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.

 

Observations from a non major autoshow

LA, Detroit, Chicago and New York comprise the major auto show circuit in the US that gets the coverage, but you can find an auto show in any major convention center. KWF set out to find out what kind of an automotive experience one can have at these other shows and see what we can observe. No world debuts to catch, no concept cars to see, is this even worthy of being called an auto show? While lacking all the flash and glamour of the big shows you still get an opportunity to see almost every make and model on the market today.  What follows are random observations after numerous hours of looking up and down from all angles, sitting in every back seat and stroking every dash.

Geneva Preview: Mini Fixes Its Biggest Mistake

Guess who's back? Back again. After a lengthy hiatus Kill It With Fire is back to blogging about cars. Going forward the goal will be to cover the day's most interesting automotive story. Occasionally, longer features will deviate from the plan from time to time.

Mini, as a brand has enjoyed a unique trifecta of almost unanimous praise from the media, respect from auto enthusiasts and appreciation from the general consumer. A brand that started with one core product and developed more variations than one can keep separate has made few mistakes. If one had to pick its weakest product, the easy choice would be the Clubman. A Mini that just never quite looked right as if someone forgot to check the "constraint proportions" box when enlarging. Looking a bit too long and narrow for its own good (Ford Flex syndrome) the Clubman clearly showed that Mini was too cautious in expanding its lineup in fear of critics claiming that "it's no longer Mini". The half-hearted Clubman effort was lukewarm critically or sales wise and Mini has done much better with the better proportioned yet "roots forgetting" Countryman. The Paceman follow-up was even better and for the second generation Clubman, Mini ditches the stretched look for a proportional Paceman inspired design. No longer is the Clubman an afterthought to fill a niche but rather a product with its own identity and direction from the start. In all honesty I would have not been surprised if the Clubman never made it to the next generation as it seemed redundant after the Countryman but apparently there is space in-between and this time around it won't be so awkward.

Mini Shows Its Coupe Concpet Before Frankfurt Debut

Mini has released photos of its upcoming Frankfurt coupe concept car. The coupe looks very much the same as all of the other Mini below the windows, above the windows it has a chopped coupe profile. The coupe is naturally a two seater and Mini says that it is almost two hundred pounds lighter than the regular Cooper. While the coupe is a concept for now it might go into production in a few years.





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