Interesting simillarities. One a red dot winner ones obviously not.
The “6” …Separated at birth?
you guys must be joking, yes the front end graphics are roughly (very rough) similar if you squint but that is all! The porportions are dif, the form language is dif. i don’t believe i am actually wasting my time on something so obvious.
exactly. why is it when i see the 6 on the street out of the corner of my eye it makes my heart skip (the only bmw that does anymore actually) and i have never even noticed the other. like Gladwell points out in his book Blink… you just know it ain’t right (or it is a fake). two different designers can be given the exact same rough direction/brief… but only one has the touch. why is it that some designers have that innate touch and everything they work on turns to gold even if it just for a day? where others struggle for months and try to research and test every possible direction and then another can come in cold and just nail in immediately?..
talent, experience and clarity. clarity being possibly the most important.
Viscerally the primary semantics are identical: soap-bar shape, wide profile, nostril grille, clear projector-beam headlamps, sweeping hood flare…
Reflectively, we appreciate the subtleties of the BMW form and materials, and we bring emotional baggage regarding class status. That’s why BMW commands double the price. Are the aesthetics worth double the value?
We’re in an age of slowed innovation where the more subtle (reflective) the difference, the more status is perceived. Compare this with the early 20th C where hundereds of auto manufacturers radically differentiated themselves in styling and features.
I bet that if you were to swap the hood ornaments or slightly blur these two photos and share them with average consumers, you’d be surprised by the responses.
I glance at a 6 series in my rearview at 70mph and subconsiously perceive it as a Pontiac, specifically because my brain is wired to perceive the car that I see 100 times more of. Then when it passes I see the difference and wonder what the hell BMW was thinking…
I glance at a 6 series in my rearview at 70mph and subconsiously perceive it as a Pontiac, specifically because my brain is wired to perceive the car that I see 100 times more of.
I agree. but it’s the GTO for me, not the G6. The 6 series and the pontiac GTO, are way too similar in the front. I can’t stand all these cars looking the same, it drives me crazy. The worst right now, IMO, is the Corrola/Jetta, which aren’t bad looking cars, but it seems lazy to me. The rear end surfacing is identical, it almost looks like they’re sharing rear quater panels.
and we bring emotional baggage regarding class status. That’s why BMW commands double the price.
However that is what the consumer should be thinking not designers.
This is what bothers me.
The BMW gets a red dot award, and the pontiac…well cheap financing. This is where I get lost. I can’t see how a designer jury would give one a award and not even recognize the other. Goes to show that even designers get all held up and the brand name.
It’s like whenever the next i-whatever comes out people will be raving about it. But I think DESIGNERS should look at the DESIGN. Not about who made it.
As a former red dot recipient, they look at more than styling. It is based on the total design, from functionality, ergonomics, implementation (cost savings if any), and styling.
The reason BMW recieved it over say the G6 is the detailing mainly fit and finish. The pontiac is well an american car, body pannel gaps are generous, internal panneling always rattles (especially Pontiacs and I am actually a loyal Pontiac owner 4 TA’s only missing the Gen 1), paint is spray and go, never color sanded and polished until you do it yourself. Also the performace and overall tuning is generally less than what the exact engine would be in an import vertion (Sunfire / Celica same base 2.4L toyota engine)
I love that we are having a conversation of BMW vs. Pontiac.
You guys have rocks in your heads. The two are so far apart its not even funny.
Yea… the only simility i see is they are both 4 wheels…
Then you can’t see the forrest through the trees.
I think it scary not for GM but for BMW the problem is this…
the only reason BMW did what did is to move forward
what it did is move to the side. yes i agree they had to do something
but give up the pedegree should have not been an option.
What BMW should have done is design a GERMAN car that looks global
what i see now is a global car that is not german. Heritage is everthing.
MR. BANGLE could have design it. Donot get me wrong MR BANGLE IS A GREAT DESIGNER.
Women might love it because it looks trendy, neat features or needful, gps , other forms technology overload and BMW has step up marketing and public awareness.
The new lexus GS is scary,i know the British do not think of it as premuim brand BUT IT IS NO JOKE. RESTANCE IS FUTILE ASSIMILATION WILL OCCUR.
I own a mecedes 190 e 2.6 sport 95 and porche 944 turbo 90
I bought them because they were german cars
They make think different, they make me experience driving different
I am a id designer , other than the cool tv ads, great show rooms, ads in the wall street journal,awsome brohcures that they give to you. if you could strip all that prepsyic preping away , could you still sign the 700.00 amonth lease agreement and still believed YOU HAVE ARRIVED?.
in the old designs you could…
I agree with you but the case for nationism quality is erroding fast as globalism slowly becomes the norm. this is from a male view point but MOST MEN dont look at a pretty girl and say mans thats quaillty. they say man thats hot and they think about quality after the expience. Women are dating by the groves HOT in shape jerks all day long and giving them kids
and crying after they see the quailty is not there.
People at a glance donot always process Quality.
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I think I’ll make an Auto-design mistakes/dopplegangers topic in the transportation section. This is a great thread.
I read in Car when the Aston Martin DB6 debuted someone said that it was about they redesigned the Jaguar XK. And Ford wonders why Aston Martin is a blackhole.
Three weeks ago I was driving behind the new Bentley GT and thought, “that Pontiac Grand Prix looks strange”. They both have these kind of double horizontal oval tail lights.
I think that the auto industry has settled quite a bit. Essentially all new cars follow one of two engineering platforms, the Panhard system from the 1910’s (Radiater, engine, tranny, drive wheels), now modified by some to drive all four wheels. The other is the Mini system. FWD with transverse mounted engine. That limits the designers packaging options.
The second big factor is that no one wants to make a mistake. No one in the right mind would design the Tatra. What would the average person think about such an extremely different car? Marketers would say, probably correctly, that the buyer would say, “I’ll wait until I know more about this”, and hence kill the concept prematurely.
Mind you, the exceptions are always the most interesting objects. Smart, Porsche, Toyota MR2. All innovative design solutions to the same problems that everyone else is trying to solve!
it’s all about risk mitigation.
when the risk of not selling a car comes down to the fact that it looks too far from what was focus grouped, it doesn’t get off the clay table.