CAR DESIGN

WHAT WENT WRONG?

The Frank Stephenson event has got me thinking about cars. I’m not a big car guy like many others, I drive a 10-year-old Toyota Aygo for the record. Not much to brag about there. His talk did make me think about what I would consider great car design. Modern cars are faster, safer, more reliable, more fuel efficient, more comfortable but rather unfortunately... Boring

To talk about what the current state of automotive industry is I think it’s important to go back to the very start and work forward. One of the first mainstream affordable cars was the Ford Model T. First released in 1908 it undercut the competition and opened car travel up to the masses. The thing I find interesting about this car is how it was on the market for nearly 20 years and the design hardly changed. How often do you see that these days. You can look at the original Model T released in 1908 and one of the final ones off the production line in 1927 and they would look almost identical. Henry Ford thought he had made the perfect design, so why would he change it. Obviously this isn’t a perfect design by any means. Who wants to drive a car with no windows or proper doors...

Ford Model T, 1908

As someone who has never been overly interested in cars there is one that has always stood out to me. The 1964 Ford Mustang. If I was rich and confident enough to drive from the left-hand side without crashing this would be my dream car. Although it is hard to say what it is I like about it.

Ford Mustang, 1964

I think this era of American automotive design is my favourite. Perhaps due to the nostalgia of seeing cars like this in most movies and tv shows you see over the years. That sort of boxy style of intimidating and fierce looking cars. Everything was so distinct and not everything looked identical. I think the Mustang is a good example of this, boxy like the cars of the time but distinctly sporty looking. Just look at the detailing on the bumpers. A stunning smooth chrome rear and front bumper contrasting perfectly with the paint. A solid metal grille and detailing housing the tail lights. You just don’t see craftsmanship like it on cars these days.

Rear Bumper and Tail Lights

Front Headlights

The chrome detailing continues into the interior. A bright and elegant dashboard with clear and easy to read dials. It clearly lacks the luxuries of today’s premium car offerings, but I feel like it’s hard to deny it’s not stunning. The steering wheel and the sheer detail and amount of design that has gone into every aspect of the car. Look at how detailed the central logo is on the steering wheel.

Leather Interior and Dashboard

Centre of the Steering Wheel

Now compare this to the most recent version of the Ford Mustang. A nice car? Yes obviously. But is it really that special. I think my problem with modern cars is the reliance on plastic. Everything has plastic. Everything is plastic. You see cars on the road that cost upwards of £100,000 and it has the same cheap plastic grille as my Aygo.

Ford Mustang, 2024

The interior shows the most changes. Gone are the smooth curves and elegant details and in are the strange plastic angular vents and components. What is it about modern cars having to have such bizarre angular details in the design? The stunning dashboard speedometer and indicators replaced by a giant screen. Many modern cars seem to entirely do away with mechanical buttons all together, so it is good to see this model still features physical buttons to interact with. Consumers crave automation and technology in everything these days so obviously there is a reason for these innovations but in my opinion, it just looks cheap and tacky. It always makes me wonder how these cars will age. A traditional speedometer and dash will never go out of style. It does what it will always need to. What will happen to these cars when they stop getting software support or when the next newest thing comes out. It will be interesting to find out.

Interior

Dashboard and Speedometer

This gets even worse when you start to look at examples of electric cars. The design language seems almost lost. They are reminiscent of traditional cars, but with bizarre strange details as it seems like many companies almost don’t know how to design for this era.

Tesla Model Y

Ford Mustang Mach E

Electric Porsche Taycan

When you look at all these examples above it is clear that many of the features of what makes cars aesthetically pleasing in my eyes is being simplified down. Tesla led the charge by removing features like the grille. The problem is when you remove these features, they suddenly start to blend into one. It simply becomes an electric car, not a specific brands electric car.

Mercedes EQA SUV

AUDI e-tron GT quattro

A different approach has been taken by some to try and keep this sense of character. Mercedes and Audi are good examples of this choosing to keep the grille. Some features are also kept like exhausts even though they don’t need them. Purely because we are used to it. They are desperately holding onto that brand identity. People associate these features with their cars, and they don’t know what to do without them. Is it good design to be completely dishonest like this? Cars used to be designed around what was required of them. Things served a purpose. Now the familiar car design that we have become accustomed too is being slapped on top of a simplified electric frame that doesn’t need it, leading to these tesla clones or strange petrol-based cars that lie to you. I feel like a complete rethink is possibly required. Many of the most beautiful cars of the past came from embracing innovation and designing solutions around it, so I feel like it’s important to do this. I just don’t think a Tesla is the answer.

I think a huge aspect of this is also the colours of cars. People don’t buy a car with the intention of keeping it. They buy a car with the intention of driving it for a few years and selling it for as much as possible when they get bored of it. This in turn has led to every car being the same colour. This is illustrated well in this graph below. People don’t want a colour that might not sell. That leads to a sea of white, grey, black, and blue cars. I think part of the reason cars from the past outshine many of today’s modern counterparts is down to colour. You don’t see many stunning bold purple cars anymore or a beautiful forest green and I think that’s a shame. Look at the photo of a car park in the 70s, a variety of different shapes and colours. These days, most car parks look like the one on the right.

Car Colours by Year

1970s Car Park

Modern Day Car Park

This is another blog/rant with the recurring theme of everything used to be better. Maybe I’m just overly negative. Or maybe I’m right. I feel like this picture of a wee old man beside the Model T and a new Ford Mustang Mach-E sums it up well. There’s nothing special about the car on the left. The car on the right is nothing but character. Yes, there’s many reasons why cars are the way they are these days, but that doesn’t mean to say everything has to look the same. I don’t want another white or black car with angular detailing for no reason, I want something with character and a bit of something about it.

Harold Baggot with a new Mustang Mac-E and an original Model T