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How important is design of a modern car?

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DITB

Charged.hk co-founder
Nov 13, 2012
1,581
36
Hong Kong
If the car performs in all ways, but the looks aren't appealing - would you consider it anyway?

I am just thinking - the competing technologies that Tesla Motors and other BEVs have to meet, have many drawbacks in the first place. Strange designs won't be helpful to the sales, would they?

Who else but star troopers and the Empire itself would consider a design like this:

StormTroopersChoice.jpg


Am I the only one to think this car is just another compliance car, or should we say distraction car?

I am sure the storm troopers of the mighty Empire would love the design. How big is that market though, I don't know of any storm troopers myself.

In Japan, Tesla owners are reporting issues from Leaf owners - they simply cannot comprehend an electric car can look like a modern, well designed and sleek family car.
 
Well, compared to the original Prius I guess the Mirai could be considered a work of art.

1stgenprius.jpg


And yet Toyota sold some 123.000 of that turd.

So it seems that when people are faced with a choice between a really unfortunate looking car, and the chance of a future for themselves and their offspring, some will actually choose to drive a turd.

I would.


Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toyota_Prius_(XW10)
 
Thankfully though, I can drive one of these instead (A used one, for less than half the price from when it was new.).

passat.jpg

Image credit: VW

passat_interior.jpg

Image credit: VW

Just different wheels and exterior color. And a manual transmission instead of this automatic one. And this interior has an ALLTRACK logo. I of course do not drive an ALLTRACK. Instead I drive the 'regular' Station wagon. Apart from that logo, the interior is the exactly the same.

There is just no way I can currently afford a Tesla. And at the moment I need that kind of range to earn a living. In Sweden you can get a methane-propelled version of the euro-spec VW Passat Station wagon. Also, in Sweden ~60% of all methane is produced locally from recycled organic waste from households, farms and food processing industries and such. In theory almost 70% of all traffic on Swedish roads could be propelled by methane from recycled organic waste if all that waste was indeed recycled. Unfortunately that’s (very) far from the case (And it’s probably an even more distant prospect in the US…).

Anyway... From an environmental impact standpoint, I think one could argue that driving this version of the Passat in Sweden is on par with driving the latest gen Prius. It also hopefully means a little less money to the dictator of Saudi Arabia and his cohorts.
 
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Design is very important. Despite Swedish's analogy to the original Prius and its sales, I'd hazard a guess that a lot of folks who are on these forums these days wouldn't have taken a second look at the Model S unless it looked like a really well-designed and good-looking car.

Love the parallel drawn between the Mirai and the Storm Trooper btw :)
 
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One needs only to look at the iterations of the new and 2 previous generation Hyundai Sonata's to find your answer. The Sonata went from obscurity to near market dominance with its bold and attractive design direction. However, while the new 2015 generation is said to be better in every way, its more conservative design has dramatically lessened sales appeal, and actual sales, if marketing surveys are to be believed. Need another example? Pontiac Aztek. Ugh
 
Good design is the part which allows the emotional part of one's brain to become involved.
You are initially are attracted to and marry the girl because she is pretty, and that is enough to justify almost anything else.

Same thing with buying a car (at least for most guys).
A great deal of the rationalization is that it is an emotional response.
How many threads on this Forum have been about "The Decision" for just the color of their car?

Who would want to marry Darth Vader? lol (Or a Storm Trooper?)
 
you have to understand: cars are like smartphones. its design is incredibly public to everyone, and says so much about you. You just can't escape it. Even if you say you dont care about design, that in itself also says alot about your interest (or lack) in cars.

also, i thought terrible EV design was a uniquely japanese plague (Galapagos synd), until BMW came out with the unfortunate i3. My god....my eyes....
 
Starwars stormtrooper theme looks great on Kia's Provo concept. IMO it looks better than the Mini.

203887.jpg
Thing is, you know full well that if/when that car makes it to market, it will not look even remotely like that concept. With the exception of Tesla, nobody else builds real cars that end up looking like the concepts. That was one of the points Elon has made a couple of times, about how frustrating it is to constantly see amazing concept cars unveiled, and then seeing the disappointing final result.

I agree that concept looks cool. But I bet the production version will be ugly as anything. (I can picture how that specific look will likely translate, and it isn't good, add a more defined front bumper, remove the red accents there, remove the flaring of the body panels, add more defined A pillars, bigger mirrors, side marker lights, reflectors, and turn signals, bigger headlights, normal door handles, more boring and smaller diameter wheels. etc.)