Gen3 "BlueStar" 2-door coupe styling ideas

[jerry33]

My hope is that Bluestar looks like a 21st century car rather than some old man's Buick or Jag. It also needs to be four door. Had a two-door once--never again.

[Lokolo]

My hope is that Bluestar looks like a 21st century car rather than some old man's Buick or Jag. It also needs to be four door. Had a two-door once--never again.

4 (or 6 if you count the trunk and frunk I guess!) is what I would want.

If it only came in a 2 door, I would have to seriously think whether I wanted to fork out the money or not.

[AnOutsider]

My hope is that Bluestar looks like a 21st century car rather than some old man's Buick or Jag. It also needs to be four door. Had a two-door once--never again.

OT, but I've seen you post this often, and have never had the image of an old man's Buick conjured when looking at the S. I can see jaguar sure, but an old Buick? Perhaps you can share some pics of what model you see the S similar to?

[jerry33]

OT, but I've seen you post this often, and have never had the image of an old man's Buick conjured when looking at the S. I can see jaguar sure, but an old Buick? Perhaps you can share some pics of what model you see the S similar to?

I see them on the street all the time. I'll see if I can find an image. Found one. It has the same oval grill and the same profile.

Other than looks, I think the Tesla is a knock-out car.

[MarkR]

Got some good reaction to this from Tesla employees at the LA store open

Attachment 7241

This looks awesome now and I'm not surprized by the reaction of Tesla employees, but wonder if it is apt to look dated in 2015. The Model S had a much more advanced look in 2009 than it does today. I still love it, but the standard of comparison has changed (and it appears that the Aston Martin Rapide, Jaguar XF, nd Porsche Panamera borrowed more than a few styling cues from Fritz). I hope the Bluestar can take aesthetic hints from the BMW i8 and maintain the size and price point necessary for the car to appeal to the mass market.
http://www.google.com/search?q=i8&ie...F4sME1nM8x7xM:

[SCW-Greg]

My hope is that Bluestar looks like a 21st century car rather than some old man's Buick or Jag. It also needs to be four door. Had a two-door once--never again.

Good points Jerry. Not sure how you bust the mold with body design (safely) - and be truly transformative. I'm content with a great body design running on an a fast, long range, all electric car. Four door, yeah that's important as that's the one major flaw I see in this one, and 4 doors will gain broader appeal.

[AnOutsider]

I see them on the street all the time. I'll see if I can find an image. Found one. It has the same oval grill and the same profile.

Other than looks, I think the Tesla is a knock-out car.

You're right, that grille is similar in shape, but I think it pretty much ends there. Hopefully that doesn't it spoil it for you.

Regarding gen 3 I tried to lock down GeorgeB on that yesterday, but he's a master of evasion (necessarily so)!

[dsm363]

I see them on the street all the time. I'll see if I can find an image. Found one. It has the same oval grill and the same profile.

Other than looks, I think the Tesla is a knock-out car.

I think most other people think the Model S looks quite good actually and nothing close to an old Buick. It's not out of this world looking but Tesla decided to go with a design with a likely broader appeal first.

[jerry33]

You're right, that grille is similar in shape, but I think it pretty much ends there. Openly that doesn't it spoil it for you.

This is probably just me but my opinion is, except for a few notable exceptions, all cars made from about 1975 to 2012 look almost identical in that they all use the old three box design left over from when carriages were horse powered (The horses up front were just replaced with the engine and a cover to create the third box) and no one, except for Citröen, cared much about aerodynamics until Toyota came out with the Prius and blew everyone else away.

I do understand why Tesla styled it the way they did, and I also realize that I won't notice the looks after about the fifth time I get in it, but I would much rather have something that matches the really advanced engineering that went into creating the Model S.

I seem to spend a lot of time complaining about various aspects of the car when actually the list of things I like is much longer than the list of things I don't like*. However, if I don't make my likes and dislikes known, nothing will ever change.

* List of things I don't like:

1. Styling.

2. Lack of fabric colour choices.

3. No carbon fibre interior trim material choice for all levels.

4. No heated mirrors and seats in fabric seats.

5. Lack of a sensible tire/wheel size.

There used to be a sixth, but Tesla seems to be taking care of that, and out of the five only #1 and #5 are major, #3 and one part of #2 are a safety related, while the other part of #2 and #4 are nice-to-haves.

Five things on a brand new car actually says a lot about what was done right. I'm still pumped about the Model S even though I won't get to do a test drive.

[gjunky]

I think it would be nice to have a "hot hatch" type car to get the most out the amount of space in a smaller car. (OK, so I drive a VW Golf GTI and might be partial to that style). I am not suggesting it would have to be that boxy.

How about a mini model X (model MX?). It would have the same overall rounded shape to allow for the required headroom. The COG would still be low because of the large battery pack. The car could even have Falcon doors to cover both the front row and the second row of seats. This would take care of the 2-door problem

A rounded shape like the Model X with a shorter nose and extremely short overhangs would make for a compact car that still has enough interior space to be useful. We could have a two motor version to allow for better traction and efficiency. It would certainly not look like an old Buick...
If the Falcon doors are too inconvenient ,too expensive or too heavy, then at least use suicide door in the back.

BTW: I drive a two door car now and since it is mostly me driving the car, I really don't care about not having back doors. The larger doors are much easier to get in and out of except for in narrow spaces. I might have had people in the backseat 3 times since I bought the car 5 years ago. Nice to have the option though.
Even nicer if the back seats could move all the way back in case I have passengers and no luggage.

@VFX: Any chance for you to create a Mini Model X Image?