Why do many car companies have all of their models look the same?

[lowfatbaconboy]

[rant]
This is really starting to annoy me i don't understand why they would do this.....
for example
Nissan (350z, maxima, and their suv look very similar)
Caddilac (SRX, XLR, CTS, and to lesser extent the escalade)
Mazda(rx-8, mazda-3)

can they not come up with original design ideas for their cars so they just decide to reuse the same basic idea for many models?

(come to think of it alot of porsches/bmws/audis looked similar in the 90s but somehow it doesn't annoy me like this does)

[/rant]

 

[squirrel dog]

figure on an egg turned small side front in a few years .

 

[zimu]

hey... if it works, why not?

 

[zimu]

i'm actually surprised you didn't mention american cars.
i mean this country has the most same-looking cars in the world.

take the new F-150

 

[DainBramaged]

What annoys me even more is cars by different manufacturers that look alike. I.e. Ford and Mercury. Yeah they are both Ford's, but make them look more than just a little bit different .

 

[fs5]

it's called marketing, if you have all your cars look a like anybody who sees them will automatically recognize that it's from brand y. If you have different designs then people will remember the model not the brand.
like 7 hole-grill is jeep
double kidney is bmw
cross is dodge
etc.

 

[TheAudit]

Brand familiarity, they are supposed to look the same, a family of cars.

 

[Ronstang]

When you are marketing to lemmings then............

 

[slydecix]

Go buy a Hyundai then... those cars don't look anything alike

 

[Siddhartha]

Originally posted by: lowfatbaconboy
[rant]
This is really starting to annoy me i don't understand why they would do this.....
for example
Nissan (350z, maxima, and their suv look very similar)
Caddilac (SRX, XLR, CTS, and to lesser extent the escalade)
Mazda(rx-8, mazda-3)

can they not come up with original design ideas for their cars so they just decide to reuse the same basic idea for many models?

(come to think of it alot of porsches/bmws/audis looked similar in the 90s but somehow it doesn't annoy me like this does)

[/rant]

Because this is what people want to buy.