By John LeBlancWe waited for this? was my thought bubble when spy shots of what is speculated to be the next-gen Honda Civic in hot weather testing showed up in a video (above) this week. But then, I had the same light bulb go off when I first saw der neuBMW 6 Series on the Paris show floor a couple of weeks back. Putting 6 and Civic together, it’s hard not to ask: Is the age of adventurous car design dead?
The supposed 2012 Civic is an interesting case. The current model (left) has been around for a while, since its debut as a 2006 model. But its progressive styling has kept it fresh. Now, in the good old days, Honda would have rolled out a new Civic by now. Which was the plan. Like the current Accord, the next Civic was going to be larger and more luxurious than the outgoing model. But then tougher fuel economy regulations came into effect, which left the Japanese automaker scrambling to rethink its Civic plans. In the end, it opted for a simpler, lighter (i.e. more fuel efficient) Civic which caused the delay of the new car.
The next Civic may very well be more frugal. And maybe less expensive to build. But judging by what we can see behind the duct-taped prototype in the video, the styling looks like a step backwards. It’s now a dulled-down version of its formerly progressive design, causing the Honda to look a lot like too many other small cars out there.
At BMW, the days of controversially styled cars seem to be over. The German automaker appears to heading down the same me-too, me-too styling path as Honda and other automakers.
Under former head pen Chris Bangle, BMW was once the domain of groundbreaking designs that rivals copied shamelessly. Say what you will about Bangle and his “butts.” At least, however, the cars were progressive and interesting to look at. Which is something that can’t be said of the yawn-inducing cars coming out under new BMW design head, Adrian van Hooydonk.
Today, you can’t say the C Word around van Hooydonk. He doesn’t think his cars are “conservative.” But BMW will admit that another C Word—China, and its conservative luxury car buyers—has played a big role in how its cars now look. Sadly, its back to "the same sausage, different links" approach that was the BMW norm before departed Bangle started shaking things up in the late 1990s.
It started with the current Z4. Then the 7 and 5 Series. And now the new 6 Series (left), which has lost the distinctive looks of its predecessor (right) that date back to 1999’s Z9 Gran Turismo concept. And the list of less adventurously styled new cars doesn't stop there. The new 2011 Volkswagen Jetta versus the old Jetta, and the new 2012 Mercedes CLS versus the groundbreaking first model can also be thrown in the lost-design-mojo heap as well.
So tell me: Are you sad that car companies are becoming more risk adverse, and tightening the creative reins on their designers?
Or do you like your cars conservatively drawn?
[Sources: CAR, BMW]
