Are cars no longer elegant? Apparently not, says Ikuo Maeda, head of design for Mazda.
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Talking at the preview of the brand’s new Vision Coupe luxury grand tourer the night before Tokyo motor show, he said: “Not many cars these days can be described as elegant." He adding that “the state of cars is so complicated”, elegance can not be achieved.
Mazda Vision Coupe previews Aston Martin-rivalling grand tourer
But elegance is exactly what Mazda has aimed for with its new Vision Coupe concept, a sporting grand tourer that, at least conceptually, could rival an Aston Martin in the looks department.
Mazda uses lots of Japanese philosophy to describe its design ethic – most of which sounds like mumbo jumbo – but in essence, it is all about trying to achieve a minimalist aesthetic. “In Japan, in space where there is nothing, we see beauty. The empty space becomes the canvas,” says Maeda.
Whether Maeda was having a dig at other car makers with his elegance comment wasn’t clear, but there’s certainly lots of awkward-looking lines on modern cars – the new Nissan Leaf springs immediately to my mind, along with plenty of Toyota models.
The Vision Coupe isn’t due to make production, instead showing the second generation of Mazda’s so-called Kodo design language, but Mazda has absolutely achieved an elegant-looking car, with incredibly smooth lines, an impressive sweep on the body shoulder and an almost never-ending bonnet.
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Depends what you mean by
Depends what you mean by 'elegant'. In general I agree with you but there are still one or two 'elegant' cars in production eg. RR Ghost, RR (the other RR) Velar, Golf 7, Skoda Superb
My problem is the lack of innovation or ideas. When the current A class replaced the astonishing packaging of the original you know that Mercedes has become market- rather than engineering- or concept- led. When the conventional Polo based A1 replaced the avant-garde A2 you know that Audi is going down the same commercial route as Mercedes. When Fiat relies on the retro 500 to keep it going instead of designing great little cars like the 124, 128, original Panda, original Uno, Punto etc. you know that the car industry has become conservative, cautious and boring.
Hit the nail on the head.
Hit the nail on the head.
Car design nowadays is about designing everything to look like tonka trucks, modern traffic is like something from a dystopian future where everything is an SUV / urban assault vehicle.
Compare modern cars against those from the 60s-90s, so much more elegance in design. Compare an Alfa Spider to an Alfa Stevio and see what I mean.