[Rehaan]

I really don't understand the fascination with massive/long headlights (eg. Fiesta, Vista). I think maybe the designers get caught up in all the "give the impression of speed" design buzz-stuff, and as a result just forget the importance of being aesthetically pleasing overall.

If this trend continues, I have a feeling this might be what the 2018 Vista looks like...


cya
R

[saket77]

The concept of creating a 'family face' for every manufacturer is not going too good down with people like me.

Suzuki has developed one and right from Swift, Ritz, Ertiga, SX4 to Kizashi share it.

Hyundai has discovered a love for fluidic designs and has laden up every car in its stable with. Be it the Eon, i20, i10 Grand, Verna, or the Elantra.

Honda, as said earlier, has developed infatuation with chrome right from Brio, Amaze (though a little better), City 2014. Heck, even the new Honda Activa has that chrome moustache!

Even VW has a family face, though looks good, but the Jetta & Passat owners might like a distinguishing face from the Polo or the Vento.

This family face concept has robbed the character of cars as individual models. The concept has given a food to thought like for example, if you like a Suzuki, you will like most Suzukis. If you don't, you end up hating every thing from Suzuki.

My point is that "is creating a family face an intentional effort by manufacturers or in reality is it a hiding curtain for dearth of creative designing talent?"

Posting a few pictures to substantiate my point:

The Suzuki face:


Swift


Ritz


SX4


Ertiga


Kizashi

The Hyundai Fluidic Concept:

Eon


i20


Verna


Elantra

The familiar VW Face:


Polo


Jetta


Passat

Honda's latest fascination with Chrome:

Brio


Amaze


City

And this fascination has continued to totally a different segment too:

Activa 125!

[GTO]

to the topic.

Wondering how a beautiful looking car like this:


Became quirky like this:


But there's some good examples too.

Ugly....


Turns timeless...


Frog....


Becomes a stunner:

[saleem_k]

While we all are unhappy over how the designs have come down to ugly levels, we should also remember the fact that the last few years have been the years when car manufacturers evolved to Indian markets and built cars to suit the Indian conditions, talking on economic terms. Manufacturers realized that the only way to sell cars would be to make them more efficient and affordable and that's what we all are getting today in the market. Someone rightly said that most of the cars under 10L are far from good looking and I agree.

Most of the designs these days are due to reasons such as:
1. To create maximum space out, especially when the car is below 4mtrs.
2. To create a premium look by using more chrome.
3. The fluidic design is to eliminate wind resistance to the maximum possible extent thereby making the car stable and more fuel efficient.
4. To conform to the ever increasing safety standards as Indians are taking safety more seriously now.
5. The recent trend has been to create high ground clearance mini SUVs to tackle the tough Indian roads.

While we on this forum might be unhappy about the designs being doled out by the manufacturers, we should remember that almost 70%-80% of the masses out there do not mind the design if everything else meets their needs, financially.

Can the manufacturers take the challenge of creating beautiful, reliable and fuel efficient cars for the Indian masses? It might take time but the way things are going currently, we might see more of rounded and curved designs making way into European brands as well.

[ajaypjayaraj]

I almost forgot one of the major contenders for this thread
Present generation Nissan Sunny (to top it up they just did the "face-lift").

How did this...


become this???

India never even got to see the original Nissan Sunny Why Nissan Why??!
Would have had a lot of fans and happy owners just like that of good old Honda City, Lancer, etc.

But wait, lets take another example
This...


became this...


But guess they woke up and finally hit it right this time

Please bring it to India soon!

[shebin]

Always waiting for a thread like this to vent out frustration......hyundai xcent was the maximum i could take.

Still enjoys looking at my K10 and taking it out for a spin,for that matter my old alto 800 was more good looking to the so called xcents and dzires.I personally feel OHC,esteem,skoda octavia, and lancers(cedia too) were the most good looking among the lot.Nowadays we are getting weird shapes with no more FTD factor.i wish Mitsubishi brings back lancer family.....

BTW i liked the verna classic to the new fluidic verna.used it for 5 years and loved every moment.My current ride sunny is a compromise as i desired for an octavia but wasnt able to get a good one......

[Santoshbhat]

Totally agree that cars have become progressively uglier. Neat and clean designs have given way to designs that focus on...

• Providing more usable interior space.
• Complying with length restrictions for tax breaks
• Keeping costs down
• Making the car appeal to the aam junta (adding chrome bits and enlarging the headlamps)

This trend is quite common with small hatches and sedans as the target is to make the car as spacious and practical as possible within the small foot print. Aesthetics are bound to suffer when designers are given a large set of restrictions.

We can't blame the manufacturers. They are in it for the business. If the market wants a three box sedan for under ₹ 6 lakhs, they have to deliver the same. If chrome sells, the car will be chromified.

In my view its only the Germans and Italians that seem to be coming up wih decent looking cars these days. Among the Asian manufacturers its Hyundai that is come up with somewhat decent looking cars. Honda and Toyota seem to be fighting real hard for the ugliest car crown. I can't believe what they have done to once great looking cars like the Civic, City, CRV, Innova, Camry etc... Come 2015 we can be sure to add the Fortuner to this list.

[tjacob]

The phrase 'different strokes for different folks' couldn't be anymore truer in this aspect. I personally LOVE the present cars than the older ones.The slick neat design of most newer cars these days is one of the reasons I'm a car person and my fascination only surged after my on-line wanderings landed me on TBHP.

IMHO, the older cars may have looked appealingly new back in their day but now they look anachronistic next to the newer ones on the roads and I still get a good chuckle wondering how manufacturers managed to sell these ghastly looking metal boxes that look like something out of the Flintstones but it doesn't take long before a modern one zooms past with its glossy smooth curves, indentations, contours, laser chiseled glass/plastic casings & chrome accents glinting in the corner of the eye.

Now there are exceptions to the modern cars with the Punto which has a design far uglier than its name, no wonder it doesn't sell. Some Marutis are no eye candy, the Ritz, Wagon R & Honda's Brio (oh! God) are just ugly IMO and I'm a fan of Honda, love the City - previous & current gen. and love the old gen. Jazz & Civic. Now the recent Honda cars feeling like a Coke can when compared to Polos & Puntos is a totally different matter but I'm kind of glad the designers are ever willing to break the mold with newer contemporary designs. I realize I'm in the minority with my tastes but still make me glad at the direction in which car design is heading.

[g_saunak]

IMHO the fluidic sporty design ruined it all. Once Hyundais were the least used car in US market. But the scene changed soon. Hyundais were all over the US once it acquired KIA. In US market the sporty look sells extremely well. With their success on the US market Hyundai set a benchmark for bodylines (sometimes too much), wrapped around front and tail lamps, overall roundish soft and low stance designs. Looking at that every other designer tried to taste the success with Hyundai-esque design and hence the predicament.

Lately fluidic Hyundais are no more a distinctive one. All other cars look alike. So, they have retracted from that path. The fluidic design is toned down and hence we have distinctive looking cars like the upcoming i20 or the Gi10.

A little off topic, Samsung did the same to mobile phone designs. All their phones look alike and every other phone wants to look like them. In the past all Nokia models were different from one another. Now, how many mobile phones can you identify with the first look

[D4D]

Originally Posted by rajushank84

And who in the world would design shapes like these? A teenager with PC paint could come up with more elegant shapes!:
Attachment 1267741

Or this (what kind of rear-end is that?!)
Attachment 1267763

Designs like the Xylo make even things like Bolero and Sumo look handsome! Even the Ritz is comparatively good-looking now.

I could just keep going with the examples but you get my drift. Also it seems to me like the most people are not really noticing it, is it because there's nothing to be done about it or we are just getting used to these?

This is an India-specific thing as far as I can see. I am currently living in the US, I don't particularly see cars getting uglier there. In the cases they do, the cars hardly sell (the Fiesta sedan, for example - no one buys it because of how it looks).

Only Volkswagen is keeping it "clean" as far as I can see (Other than the premium brands of course). Why can't we, for a change, get India-specific cars that look drop-down-gorgeous that other countries would envy? Honestly I would be very happy if all car manufacturers agreed to go back 15 years! Imagine.. if we could buy great-looking cars like:
- The Gypsy
- The old Zen
- The Ikon
- The original Swift
- The Mahindra Commander hardtop 7 seater
- The Esteem
- The Palio
- The Tata Sierra

Sad!

I think the design language is changing. Yes, some designs are turning ugly, but I wouldn't completely with you. The Ugly designs are are the Quanto, Dzire and alto 800.

The school of design:(as I have observed)
Japanese:

• They were (are) not keen on design. Be it exterior or interior. Toyotas are extremely boring to look at(The CEO of toyota has promised "no more dull cars" in Auto expo 2012.)
• Honda just gives their cars too many creases and cut, to the point where there is not cohesiveness in the design(Amaze, Brio, City.) Mobilio is very bad to look at from the side angle.
• Suzuki designs are inconsistent. Some look extremely good(swift), some very bad(Omni, Ritz, Esteem). But overall, they have simple designs.
• Mitubishi and Nissan try to give simple designs

Koreans:

• Hyundai is some brand that has had an incredible transformation. At the end of the first decade in the new millennium, their cars are no more ugly ducklings. I actually like the fluidic design
• Hyundai has a timeless+fluidic design on thier hatchbacks. i10, grand i10, i20 and xcent. These cars, I believe are developed in Germany. So the European timeless influence is there.

Europeans:

• VAG designs cars that will look beautiful after 2/20/200 years.
• Timeless design is the theme
• Italians modify the timeless design and make it look appealing even more. Renault has simple but timeless designs too.

Americans:
It's a mixed bag here. there is no set design theme. Or I haven't been able to crack the theme. Also many cars sold by GM are badge engineered Isuzu designs.

Why car about the design of a car if it's fun to drive?

[rama75]

I feel the main culprit is the government!
1. Less than 4 meter rule: Produces cars like Quanto, Verito vibe and a slew of sub 4 meter sedans and compact SUVs.
2. Ground clearance rule: We get an XUV500 with a ground clearance of 165mm!
3. Engine size rule: Heavy weight sedans like SX4 and Linea getting under powered engines.
I wonder whether the government has made a fool out of itself.

[WindRide]

OP is getting old, that's all. Welcome to the club man!

IMO,
Best looking Hatch EVER sold in India - Fiat Palio GTX.
Best looking Sedan EVER sold in India - Mitsubishi Lancer.

Period. They just stopped 'designing' cars after that. They are just making the numbers these days. After all, you can't sell similar looking car with upgraded internals year-on-year.

When members of either of the above mentioned rare species appear before me, i literally drool all over my front. Ya, I need to consult a doctor pronto.

[rajushank84]

Originally Posted by WindRide

OP is getting old, that's all. Welcome to the club man!

IMO,
Best looking Hatch EVER sold in India - Fiat Palio GTX.
Best looking Sedan EVER sold in India - Mitsubishi Lancer.

Period. They just stopped 'designing' cars after that. They are just making the numbers these days. After all, you can't sell similar looking car with upgraded internals year-on-year.

When members of either of the above mentioned rare species appear before me, i literally drool all over my front. Ya, I need to consult a doctor pronto.

Hehe yeah.

Cars like the Brio do look good - if they are left alone. It is creating other cars "based" on these (Amaze, Mobilio, so on) that is very annoying.

I'm glad Hyundai didn't do this Fluidic thing very much with the new i10.

[sidindica]

Frog....
Attachment 1268133

Becomes a stunner:
[/quote]

Honorable mention:

[Rehaan]

Originally Posted by rama75

1. Less than 4 meter rule: Produces cars like Quanto, Verito vibe and a slew of sub 4 meter sedans and compact SUVs.
2. Ground clearance rule: We get an XUV500 with a ground clearance of 165mm!
3. Engine size rule: Heavy weight sedans like SX4 and Linea getting under powered engines.

Actually the rules that are even more responsible are:

Pedestrian safety : No more steep fronts. No more pop-up headlights. Etc

Efficiency : More 'smooth' aerodynamic-driven design = less CO2/km.

cya
R