Rolls Royce-san. Who remembers when the head of Bentley Design called out Lincoln for how they much they had copied their work? Something like they should have just bought the Bentley tooling to save themselves all that effort.
That be the one! If the design works it works. If it doesn't, then no amount of long-winded justification gets around how it just doesn't work.
Chinese brand Avatr 12 and no I didn't forget the A. That's how they spelled it. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Don't US FMVSS vehicle tail light specs require several square inches of "red" to be visible? Those tail lights are so slender they may come in below spec.
Yeah we would call that “idea heavy”, when the design had to be explained, using descriptions about things that didn’t matter.
The exterior is kinda nice, but the interior is pretty sparse. Given my proclivities for warmth and luxury in the interior of a car, I think I'm out of step with the current minimalist trends bordering on sparse. All the best, Andrew.
Is it April Fools Day already? Luxobarge is a good descriptor! Did somebody insert an extra zero into the price in this cover story? So much "other" that kind of money could buy. Image Unavailable, Please Login
Posted this in Silver as well as there is a thread about BMW Design. Where Are You Going, BMW? Previous BMWs were simple and self-assured, with great proportions. Can Munich regain its design acumen? BY DAVE RANDPUBLISHED: SEP 7, 2023 Image Unavailable, Please Login BRING A TRAILER Before I could drive, I used to bug my father to take me to dealerships to look at the latest automotive offerings, especially in the fall with new car introductions. He liked cars too, so this wasn’t that difficult despite that he didn’t want to be pestered by a salesman. And while I’d look at just about any type of car, there was one dealership that was very special. Foreign Motors, on Commonwealth Avenue in Boston, was the Rolls-Royce, Mercedes-Benz dealer in the area at the time (and the place where Jay Leno wrenched while pursuing other work). Image Unavailable, Please Login There’s Nothing Easy about Looking Inward It was here, in the late ‘60s, maybe 1970, that I first saw what struck me as one of the most aristocratic cars ever, despite the other lofty brands there. The Foreign Motors showroom included BMW, and it was a 2800 CS coupe (pictured above) in metallic green with a saddle interior that had stopped me cold. The car was so simple and self-assured, with great proportions that included a tall, glassy, pillarless upper that would be considered unfashionable today. I remember being struck by, of all things, the rear seats—beautifully shaped and tailored, despite this being a 2+2. This was not a sports car, but a personal car for a more mature individual who knew the difference between it and the domestic “personal luxury” coupes popular at the time. Image Unavailable, Please Login BMW 3.0 CS photographed in 2012. JAY RAMEY The car would evolve into the 3.0 CS/CSi. But even today, 55 years after the 2800 CS was first introduced, the car still looks wonderful. Advertisement - Continue Reading Below So, I was a little surprised when I learned that the car didn’t start out that way, and that it wasn’t a totally new car but a major refresh of the 2000 CS, which was introduced in 1965. That car, while sharing most of the appearance of the 2800, was on a shorter wheelbase with a shorter dash to axle proportion given that it had a four-cylinder engine versus the 2800’s six. It appears BMW is now grappling with the direction its visual identity will take. That change in wheelbase made the difference between a slightly gawky presence and one that was more balanced. But the biggest change was the front-end design. The 2000 CS’s front consisted of isolated, kidney-shaped grilles and large, unusually shaped composite headlamps. Compared to the newer version, it was less conventional but awkward, presenting an impression of a bucktooth face—in some ways a forerunner of today’s less appealing interpretations from BMW. Image Unavailable, Please Login A rare BMW Neue Klasse Coupe, a 2000 CS. JAY RAMEY Advertisement - Continue Reading Below In many ways the development of the CS represents BMW’s corporate design history, with some very controversial products and some great ones. For example, it’s hard to think of the brand without the 3-Series, the car that seemed to define what a “sports sedan” should be and the inspiration for so many wannabes from other manufacturers. But it was the third generation of the car, the E36 that started production in 1992, that set the design direction for others to follow. Image Unavailable, Please Login BMW’s E36 generation 3-Series. BMW The most distinctive element of the design was the remarkably short front overhang, which in turn emphasized the side view dash-to-axle for a front engine, rear-wheel-drive package that looked both efficient and purposeful. This was especially true of the coupe, with its distinctive sheetmetal. No other BMW—really, no other car at the time—had this unique proportional signature, which would be continued and refined for generations of 3-Series to follow. When reviewing BMW design, one must also consider the cars done under then-chief designer Chris Bangle. Image Unavailable, Please Login A Big Mouth Can Wreck a Pretty Face Advertisement - Continue Reading Below To be fair, at the time Bangle was trying to achieve design separation between the 3-, 5-, and 7-Series when they were considered too close in appearance, maybe more so in the case of the 5- and 7-Series. So, while the intent was commendable, the execution was polarizing, especially with that of the 2002 E65 7-Series. Visually big and bulky, it lacked the grace and athleticism of the previous generation. And while it achieved a more distinctive look, it did so partially by way of a high rear deck that became known as the infamous “Bangle-butt.” Unloved by the public, the next generation 7-Series reverted to the more conventional, yet safer family look. Image Unavailable, Please Login 2002 BMW E65 7-Series. BMW And what of the current G70 7-Series? Is it really any better, or is it more like the past in also being large and ungainly—even brutal—and seemingly devoid of any grace of the brand’s better designs? The perfect color for the car would be flat army green, as it would make a great military staff car. Along with the unlovely iX EV and XM PHEV, one must wonder if this is indeed the new direction for BMW design. All brands go through phases, hits, and misses, and it appears BMW is now grappling with the direction its visual identity will take. Image Unavailable, Please Login This Armored BMW i7 Is the First of Its Kind The brand itself remains desirable for many, with a quality reputation and the appropriate image. But I want more than this—and hope that BMW can (once again) regain the design acumen that its best efforts once so clearly demonstrated. Image Unavailable, Please Login TOM MURPHY Dave Rand (pictured right) is the former executive director of Global Advanced Design for General Motors.
Tour the abandoned factory that built Cadillac's Allante back in the day. Image Unavailable, Please Login https://www.hagerty.com/media/automotive-history/tour-the-abandoned-italian-factory-that-built-cadillacs-allante/?utm_source=SFMC&utm_medium=email&utm_content=MED_UN_NA_EML_UN_DailyDriver_Thursday&hashed_email=8e43f6a5abf43ff70e0771781e4993de6c08fd1510eadb1414b4ce6b84c34e12&dtm_em=8e43f6a5abf43ff70e0771781e4993de6c08fd1510eadb1414b4ce6b84c34e12
Image Unavailable, Please Login Yet another new Lotus. The Lotus Emeya Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
I remember the Alitalia 747F freighters coming into ORD several times a day with the bodies from Italy. They loaded up the cars and trucked them to Detroit. That was expensive. Why did they air ship them?? A good looking car it has to be said.
The contract was signed by Pininfarina + GM, with Pininfarina designing the car and assembling the bodies. The powertrains were in Detroit, so they air freighted the completed Pininfarina painted bodies to Detroit and installed the powertrains. One can imagine how expensive that whole proposition was. It ultimately made the Allante way too expensive and led to it's ultimate demise. Cadillac & the General Motors Corporation decided up front they were going to Italy and using Pininfarina for the design. Cadillac & Pininfarina had a long history of working together on numerous projects and in fact, when Pininfarina was formed in the early 1930's one of their first designs/projects was a special Cadillac for a wealthy client.
Yes I understand. But they could have assembled the bodies in Italy and ocean shipped them. Sounds like they were running behind schedule and rushed them Air to make up time.
I gave a lengthy presentation to the Allante/XLR club. The Allante program was a very difficult project for those of us within the GM Design organization. While I understood why they wanted Pininfarina to do the design, it broke my heart not being able to work on and contribute to what was to be the Crown Jewel for Cadillac and General Motors Corporation. That's the kind of project designers dream of. Nonetheless, the decision wads made to use Pininfarina. After repeated requests, the studio in Warren was finally allowed to do 'our' version. We were doing so many projects at the time I wound up working a great deal on my own time + weekends developing design proposals. A multitude of proposals led to a full size clay model. When Pininfarina brought their fiberglass model for the final approval on the GM Design patio, a Mercedes convertible and our clay were together on the patio. No one looked at the GM Design proposal. The decision was made to utilize Pininfarina and that was that. Our proposal was a token gesture to let the studio do its thing. I thought then and still do today that the Pininfarina solution was attractive and well designed. It's held up well over time. My only criticism was a lack of any Cadillac design cues or heritage. The only saving grace for me personally was obtaining one of the Pininfarina technicians jumpsuits after the whole thing was over. I think they felt sorry for me. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login I'll start another post with some of my work for those that may be interested. Also a brief version was filmed last year for a YouTube audience.
Heres a sample of some of my work on the Allante project. I'll show only a small selection as there were countless ideas created. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Full size tape drawings: Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
