Feature Article - Car Design: It's All In Your Head - 05/03

Interesting observations there.

 

Got to disagree with the final statement on the article...the Fit is a pretty successful world car.

 

The Article is from 2003, at which time Honda's car lines were merely the Civic and Accord (and neither the same as their overseas counterparts). Toyota's small car offering was the Echo. This was pre-xB.

Even the Fit is an interesting case. Europeans are often stunned that anyone would put the word "Sport" in connection with the Jazz. It's very much an "old lady" car in the UK, for instance.

YouTube - Honda Jazz commercial funny

About a world apart from "The Fit is Go" (whatever that is supposed to mean).

 

I think the point the author was making, which was supported by much of what Matano said, is that there have been no successful world cars that weren't localized for each market. Matano's example of the definition of "beige" illustrates why this is necessary, even for something as trivial as a dashboard color. From what I have seen on this forum, which has international participation, the basic Fit/Jazz design has been tweaked significantly in each market in which it is sold, but I would still call it a "world car."

Japanese automakers learned early on that they couldn't sell "Japanese" cars in the United States, often because of the (to American ears) goofy names used in the home market, such as the Toyota Starlet, and the Datsun Bluebird, Cedric, and Sunny automobiles.

 

but they endedup with werd names for japanses... like:

Toyota sequoia = sekoiya or a slang that means 'being cheap.'

Toyota Venza = benza or 'toilet seat.'

:D hahahaha.

 

bmw 3 series is universally favorable. Pontiac Aztec is naturally aesthetically repulsive to people ;).

 

If the VW Beetle and Jeep Wrangler had never existed, they'd be derided as hideous today; both are considered somewhat timeless by familiarity.

The BMW is a bit generic, but very well balanced in it's proportions to evoke a positive response. It's proportions ring true to our senses like the relative frequencies of sound in a full chord. The Aztek, like the Element, and Scion xB, has a very offbeat Vibe, a visual dissonnance that strikes many as unpleasant, much as the scale of unfamiliar music from a foreign culture sounds unnatural on the first listen.

The Fit seems, at least to me, to be designed to appeal to European eyes primarily. The 2009+ Fit is nearly a dead ringer for the 2005+ Mercedes-Benz A-Class:

 

Wow, that's a great observation - similarity with the A class.

Yeah, my point was precisely that some proportions in a car just seem to be universally liked while others arent. Of course there are nations that are so poor that they would enjoy any car, but i would think they would still prefer the same things people in wealthier countries prefer.

 

there are still changes to the fit for every market. the american fit looks nothing like its japanese counterpart imo.

i think the aspect of design needs to evolve with the times. 20 years ago, to see a car from another market, you had to go to that country. do you know why subaru and mitsubishi brought the wrx and the lancer evo to the united states? because of the video game gran turismo. as there becomes more and more media outlets to research and differentiate cars from foreign countries and domestic models, the more we will see consistencies in design from region to region.

 

Wow, where can I verify this?

 

i remember watching motorweek on the speed channel a few years ago they had an interview with the north american vp of subaru and he mentioned that if it werent for platforms for information and interaction like the internet and video games like gran turismo, alot of overseas companies wouldnt even consider bringing over some models that they do.

 

Ah, ok. Well, that is believable... result of globalization. Afterall, the 2007 fit finally offered for the first time in the US was selling since 2001 in Japan.

 

And that is, again, a very recent development. The article was written in 2003, and describes trends from years past. For example, the hatchback had all but disappeared from the scene at that point in time. Even cars which were primarily designed as hatches (Toyota Echo) were reborn as sedans in the US market. The hatch had been relegated to the bottom of the market; to be blunt, any subcompact was expected to be bare-bones and tacky. Look at the (other than the failed SI) final generations of Civic hatches... the CX and DX models of the 1996-2000 generation. The ever-present in our memories 1.3L Geo Metro hatchback. The Yugo. The Hyundai Pony.

The Mini Cooper and the Scion xA/xB/xD showed that a subcompact could still be a well appointed car. Hatches began to make a comeback, and once it was clear that there would be a market, Honda moved to bring an aging design over for what was clearly a "test-of-the-waters" before designing the GE8 with the US market entry planned from the start.

Another point: Look at the typical American car from 20-30 years ago. Long overhangs. Bench seats. Column shifters. Ribbon Speedometers. Pretensions of "luxury." Hood ornaments.

Look at a Honda Accord from that time period. Or a BMW. Now look at a current Chevy Malibu or Ford Fusion. American cars slowly migrated toward Japanese and European fashions over the years (and most Japanese fashions as presented in the US and Europe basically ape Euro fashions anyway. Don't see many Kei's or funky Japanese styled vehicles save for the occasional Cube or xB)