Rest in peace, German auto design

[NFS4]

A styling benchmark, simple and restrained, has been squandered

By Jens Meiners
Automotive News / May 23, 2005

I lament the passing of the German tradition in automotive design.

A study of virtually all of the recent offerings of carmakers such as Audi, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Porsche and Volkswagen reveals that there is little if anything that identifies them as the offspring of a specifically German school of design.

German design is characterized by restraint, simplicity and functionality. There is a certain solidity, and every detail serves a purpose. You still find it in the furniture of Rolf Benz and the architecture of Oswald Mathias Ungers. But you don't find it in German cars anymore.

For decades, one knew that German cars were technological marvels, of infallible quality and capable of the highest speeds. Thus, with all their simplicity and restraint of styling, they exhibited an air of cool superiority.

The Mercedes W-126 S class, sold from 1979 to 1990, still will be regarded as a classic when the current, Lexi-fied model has long been forgotten. And the Bauhaus tradition has never been reflected better in the automotive world than in the aerodynamic and cleanly styled Audis of the 1980s and 1990s.

It must please competitors no end that this trademark of a specifically German design, which they had never quite been able to copy in a convincing manner, has been squandered in just a few years.

Poor Porsche

If you're looking today for tasteful restraint, you will certainly walk right past the Porsche Cayenne, which sports one of the biggest grilles in the industry, ironically coming from a company with a rear-engine heritage.

Indeed, one used to be able to identify a Porsche by its proportions. Even a 911 with a flat nose and pop-up headlights, a factory option in the 1980s, was immediately recognizable as a 911. By contrast, plastering current 911-look-alike headlights on a generic SUV doesn't create a true Porsche.

If you admire purposeful Bauhaus architecture, you may wonder about the exact purpose of Volkswagen's glitzy new chrome face, which showed up first on the new Passat. While it looks flashy to some, the style may wear quickly. Certainly the previous Passat - before its chrome-laden facelift - was a timeless design.

Much has been written about BMW's new styling direction. The distorted "flame surfacing," particularly obnoxious on the Z4, is a prime example of nonfunctional styling.

And the voluptuous lines of the Mercedes-Benz CLS, arguably a pretty car, suggest that space is as abundant on European roads as on American interstates. But it isn't. Previously, German design has never been wasteful.

Tears and shark fins

In the drive to come up with shiny new bells and whistles, designers have even moved the gear selector up to the steering column in the BMW 7 series and the upcoming Mercedes-Benz M, R and S classes. It must have evaded Stuttgart and Munich that the column stalk, which was banned from German cars decades ago as decidedly uncool, has carried on faithfully in vehicles as forward-looking as the Buick LeSabre and Lincoln Town Car. Perhaps Buick and Lincoln were right after all?

A former Audi designer tells me that just a few years ago he would have been "ripped apart" for proposing the type of glitzy details that now characterize the appearance of almost all German concept cars and production vehicles: Think of the tear-shaped instrumentation in the Audi A6, the glittering eyes of the Mercedes SL and that antenna on the roof of any BMW, which was embarrassingly styled to resemble a shark fin.

Some of the new designs have been applauded; others haven't. In the long run, I believe none of them will pay off. The ideology that new is always good is plainly wrong - especially when you used to be the benchmark.

 

[loup garou]

My feelings exactly.

 

[Aharami]

:thumbsup:
although i dont agree with the z4 comments. i love the way z4 looks

 

[Squisher]

BooHooHoo. People don't like boxy Benzes anymore.

He's probably mad because he couldn't design cars using nothing more than a straight edge.

 

[StageLeft]

Question is how is Germany doing overall in car sales? I know that a lot of enthusiasts hate the new BMWs, but sales tell a different story: customers are buying them.

 

[Aharami]

Originally posted by: Skoorb
Question is how is Germany doing overall in car sales? I know that a lot of enthusiasts hate the new BMWs, but sales tell a different story: customers are buying them.

i guess the enthusiasts are the old timers who love the old designs. but the new buyers like the new designs. so i guess the german automakers are doing well in keeping up with the times

 

[91TTZ]

The world seems to be getting dumber. People have forgotten their roots, they have forgotten what really matters. The good thing about that is that the companies that still "get it" will absolutely destroy their lame competition.

 

[JulesMaximus]

Agreedx100

 

[91TTZ]

Originally posted by: Aharami

Originally posted by: Skoorb
Question is how is Germany doing overall in car sales? I know that a lot of enthusiasts hate the new BMWs, but sales tell a different story: customers are buying them.

i guess the enthusiasts are the old timers who love the old designs. but the new buyers like the new designs. so i guess the german automakers are doing well in keeping up with the times

I wouldn't say that. I just think it's a matter of pandering to the market. Selling a line of bland cars, while boring, will get the most sales. Having a nice car with its own identity is great for enthusiasts, but to the average idiots out there, they're more likely to buy a bland car.

Think Camry/Accord.

 

[StageLeft]

Originally posted by: 91TTZ

Originally posted by: Aharami

Originally posted by: Skoorb
Question is how is Germany doing overall in car sales? I know that a lot of enthusiasts hate the new BMWs, but sales tell a different story: customers are buying them.

i guess the enthusiasts are the old timers who love the old designs. but the new buyers like the new designs. so i guess the german automakers are doing well in keeping up with the times

I wouldn't say that. I just think it's a matter of pandering to the market. Selling a line of bland cars, while boring, will get the most sales. Having a nice car with its own identity is great for enthusiasts, but to the average idiots out there, they're more likely to buy a bland car.

Think Camry/Accord.

And it makes good business sense...on the one hand they kill the brand...porsche has done this with their soul-crushing SUV and Hummer is about to do it by releasing a tiny me-too hummer. Mercedes bastardized it with that little crap box they have, and BMW has done it with that murderously pitiful 1-series, but if they can make more money it probably makes sense. It will scare away some diehard customers who bemoan the new lineups, but most people just don't care enough.

 

[91TTZ]

Originally posted by: Skoorb
And it makes good business sense...on the one hand they kill the brand...porsche has done this with their soul-crushing SUV and Hummer is about to do it by releasing a tiny me-too hummer. Mercedes bastardized it with that little crap box they have, and BMW has done it with that murderously pitiful 1-series, but if they can make more money it probably makes sense. It will scare away some diehard customers who bemoan the new lineups, but most people just don't care enough.

I think that decisions like this are very short-sighted, though. Like you said they kill the brand but make more profits. But this only lasts for the short term, for eventually their sales will fall when the brand has been watered down enough.

Imagine if Toyota cut a bunch of corners and made a new car for $9,000. The car wouldn't be reliable at all but they'd still sell a bunch of them due to the price and the perceived quality that goes with the Toyota name. They'd have great sales for a short period, but once the word gets out that they're pieces of crap, the sales will fall drastically and the Toyota name will be tarnished, and it'll take years to build it back up.

 

[eLiu]

Originally posted by: Squisher
BooHooHoo. People don't like boxy Benzes anymore.

He's probably mad because he couldn't design cars using nothing more than a straight edge.

i love the boxy benzes 🙁

 

[StageLeft]

Originally posted by: 91TTZ

Originally posted by: Skoorb
And it makes good business sense...on the one hand they kill the brand...porsche has done this with their soul-crushing SUV and Hummer is about to do it by releasing a tiny me-too hummer. Mercedes bastardized it with that little crap box they have, and BMW has done it with that murderously pitiful 1-series, but if they can make more money it probably makes sense. It will scare away some diehard customers who bemoan the new lineups, but most people just don't care enough.

I think that decisions like this are very short-sighted, though. Like you said they kill the brand but make more profits. But this only lasts for the short term, for eventually their sales will fall when the brand has been watered down enough.

Imagine if Toyota cut a bunch of corners and made a new car for $9,000. The car wouldn't be reliable at all but they'd still sell a bunch of them due to the price and the perceived quality that goes with the Toyota name. They'd have great sales for a short period, but once the word gets out that they're pieces of crap, the sales will fall drastically and the Toyota name will be tarnished, and it'll take years to build it back up.

From a quality perspective it would be objectively a brand killer, just as VW is now reaping the results of their pathetic quality in the past few years, as evidenced by their poor sales numbers. They cut corners and now the word is out.

I think the prestige of a brand is a bit more subjective though. As long as you don't put too much crap in your line people will excuse you for having one cheap little crapper in there. Remember when porsche made the 914. It was slower than a dump truck missing an engine, but the name has not taken any long term damage because of it. If porsche released a little $28k two seater and then a $30k sedan that sucked...those things would do a good number on it.

FWIW I think hummer has already done it. The name hummer was synonymous with pimpaciousness when the H1 was around. The H2 was still expensive enough that only a well-off person could get one. Once everyone on your street has an H3 we'll see the name properly brutalized.

 

[Kadarin]

The new BMW 3, 5, and 7 series styling looks like utter crap.

 

[NFS4]

Originally posted by: Aharami
:thumbsup:
although i dont agree with the z4 comments. i love the way z4 looks

Z4: Bangled mess. Slashes up and down the sides, Ferrari 575 wannabe trunk/rump, front-end/headlamps with Downs syndrome. Not nearly as timeless a design as the Z3. It's trendy bullsh!t that INSTANTLY dates itself. Z3/M-Roadster = timeless, 507 = Timeless, Z8 = Timeless, Z4 =- trendy bullsh!t.

 

[Triumph]

Maybe it's the fact that the rest of the world has changed to mimic the German designs. Styling is relative, and with brands like Lexus, Acura, and Infinity created solely to take aim at the German makers, it was bound to happen that everything would start looking alike. You can't be understated OR overstated when everything looks the same.

Look at 1979 and a selection of cars that were available at that time.
German
American
Japanese

Maybe this journalist should be chastising the OTHER countries for losing their identity.

1979 730
New 745i

Now you tell me, who has changed their design philosophy more, BMW or that Lincoln? :roll:

 

[GTaudiophile]

:beer: