Why are so many new cars so badly styled?

[Monkeylegend]

Jaguar steve said:

Monkeylegend said:

grumbledoak said:

Jaguar steve said:

Simple answer.

Manufactures quite intentionally produce ugly and aggressively overstyled cars with a dominating road presence because that's exactly what ugly and aggressive overstyled people who like to dominate others want to buy.

This, more than anything else. The manufacturers offerings reflect the customers.

And it has to be said rather successfully with new car registrations at a record high last year in the UK. I wonder how much of that is down to design as opposed to financing though

I've no doubt easy finance has a awful lot to do with it. After all, there must be many times more individuals who can just about stretch to a couple or three hundred quid a month than there are those who can comfortably flick a cheque for let's say, someway north of 40 grand across the salesmans desk.

I'm sure too it's the few hundred a month types who are always driven to have the shiny new stuff. More often than not it's the genuinely wealthy who have nothing to prove or the really piss poor who have nothing to loose who will be wearing budget watches and rattling about in sub grand Sheds.

It seems to me it's the acutely status conscious in the middle who make significant sacrifices with their own peace of mind as well as their money to maintain a social position and image to their peers by displaying a very expensive watch and a obviously brand new and quite remarkably styled car to draw attention to the fact it's new on the drive.

Agreed.

I don't own a watch and we have an '03 plate Renault on the drive

Very liberating.

[Mr2Mike]

MitchT said:

It's not just cars with too much detail and awkwardness. It's also cars that are fundamentally good looking (in my opinion) such as the BMW 4 Series, but are let down by the recent practice of having a bonnet that's almost horizontal until about a foot from the nose where it suddenly tapers off, instead of having a smooth, progressive, taper that runs all the way from the bottom of the windscreen. I know it's supposed to be about creating a gap between the bonnet and the engine for pedestrian safety but, seriously, what happened to the green cross code?

Comparison between 4 Series and E92 3 Series below to illustrate my point ...

That's a very good example, you can see just how slabby the extra bonnet height has made the sides of the car. Even the additional of numerous ugly swage lines down the side can't hide it.

The Mercedes CLS is probably one of the worst looking premium cars around IMO, more swage lines than Mick Jaggers face and the rear end looks like a dog dragging it's arse on the ground. It looks like something that could have come from Korea 20 years ago.

[NR91]

I agree with those saying that it does seem to limited to certain cars and manufacturers.

Volvo and Mazda do indeed make pleasing designs to my eyes. Although saying that I despise the rear end of the new S90!

[Hungrymc]

some are saying these cars lack feature and panache, others that they're overstyled and aggressive.

As with everything design, it's opinion and personal comfort zone / preferences.

People on here often talk about modern trinkets and over styling.... DRLs and funny swags lines or blobby features like a new thing. Think you're forgetting some past eras...

[Mr2Mike]

Hungrymc said:

some are saying these cars lack feature and panache, others that they're overstyled and aggressive.

As with everything design, it's opinion and personal comfort zone / preferences.

People on here often talk about modern trinkets and over styling.... DRLs and funny swags lines or blobby features like a new thing. Think you're forgetting some past eras...

That doesn't have any swage lines down the side of the car or blobby styling? It does have a fin at the back and some chrome trim though.

[Hungrymc]

Mr2Mike said:

That doesn't have any swage lines down the side of the car or blobby styling? It does have a fin at the back and some chrome trim though.

A proliferation of lights, huge & lots of grilles, strange rear roof line, bulbous windscreen, chrome feature lines, fins on the rear wings, bulbous wheel arches..... I like it by the way, but you couldn't call it "clean". My (badly made) point is that people are talking like this type of styling is new and somehow a sign that people today who buy cars are suddenly aggressive... which I think is a bit mental.

[LOW4LYFE]

Mr2Mike said:

That's a very good example, you can see just how slabby the extra bonnet height has made the sides of the car. Even the additional of numerous ugly swage lines down the side can't hide it.

The Mercedes CLS is probably one of the worst looking premium cars around IMO, more swage lines than Mick Jaggers face and the rear end looks like a dog dragging it's arse on the ground. It looks like something that could have come from Korea 20 years ago.

There's so many top designers on here makes me wonder how we end up in such a state. Go look up what a swage line is, a shoulder line and a crease. Car design is a bit like sport, just because your an enthusiast doesn't mean you'd be any good at it.


That BMW M4 has only one shoulder line. It's probably the paint and reflections confusing your eyes.

As for 'ugly car's being the fault of some monthly payment scheme, well only on PH could the two be linked.

[Hungrymc]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

So capitalism then, or a market economy.
You're kidding yourself if you think appealing to potential consumers is a new idea in styling.

ETA that increasing sales has been an objective of the industry since the start. Lower costs through lean manufacturing methods made cars far more accessible - If PH had been around then it would have been full of people sneering at it and how "council" it was.

Edited by Hungrymc on Sunday 28th May 11:28

[AH33]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

This is exactly it. Woe betide those who don't like superhero movies, ed sheeran or cars designed by people who hate cars.

[Hungrymc]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

You need to read the OP again, it's stating that it's a new occurance that so many cars are styled worse than their predecessors with clunky / fussy / incoherent design.

The Humber I showed could be described as all of those.

It has always been the overwhelming focus to produce a style that somehow reflects the brand and appeals to the potential market, so we're saying they get better at it over time - one would hope so.

But again, the actual design elements that are being "called out" were also very popular 40 years ago, it's not new.

[Hungrymc]

AH33 said:

This is exactly it. Woe betide those who don't like superhero movies, ed sheeran or cars designed by people who hate cars.

Do you know any car designers who hate cars?

[AH33]

Hungrymc said:

Do you know any car designers who hate cars?

Anyone working on autonomous cars.

[Hungrymc]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

It's happened many, many times, and I'm sure these discussions would have sounded similar. Pre to post war, the blingy 60s gave way to straighter edged 70s, gave way to the aerodynamics (or pretend aero) of the 80s, tried to bring back some feature through the 90s, to a significant sharpening in the 00s, to going quite blingy again now.

You might describe the phases differently, but with each change comes mixed reactions.

I think a bigger influence than finance (which is just iterative attempt to ease accessibility) is the globalization factor and "world cars". We're certainly seeing very different cultures be considered and targeted.

[Hungrymc]

AH33 said:

Anyone working on autonomous cars.

That's a no then. I wouldn't have thought the stylists are yet very involved in the autonomous cars projects.

[Hungrymc]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

Mass markets like the same "crap". Can you think of any modern cars that are well styled? I can think of plenty of good and bad (because it's personal taste). And some cars that clearly are not mass market are hideous to my eye.

(And I can assure you, the clinics and feedbacks that influence the stylists now have a very heavy presence from different cultures - and they do give different results and direction to the western ones)

[RBH58]

Agree with other posters. It's safety requirements and most particularly pedestrian safety requirements that are to blame for borking up the styling of modern cars. Maybe the wider use of composites will start to offset things a bit, but the carefree sixties seem likely to remain the pinnacle for car styling. The era where delicate pillars afforded zero roof crush strength and leaping Jaguars were seemingly designed to skewer pedestrians has sadly passed.

[Hungrymc]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

When do you think was a particularly better era for styling?

[Jaguar steve]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

Looks like exactly that to me too. Blatent consumerism driven by the entrenched belief that owning newer/better/bigger/faster stuff than other people is the route to happiness is the modern disease which is actually in total conflict with any hope of being truly happy. That's exactly why new cars have become all shouty and ugly - to differentiate them from older designs and thereby make them irresistible to those who need to make a statement about themselves by gorging on said newer/better/bigger/faster stuff.

I'm sure mass market people too would sign anything if it meant they could have a shiny new car to impress the neighbors with. I often wonder how they are going to feel about it all when they get absolutely rogered by the lease company upon returning the car in two or three years with a curbed alloy, scratch on a door and a few more miles on the clock than the agreement allows.

The whole consumerist and status thing is a bit tragic IMO. Much better to be happy with what you have rather than unhappy about what you don't.

[Funk]

Mr2Mike said:

MitchT said:

It's not just cars with too much detail and awkwardness. It's also cars that are fundamentally good looking (in my opinion) such as the BMW 4 Series, but are let down by the recent practice of having a bonnet that's almost horizontal until about a foot from the nose where it suddenly tapers off, instead of having a smooth, progressive, taper that runs all the way from the bottom of the windscreen. I know it's supposed to be about creating a gap between the bonnet and the engine for pedestrian safety but, seriously, what happened to the green cross code?

Comparison between 4 Series and E92 3 Series below to illustrate my point ...

That's a very good example, you can see just how slabby the extra bonnet height has made the sides of the car. Even the additional of numerous ugly swage lines down the side can't hide it.

The Mercedes CLS is probably one of the worst looking premium cars around IMO, more swage lines than Mick Jaggers face and the rear end looks like a dog dragging it's arse on the ground. It looks like something that could have come from Korea 20 years ago.

And for comparison:

[Hungrymc]

I could certainly find lovely cars from all of the era's that you rather. I think quite a few of them would be controversial in their day, and many of them are my own romantic notion of what they were or what they stood for as opposed to a pure / cohesive styling appreciation. But I understand that's just me, you may have a different view.