I have had this in mind for a long time and I believe many others also do. It seems nowadays every single car in every auto manufacturer is getting really round (also bigger and bigger). I think in terms of technology and performance, there's still PLENTY of room to advance, but I seriously don't know how the design of their look will become in future. I'm just picking BMW out of many many other examples here. A lot of models in BMW got very round and to me some lost its aggressive look, but I really have no idea how would next generation of BMW cars can look like.


I don't like too curvy looks

 

If by round or curves you mean smooth flowing lines, I don't think that has to be incompatible with powerful looks as well.

Most auto companies seem to follow the herd. Some that I thought didn't, like M-B, now seem to be getting in step. Disappointing.

I'll give Porsche credit, they may not have the best looks, but they do go with what they want to look like.

And say what you will about BMW, they seem to be ahead of the curve lately. That doesn;'t mean they look great, but other companies seem to follow them.

 

Yea.. but the Porsche sedans...

 

...but the Porsche sedans....will look just the way Porsche wants them to, and will sell like mad, and will help keep the company in the business of selling sportscars (and eating VW whole!). Maybe not as dramatically or as financially important as the Cayenne was, but I trust Porsche to know what they're doing.

And it's not like the sedans are going to look like a 914 or anything...

 

TR7: The Shape of Things to Come!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xkj_dxTfgEg

 

Great find. Amazingly ugly compared to the TR6. Should have nominated it for that other thread on bad design changes.

 

The GTR looks as boxy and square as a house. But it has a crazy low coefficient of drag.

 

Yeah, it's a trend I've seen too. My theory is that it's a combination of increasing safety regulations (side impact, pedestrian impact now etc.) and the normal space-efficiency arms race (people want their next car to have a bigger trunk and more legroom). The latter factor means that new small models have to be introduced every once in a while (Fit, 1-series, etc), but even those still look "fatter" than the small car of yesteryear (look at an 80s Civic or BMW 2002 for comparison) due to the safety stuff and because people just generally won't accept the level of smallness that used to be expected when buying a "small" car.

Thankfully, I think there will always be brands and models that push the envelope back in the direction of lean'n'mean, like Lotus, the Miata for Mazda, or the Cayman for Porsche. But in general, I'd guess that the shape of cars will continue to evolve toward the tall one-box "pod" design which ultimately will be the strongest and most space efficient shape possible for moving people and stuff around. On the way, we'll oscillate back and forth between hard-edge and flowing-form design themes as we have for decades I expect.

 

hmm..

 

hahahaha it looks like one of the cars from Pixars "Cars" ate too much