I passed a new Audi the other day with its gaping maw of a front grille and it hit me-- THIS IS WHAT THE BMW DESIGNERS WERE AIMING FOR!!! **EXCEPT**
Someone unfortunately remembered "hey don't we have a split grille as our design identity? Let's just put a vertical bar in the middle of it, "es ist gut!"
Consider. The following cars don't look so bad once the gaping maw grille is assumed as a stylistic baseline for cars these days:
AMIRITE???
If ostentatious is what your target market wants, then distinctively ugly is better than generically ugly.
Mr_Asa
UltimaDork
9/21/23 3:05 p.m.
Driven5 said:
If ostentatious is what your target market wants, then distinctively ugly is better than generically ugly.
Read somewhere that the big driving factor for these hideous grills is what sells in China.
Not sure how true it is, but if so its an interesting view of how one culture can effect another stylistically
In reply to Mr_Asa :
I read that too. A large grill is considered to be a sign of wealth. I can only imagine from the days when most pleebs were driving some crap box and the elite were driving RR and Bentleys.
But yeah, one country's poor taste is effecting the rest of us. Not that I can afford, or want a new BMW.
In reply to Mr_Asa :
That is also what I've heard. Designers (from all brands) are moving away from stylistic choices that appeal to the occidental senses because Europe and the US are no longer going to be the major automotive consumers in the world.
I've heard that too, but think it's considerably more nuanced than credited. If that styling were only appealing to foreign market customer, it would have hurt sales and/or market share here... Which it has not.
GRM'ers may still generally find that type of ostentatiousness unappealing, but Americans as a whole apparently do not. Just look at the full-size trucks.
The top car is doing a creditable impression of a whale shark...
That makes sense and it's a little less bad...but not much.
Recon1342 said:
The top car is doing a creditable impression of a whale shark...
Thus the term "krill grille"
Nope. .. . Just not a fan of that look.
Absolutely not what I thought this thread was about
Mndsm
MegaDork
9/21/23 7:41 p.m.
Boy was this not what I thought this was.
This is the beautiful Beaver face I choose to side with.
RevRico said:
Absolutely not what I thought this thread was about
Yeah, I came here expecting Buc-ees!
Guys, cmon, I'm not saying it's now GREAT, just that we're no longer doing woodland creature caricatures, and that's worth SOMETHING. I mean, indeterminate whale mouth? That's "Ehh"
Buck teeth?? That's awful. Like truly.