There are not many cars on the road today that make the hair on my neck stand up anymore. Truth be told, most of my friends would tell you that I'm a very hard man to please when it comes to how a car looks. Car design reached a plateau 4 or 5 years ago where manufacturers had to be a bit more courageous to design something different. Unfortunately, it looks as if designers are now too focused on making something different rather than something that's beautiful. Take the Nissan Puke for example, more formally known as the Juke. It has more curves than a scenic railway and a shape that resembles that of a frog.
Some car manufacturers are creating models for no other reason other than to create a fashion statement for people similar to a company in the fashion industry creating a new handbag. What's the difference between a Qashqai and a Juke or a BMW X5 and an X6?
There is another very good reason why some modern cars don't appeal to me, it's because they're not supposed to. A lot of cars are designed for women such as the Opel Adam. Here's a quote from Liz Wetzel, director of interior design at General Motors, "I think women are going to love the Adam, It's a brilliant little car that is not about performance; it is a fashion statement, but very competent". It's a well known fact that women prefer lots of curved lines while men prefer straight lines, something that's well explained in a book by Gloria Moss called
Why Men Like Straight Lines and Women Like Polka Dots. Here's a
link to it on Amazon if psychology is your thing. Unfortunately, hints of this curvy design can be found in cars that aren't necessarily aimed at any gender like in the Audi A4.
This brings me onto my latest crush; the BMW 4 Series Coupe. It was introduced to the world in 2013 as a brand new model and rather than design something outrageously different, its shape echoes that of some iconic cars like the DB9 or the 3 series coupe, both of which have worked in the past. I think it takes a certain level of discipline and confidence to do this, and maybe even more courage than designing something completely different. If the design already works then why change it so much?
