring design for the Evoque creating a highly desirable product. Once again, the sharply sloped roof gives the Evoque sporty proportions missing from the Freelander and LR2 and sets it apart from its competition as well.. The Mini Paceman as well uses a similar roof design to convert the already fairly well designed Countryman into a stylish coupe CUV. Expect to see more wagons adopting this roof design in the near future, perhaps even filtering down to other segments. The short lived Saab 9-5 actually applied this design element to a four door sedan shape to create a very unique look that unfortunately never had a chance to make an impact as the brand closed shop.

 

Best SUV Designs On Sale Today

SUVs aren't particularly well known to be automotive design icons like coupes and sedans. Whether you blame it on the size or the need for functionality it's tough to see an SUV being remembered for its design along the lines of a classic E type Jaguar. Nevertheless this isn't to say that there aren't any well designed SUVs on sale today. As in any category to be the best requires you to stand out from the competition. In no particular order here are the best designed SUVs on sale today based on their visual impact, design cohesiveness and ability to convey their off-road capabilities.

Cadillac Escalade

The Escalade owns much of its sales success to its outstanding design. The large grille and chiseled traditional SUV styling give the Escalade a commanding presence that buyers want in this segment.




Dodge Durango

As the recent Dodge commercial points out the Durango did a lot during its two year absence, it transitioned from a pickup frame underpinnings to a Grand Cheeroke shared unibody platform. The Durango also returned with significant styling improvements and is now the best looking large crossover on the market today. A large grille upfront combined with sharp lines give the Durango presence while the rest of the design features softer lines yet still blends in surprisingly well.



Jeep Grand Cherokee

The Durango platformmate also makes the list as the latest generation combines traditional Jeep elements in a fresh new package. Looking more compact and tidier than before the latest Grand Cherokee still looks like a Jeep yet has exciting styling elements such as the character line in the doors, prominent wheel arches and chrome pieces throughout.




Lexus LX 570

The Lexus LX 570 features and incredibly clean design devoid of unnecessary elements that would mar its exterior. The grille, head and tail lights, and side creases result in a classy and elegant SUV fitting its price range.



Volkswagen Touareg

The second generation Touareg features sharper styling than its predecessor. Chiseled grille and headlights are a significant departure from the last model and give the Touareg a better first impression. Concave door design results in a 911 like Coke bottle shape that puts the sport in Sport Utility.




Honorable Mention: BMW X5, Range Rover