OH, PENDULUM, WHERE ART THOU?
Tuesday, November 5, 2019 at 08:47AM By Peter M. DeLorenzo
Detroit. As we rush headlong into the unknown with this electrification thing, and the corrupt union management thing, and another round of the subprime loans thing, the thing that bothers me most right now is the degradation of design that continues to play out before our eyes. As I’ve said repeatedly in this column, as we go forward with similar electrified propulsion systems, design’s role as the Ultimate Initial Product Differentiator will become even more important. After all, if the whisper-jet power systems rely on artificially-tuned sounds, the only thing left to create brand character are the exterior designs themselves.
Compelling, beautiful design lures people in; it’s what makes people look and want to see more, and ultimately buy. Which is why I am more than a little concerned with where we are today with design. A quick tour of the latest "electrified" designs coming from auto manufacturers is frankly scary. Why? Everything looks alike. And the vehicles making their way around the American landscape are too often predictable, boring and uninteresting. I get the fact that we’re living in an all-SUV-all-the-time world, but it’s getting ridiculous out there. Here are a few examples of what electrification has wrought:
(Mercedes-Benz)
The 2020 Mercedes-Benz EQC. It doesn't exactly scream "Mercedes," does it?
(Audi)
The 2020 Audi E-Tron. Q5-inspired? Ugh.
(Infiniti)
The Infiniti Q Inspiration and Qs Inspiration forecast the brand’s new design strategy. We Can Wait.
(Nissan)
The Nissan Ariya Concept. We Can Wait, Part II.
(Ford)
And Ford has teased its concept for a “Mustang-inspired” electrified SUV that has been dubbed Mach-E although everyone in the automotive world hopes that this is not the final name. (Please say it isn’t so, Ford.) And "Mustang-inspired"? It sounds more than a little depressing frankly, but we'll classify it as a giant "we'll see" for now and leave it at that.
So, what the hell is going on out there? Even the future-look concepts are SUV/Crossover things that are as inspiring to look at as the cereal aisle at the grocery store. Check that, actually the cereal aisle has more vision and imagination in their box designs than I’m seeing in these rolling monuments to mediocrity. The easy explanation is that consumers are all the way gone for SUV/Crossovers. They’ve decided that they're more useful and more convenient to get in and out of, so, end of story. As in, why bother with anything else? And it’s clear that the design houses at the various automakers have pretty much given in to that reality.
Or is it? There’s a growing trend among younger car buyers when it comes to cars – at least the ones who haven’t entered the “having kids” stage – that indicates that the desire for sedans is coming back. It’s the old “we’d rather not drive what our parents drove” chestnut rearing its head.
Is it real? It’s too early to tell. (Full disclosure: a local couple took over the lease on my Alfa Romeo Stelvio. I am now driving a sedan.) The sameness of the SUV/Crossover Hell we’re living in right now is undeniable. The suburban slog around here is populated with massive pickup trucks and SUV/Crossovers. Audi? BMW? Cadillac? Mercedes-Benz? Porsche? Ford? Chevrolet? GMC? Buick? Does it really matter? They’re all variations on the same SUV/Crossover theme; they run together in a blur of alleged practicality – and hugeness – that has grown to be mind-numbing and relentlessly tedious. That’s why when a car like a Challenger or a Corvette rumbles by, or even a crisply executed sedan appears out of the blue, it’s almost a revelation.
Will the pendulum ever swing back? I am out there looking for it right now, but given the projected designs I am seeing for the Electrification Age I am more than a little concerned. Designers around the globe appear to be stuck in neutral designing variations on the rolling box theme, shifting a line here, playing with the greenhouse there and coming up with basically the same damn thing.
How uninspiring is that?
And that’s the High-Octane Truth for this week.