Back in 2015 in a
post titled "Styling by Wind Tunnel" I presented side views of nine sedans, all from different makers, that had similar profiles. My thesis (that I often repeat) was that designers are forced by government fuel efficiency regulations to use shapes determined by wind tunnel tests. Not surprisingly, the "best" shapes emerging from wind tunnels around the world are essentially the same.
Today's post is a brief follow-up. I was in Hawaii in January and noticed two rental cars parked down the street from where we were staying. One was a Chevrolet Malibu, the other a Kia Optima. Both were painted white, and they looked surprisingly similar.
My photos are below.
Gallery
First a side view. The Kia is in the foreground, the Chevy at the rear.
This is the view that prompted me to take these photos. Rear spoilers and taillights are practically the same shapes. And the remaining details are not very different.
These are modern international companies shooting for the mainstream market. GM wants people to think "our cars are as good as those Asian cars you think are better and more current, not like we used to be". Asian companies want people to think "our cars are as good as those German cars you think are better (plus as you already think, ours are more reliable). They've been taking design cues from BMW and Mercedes forever.
ReplyDeleteDesigners (formerly stylists) move around the world. Peter Schreyer is a German automobile designer from Audi who was the chief of design at Kia and became one of three presidents of parent Hyundai. Luc Donckerwolke started at Peugeot and then was design director at VW's Bentley, Lamborghini, Škoda, and Audi, and is now in charge at Kia. Asian companies have had design studios here and maybe Europe for decades. They all have factories all over the world.
It's just not the same world with national car companies staffed by people of that country like it used to be, making cars for their country. And their customers in each country aren't as provincial as they used to be either before jet travel, TV, movies and the internet.