[lapis_lazuli]

The family look concept which resulted in many not opting to buy the top most variant:

1) Vento<Jetta<Passat : All the three look identical from the front. Indians LOVE to flaunt the segment differentiator!

2) While the Front is somewhat differentiable in the Rapid<Octavia<Superb by the way the headlights are laid out/subtle grille design change, the side profile of the Octavia and the Superb: especially the rear quarter glass! SAME look. Like, identical!

3) I always felt the A3/4/6 are identical from the front.

MQB it is! It is supposed to be "family". So I tend to believe, it is a standardization practice than a bored designer! VW gave a fancy name to it and others practice it internally!

[AirbusCapt]

This aberration and ugliness started off largely by Audi. Each of their Q"x" models of the SUV is a 80% scale model of the other. Q3 is 80% scale model of Q5 which is a 80% scale model of Q7 and so on. I would call it intellect bankruptcy more than anything. Unless you read the batch or look from the side, these 3 cars appear identical.
This joke is now adapted by almost all mainstream players churning out models like a smartphone.

[WhiteSierra]

Voted I'm okay with it.


Some times I get confused with the front end looks and rear end looks especially the VWs, Skodas, Audis, Mercedes', Jaguars posted in this thread.

Few other car Manufactures also did the same, although the cars are from different segments, from the front both look similar and very hard to distinguish them considering the already low volume sales

Renault Fluence



Renault Scala





TATA also did this and released more than 10 car models of same look, may be because they are built on the same platform, or shared same mechanicals. When Renault and Nissan, the two sister companies did with Sunny & Scala , Micra & Pulse, Terrano & Duster, why not a single company release the same look for different models?

MS also did the same for old and new generations Swift , Swift dzire, VW did it for Polo and Ameo.


TATA Sierra NA



TATA 206 / TATA Mobile



TATA Estate



TATA Sierra Turbo (Notice the headlights, indicators, grill and bonnet, same as Tata Estate)



TATA 207 pick up truck



TATA Indica (Hatchback)



TATA Indigo (Sedan - Indigo XL, Compact - Sedan Indigo CS)



TATA Indigo Marina (Station Wagon / Estate)



TATA Vista



TATA Manza



TATA Bolt



TATA Zest



TATA Tiago



TATA Tigor




Maruti Suzuki Swift old



Maruti Suzuki Swift Dzire old



New MS Swift



New MS Dzire, apparently they dropped the name Swift and only named it Dzire, although it is the same vehicle.

[Guru_GPS]

Voted for I am OK with it.

To me, Looks do matter, but I do not bother much about the similarity in their family. I like the fact My Rapid looks a shrunk Octy. Similarly with other brands that I do not currently own, or cannot afford to own. To me, it is not an issue at all.

[kedar_GT]

In my book, having a family look is OK - but them appearing like 'twins' from a decent distance and having imperceptible visual differentiation is not ok.
Hurts the ego not being able to tell them apart

[MUJ]

Voted for I'm okay with it

The trend was set in by the Germans. Though it is confusing at time to distinguish between cars (eg. C/E/S Class), it makes a clear statement that the vehicle is undoubtedly Mercedes Benz.

[vellatechie]

I don't think people who are buying the cheaper of the 2/3 options care as much about the common styling. Its the the S Class buyers who will end up hating this style more.
Just like how majority of the Honda City owners didn't care when Honda ripped off BMW tail lights 😁

[arunrajk81]

Voted No.

I feel the uniqueness or exclusivity of a model is getting lost while following same theme across all models and I am not a fan of.

Another problem of Family Design across all models approach are, if you like a particular design theme that a company is following, there are chances that visually you might like their entire models which is still OK but reverse is an issue. Since Engine-Gear box combo is not a visual aspect of a car, I am not mentioning it here.

Likes:–

Side profile, straight line design theme that Volkswagen is/was following. Somehow I like it more than Audi.

BMWs before latest disproportionate grill update.

Dislikes:–

Rounded designs from Mercedes models after w124 (G-wagon is an exception).

Another is the smiling front fascia from Tata. It started with Indica. This theme is still present in Harrier, but it is less prominent because of headlight design. Because of this reason, the design that I like from Tata are Safari, Sierra and Estate.

[kamilharis]

Its neither here nor there for me, but I have voted Not a big fan of it.

Gone are the days when each cars carried it's individual character. Now only a very few manufacturers are maintaining that exclusivity. Previously this was mostly in the luxury segment only but these days almost all the car companies does this, have a look at the U-G-L-Y Hyundais!

For someone getting a C, he would be happy as his car has design cues with something that costs 3 or 4 times more, that is an S. But I am sure an S class owner won't be happy with that!

And the good thing for manufacturer is the design stage will be easier as they don't need to develop an entirely new design all the time.

[petrol_power]

Voted No.
When thinking about it, most of the luxury brand follows family look, though they had not adapted it earlier. Mercedes had 2 split head lamp for E class and a fused 2 lamp design for C class and rectangular light for S class 10 years ago. BMW had that (in)famous 5 series against a different looking 3 series. Landrover had different designs for Evoque, Discovery & Rangerover. Guess these luxury brands are capitalizing on their brand pull created over years and may be it costs substantially less for designing (overheads/manpower) as well as manufacturing.

But thankfully mass market players have not yet adapted it. It would be weird to see an Alto design in "multiple" hatchbacks to sedan to SUV.

[devsoftech]

Voted okay with it. I have a keen eye for details and I can distinguish the subtle differences in tail lamps as well (like merc a, c, e, s classes), and I can mostly spec out debadged cars. And I don't expect people to break their heads into what class I'm driving. For most of them brand logo is all they care (whether reporting an accident or incident, like a merc hit a honda for instance). Within the brand fanboys and enthusiasts class could matter, and they can always tell from design cues.