Regardless of the final merits of this SUV when finally produced it does (IMO) have great styling. Why can’t huge car companies investing billions in design and R&D put out a mid market car that looks like this? Is it really so expensive to make the sheet metal look that way?
Actually, for a Lamborghini, that one’s pretty conventional-looking.
For all of us who want a snazzy-looking car, there are dozens of schlubs who want boring angles and sharp “lines” are somehow a turnoff.
To be honest, the Lambo looks cramped; more style than substance. Then again, so do most crossovers. I just saw the inside of a Ford Edge; my wife said it was roomy, but I felt my shoulders squeezing in every seat.
That’s really not that great looking.
Are you familiar with the phrase “all hat and no cattle”? Most guys -a and guys are the market for snazzy-looking cars - wouldn’t be caught dead in a car that *looks *fast and expensive, but isn’t. It’s the same reason most women don’t walk around with cubic zirconias the size of the Hope Diamond.
Just because a car looks nice in concept art, posed photos and on the floors of auto shows doesn’t mean they’re going to look nice in the real world. Edgier design concepts look cool in isolation, but they often don’t fare so well when you have to park them next to other cars and they have to exist along with a more conservative architectural milieu. The prime example of this might be the Pontiac Aztek, which was wildly popular and acclaimed as a concept car and so GM decided to sell it with very few stylistic changes. Once they actually started showing up on dealer’s lots and on the streets though, people’s opinions changed in a hurry.
A company like Lamborghini can get away with styling like that because even if you’re driving an ugly Lamborghini you’re still driving a Lamborghini and sticking out like a sore thumb is sort of the idea. With most normal cars, though, people want them to actually look nice beside all the other objects in their lives.
There are plenty of mid-market cars with aggressive styling. Camaro, Mustang, etc. The current trend in that segment seems to be a sort of retro boxy look, not the sleek styling of most supercars, but that’s just the way design cycles go. It’s possible that they’ll make the 2018 Camaro look like a Lambo.
Your average $30,000 sedan isn’t as sexy as a high-end Italian sport car is partly because function dictates form to a large extent. If Ferrari had to design an affordable front-engine car with 4 doors, a large trunk, roomy back seat, lots of headroom up front, a suspension suitable for everyday driving on potholed roads, that could be comfortably driven by a 5’ tall woman or a 6’3" man, they wouldn’t be able to make it look like a '64 250 GTO.
Mid-market cars also need to be appealing to a much larger market, which results in a simpler, more vanilla style. Also, if I’m buying a slick, exotically styled car, I want it to be able to live up to it’s looks. No one wants to be a poseur in a car that LOOKS fast but handles like a Toyota Corolla, they want the whole package. But when you deliver that package (powerful engine, sporty suspension, low, aerodynamic profile, slim sexy lines) you end up with a sports car, not a boring sedan.
I guess what I’m saying is that if you want a car that looks as sexy as a Lamborghini or a Ferrari, you have to buy a sports car.
I’ve been in love with Lamborghinis since i was a kid.
If i could have one classic sportscar, just for its sexy looks, it would probably be a Miura SV; i always thought that the Countach was one of the badassest looking cars on the road; the new Aventador is awesome; and i even admired the ugly-as-hell LM-002 for its sheer don’t-fuck-with-me size and appearance.
But the SUV linked in the OP is a fucking monstrosity.
This Ford Fusion is no shrinking violet, and the Taurus was a radical design for it’s time. The Chrysler 300 was a very distinctive car. Unfortunately, most of the recent GM design winners are confined to Cadillac and to a lesser extent, Buick. Hyundai has some very aggresive styling that doesn’t appeal to everyone, but is usually indicative of higher priced brands. The problem is that people still think Toyotas are the best and the none of the Japanese companies have never had a good design department. Mazda comes closest. The Japanese are pretty good at copying the good designs.
There’s no accounting for taste. This is a sexy SUV.
