It's a shame the Pontiac brand didn't continue. I'm still puzzled about where it went wrong for them. Was it simply a case of a distressed GM with too many brands to support going forward and a pressing need to consolidate? All the best, Andrew.
That decision was made by the Government/Obama administration. The bankruptcy commission decided GM had too many brands. Buick was very big in China, so the decision was to jettison Pontiac, Saturn, Hummer and Saab. That was part of the deal to acquire the necessary loans from the Gov to stay alive. Many people at GM thought Pontiac was finally beginning to figure itself out, but it was too little, too late. Spent many years working with that brand. All for naught. That was when I pulled the cord and ejected. But that's a story for another time. Besides, I was in Cadillac at the time.
I have been looking at this and also reading the assorted comments. I agree that the wheels are wrong. They definitely need to be using soft shapes to go with the body. I don't understand the tail lights. There are a lot of solutions that are not deep tunnels but still would have given an integrated, not tacked on top, result. Got a problem with the halo driving lights. They just seem visually wrong or what the car is trying to give an early 60s overall impression. The GTO style triple hood vents are inappropriate. On a GTO they exist because the grill opening is too small in hotter ambient conditions. This design does not have that grill size issue. The side gills are too angular for this body and as they are trying to emulate the GTO, they need to extend lower too. They look too gratuitous of an aplication. Double Bubble - I have no problem with the concept o incorporating a double bubble but they did not execute it well. IF they are using the aft gap of the bubble to the rear window for cabin air venting then that is at least an homage to the comp SWBs vent in the backlight. One could say that the finessing of the entire double bubble from the front to the resolution o the meeting to the backlight stopped too soon. Side Window Kink - Yes, the SWB had a kink but this was a feature that had 3 iterations over the life of the body. The application here was a bit too gratuitous and not handled nearly as well as it should have been. Interesting but still missing the mark. .
Please, no on the scarfs. It makes me think of when Detroit trotted out the "central casting" version of designers for the Press introductions. They were dressed to look "cool/hip" or some other PR imagination of what they should appear as to talk up some undeserving POS in designer speak. I guess the only good thing about that was they were letting designers get on the public stage; unfortunately for all the wrong reasons.
Here's a question... I've been dipping my toe back in the waters and I've noticed the "accepted" rending style has changed. It seems everyone is now rending car concepts with no hard reflections and sky/earth hues. They have very soft reflections, if any, and they look like they are in a all white light studio. They even reflect a white ground plane back into the surface. Basically they fill the design shape in with a solid color and then doge and burn it. Why is this? Is it just the current style? I find it intriguing not to render a car (reflective surface) without sharp, core reflections and with the sky hues. Lol, am I just old? Is the new standard or is it a result of Photoshop?
I love Martins style... But it's kind of a combo of the old/new. Still looks like it's in a studio and not outdoors to me.
Real world example outdoors. Crisp hard reflection, saturated colors, lots of contrast. I just don't see it in the more common style like the first example. Lol, maybe I'm just old and too nostalgic. Image Unavailable, Please Login
Ah yes, the 'felt' paint jobs. Another trend/phase the design community is going through. The wonders of the Net have opened up the globe for every aspiring designer from Asia, Europe, NA, Africa, etc. to see each others work on Instagram with an endless supply of sketches/renderings in real time. Someone from India posts a sketch and someone in the US picks up on it and takes it further. There is so much of this that the supply seems endless. There are several on-line tutorials/sketch demo sites that the 'democratization of car styling/rendering has arrived. Now anyone from anywhere that has access to a computer can produce this work. Whether or not all of it is good or not is up to each viewer. We all have our sketching preferences. Styles & techniques come and go. But when all is said and done, it still comes down to does the sketch/rendering convey a coherent design? Would a sculptor or digital modeler be able to interpret it? Or is it just sketch masterbation? Everyone loves a beautiful sketch/rendering. Some are more successful than others in my mind.
Exactly! "Felt cars". Why did I not put it that way? That is exactly what they are rendering. I'm not a fan. I want my cars shiny. It better illustrates the form IMO and shows a better understanding of the surfaces.
