Thanks for the pics! They just reaffirm what I’ve said before – that as ugly as this thing looks in the marketing photos, they look even uglier in the wild. Seems impossible, but it’s true.
Oh, come on! Seriously? I admit that I have somewhat conservative styling preferences, but this will be a sadder and uglier world if anything even remotely like this catches on.
That’s a pretty good analysis, I think. I also find it interesting that, IMHO at least, of the two luxury German automakers, it’s always been Mercedes that had the edge on aesthetic design, and by a pretty wide margin. Not sure why, but some Mercedes models are truly beautiful, while BMWs IMHO are mostly just OK, and sometimes rather odd-looking. The difference in the aesthetics between those two companies is quite amazing.
Agreed – I always thought that was a weird look, and that the Model S looked so much nicer. Which is why I concluded that the idiotic styling of the front of the Model 3 must have been Musk’s personal choice, if not even if his own personal concept.
The low and pointed front ends of Tesla and Mercedes EVs isn’t just for looks. EVs need to be very aerodynamic to extend range. The EVs with high front and hood lines like the BMW, Lightning and Volvo are that way because they’re not designed as EVs, they’re ICE chassis modified for EV drivelines. And some EVs look more normal because some buyers want a normal-looking car or truck.
Oh, come on! Seriously? I admit that I have somewhat conservative styling preferences, but this will be a sadder and uglier world if anything even remotely like this catches on.
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I was trying to be nice, seriously, and also trying to answer the question, WTF were they thinking? I am not a fan.
I can imagine myself as a new employee, first week on the job, sitting in a conference room while they unveil the new design — putting on my best poker face, inside I’m thinking WTF are they thinking??!!
I’m not a huge fan of the Cybertruck styling, but it’s growing on me. Particularly because with it around you start to notice just how bland and similar all the other trucks are, and how they all look the same. Only a fan can tell the difference between a Dodge RAM, a Ford F-150 and a Chevy Silverado 1500. Slight details in hood design, different taillights, etc. And trucks have been that way since the 1940s. It’s nice to see something different.
That said, I think the demand for electric trucks fell off a cliff this year. My local Ford dealer has 113 Lightnings sitting on the lot, with many discounted $8,000-$10,000. A year ago, you had to make a reservation and wait to get one. A year of cold weather spells and attempts at regular pickup truck usage have thrown a bucket of cold water on electric trucks.
If the EV mandates aren’t rolled back (but they will be), the big winner, IMO, will be the Dodge RAMCharger. It’s the only EV truck that actually does not compromise on anything except cost. I’ll bet the Lightning has a gas generator option by next year. Tesla has no experience with gas engines, so they are going with a battery-only range extender for Cybertruck. That’s not going to cut it, I’m afraid.
Anyway, some of the weapped Cybertrucks look pretty good.
Maybe. But it doesnt have to be Musk’s personal input.
EV noses in 10-15 years will not look like ICE noses of e.g. 2015. How they will be styled differently is TBD. But they will be styled differently. I think the Model 3 was a darn decent stab at “form follows function” for the actual cooling inlet needs of a designed-from-scratch EV. Especially when you consider Model 3 has now been on the market unchanged for 7 years and was designed more like 10+ years ago. At a time when then-contemporary ICE noses did not look like they do in 2024.
As @Sam_Stone says just above, other than Tesla most of the other EVs on the market are minimal-change variants of existing ICE designs and as such resemble ICEs more than they need to, and also more than they optimally should for function. And definitely the aesthetic designers at all the EV manufacturers are just beginning to explore the expanded form space that’s compatible with the different and smaller cooling function of EVs.
Yes he was. That’s part of @wolfpup’s immediately-previous post.
I’m a big fan of the “form follows function” principle. But the front end of the Tesla Model 3 ain’t it. The impression one gets is that they created a clay model with a normal-looking tapered front end and someone – maybe Elmo himself – took a kitchen knife to it and sliced off the tapered end, creating a strange-looking featureless flat space. From what I’m seeing (in pictures, not IRL) the 2024 Model 3 has a redesigned front end that is more refined and softens that previously odd feature, though still no grille (but that’s fine). Here’s an example:
the reason for this “Look-at-meee” BMW grill is not Lexus (why would BMW copy a 2nd or 3rd tier lux. car company? when they have MB/Audi (who are way stronger competitors) across the street) … but the asian market and their fable for demonstrative consumption (think “sheikhs and chinese money”)
at least thats the predominant “reading” in the german specialized press
Now anyways, often in online discussions I hear that one of the reasons for BMW’s large grilles is due to Chinese tastes. I never looked further into that until now. Looking at Google, BMW’s design boss never said that China in particular likes big grilles, he just said that Europe prefers stealthier cars. FWIW, a survey on Weibo was conducted with 10,000 respondents and 2/3rd of the respondents preferred the smaller 3 series grille over the 4 series grille.
In that link, there’s a long list of Chinese-made cars and foreign cars made for the Chinese market, and BMW stands out as being the only one to go so significantly down the ugly path. And not even consistently!
Not really relevant to anything: I wanted to buy an M4 but just couldn’t make myself do it. And I’m a firm believer in the line of thinking that says a car’s looks don’t matter that much as you can’t see the car while you’re driving it. But damn, the M4 is too much for even that hand waving.
I’m similar. I was really hoping that ugly grille did not propagate to the rest of their line-up or I’d have to switch to some other (and therefore inferior ) brand of car.
Or keep driving what I have until they came to their senses a few years later & changed to something less offensively pig-like.
I don’t have time now for a proper reply, but to me a Mercedes is about as exciting as a Maytag. Stodginess personified. Don’t like how they look, don’t like how they drive.
I see that you and I have some different values in that respect, and that’s fine. To each his own. Personally, I wouldn’t own a Mercedes either, unless I was rich enough to have a whole stable of cars, because they’re high maintenance. OTOH, so are BMWs.
I’m more a Toyota Camry kinda guy. Also, my washing machine is a Maytag. Are they stodgy? Do they lack excitement? When I go to pick up groceries or when I do laundry I’m not looking for excitement. In fact, I think it’s fair to say that I’m hoping not to find it. I suppose it means that I’m the one that’s stodgy. So be it.
But to get back to the subject of the thread, I wouldn’t be caught dead in a Cybertruck. It’s probably the ugliest thing I’ve ever seen on wheels with the possible exception of the 1899 Horsey Horseless, but mercifully, the Horsey was apparently never built, while the Cybertruck unfortunately has.
Same. With the exception of some of the looney tunes AMG models that are way out of range, the cars I’ve driven are all indexed too far over on the comfort and isolation side of the scale.
The funny thing about this is that my wife’s Tesla misses on comfort and isolation, but in ways that irritate, not excite.
As I said, to each his own. But when I pay good money for a car, I don’t expect to get my teeth rattled by the kind of suspension and road feel that I associate with the Radio Flyer red wagon of my childhood.
