Lamborghini design

[Iluvatar]

I hoped they were back on nice and elegant style with the Asterion, but I was wrong, the new Centenario is again an ugly beast... am I the only one who really dislike this kind of design? I know their target is the tasteless chinese/arabian billionaire, but should we resigned to this fate for the brand that created the Miura??

[Paul Jaray]

I don't like them. 

[Carnut]

I don't like them. 

Nor do I.
I think the 21st century crop of supercars, like the Ferrari FF etc., are plain ugly.
Modern cars have gone the way of modern classical music: if they're not shocking, they're considered no good.
Beauty and purity of line are out of the window and anyone who dares to design a car that way these days is criticized for being retrospective and unoriginal..
The days of the Ferrari 250 GT Lusso, Maserati Ghibli, Iso Grifo are long gone and will never return, but at least we have those to drool over.
If I were a rich man I'd have no interest whatsoever in buying a modern supercar; but my garage would be full of beautiful cars from the 1960s and 70s.

[Otto Puzzell]

An exaggeration on an all-too-common theme these days. In the 1970's, some Japane brands were notorious for adding 'surface excitement', i.e., lots of creases, bulges, vents, spoilers and louvers.

It's the same with many cars today  a simple, clean design is largely ignored. But this abomination, seen at Geneva, will probably sell big, as did Datsun and Toyota in the 1970's:

[Iluvatar]

An exaggeration on an all-too-common theme these days. In the 1970's, some Japane brands were notorious for adding 'surface excitement', i.e., lots of creases, bulges, vents, spoilers and louvers.

It's the same with many cars today  a simple, clean design is largely ignored. But this abomination, seen at Geneva, will probably sell big, as did Datsun and Toyota in the 1970's:

Looks like this is the answer to the lack of new ideas or (and it's even worst) to the lack of courage to innovate.

[Ultra]

I like the Asterion.  The rest, not so much.

[Carnut]

I like the Asterion.  The rest, not so much.

In keeping with most, I think, including me.

[Ultra]

The rear window/c-pillar section of the Asterion reminds me of the AMX.

[Paul Jaray]

How many times did you hand washed your car lately? Isn't that nice when you follow its surface with the sponge and make it shine again under the sun? I know this would be the last of the problems here, but this design is ..unfriendly. Each time I visit a Salon with classic cars, I enjoy following the lines and the curves with my hand... If you try with one of these you'll risk to cut yourself.
Cars used to be like women...you can't resist to the sensuality of some proportions and curves...it seems like we are facing now a gothic era, where the impression you have to receive from a car is not beauty, but chok. Or like modern art, you can love it or not, you can understand it or not, but it will always be distant from the canonic beauty of classic art.
(..or it just mean we are getting old  )

[Otto Puzzell]

Well stated 

[Carnut]

Agree 100%.
In an earlier post I likened it to modern orchestral music.
Classical music was always based on harmony and beautiful tunes, but this was rejected by 20th composers and critics as "old hat".
It became fashionable for a piece of music to sound like the orchestra tuning up their instruments prior to their performance...

When going to a concert, locally here anyway, any modern music has to be sandwiched in between classical pieces by the great composers.  They know they have to do that otherwise the audience will simply go home early or arrive late to avoid having to listen to the modern rubbish..

I think cars have gone the same way.  Today's generation would say it's progress..  And I think they are even bought by different people.  Today's ugly supercars are bought by footballers and Arab princes with way too much money and no taste.  The real cognoscenti buy classic cars, and look at the way the prices of them have gone sky-high to reflect the demand for them..

[Iluvatar]

Or like modern art, you can love it or not, you can understand it or not, but it will always be distant from the canonic beauty of classic art.

We can add that the last decades have seen the arrival of a new kind of customers, from the developing countries were the concept of canonic beauty and classic art is totally different from ours.
It's unquestionable that luxury cars are developed with an eye (maybe two) to that growing market.

[Iluvatar]

I think cars have gone the same way.  Today's generation would say it's progress..  And I think they are even bought by different people.  Today's ugly supercars are bought by footballers and Arab princes with way too much money and no taste.  The real cognoscenti buy classic cars, and look at the way the prices of them have gone sky-high to reflect the demand for them..

And for the taste of western old-fashion enthusiasts there are also some retro revivals like the (now a bit old) Alfa Romeo 8C, with a wink to classic design.

I think that the revival of coachbuilding (as the case of Touring with the Disco Volante or the Berlinetta Lusso, Pininfarina with the new Stratos or the P4/5 and so on) is the enthusiasts' answer to the turn took by the design of bigger car makers.

[nicanary]

Agree 100%.
In an earlier post I likened it to modern orchestral music.
Classical music was always based on harmony and beautiful tunes, but this was rejected by 20th composers and critics as "old hat".
It became fashionable for a piece of music to sound like the orchestra tuning up their instruments prior to their performance...

When going to a concert, locally here anyway, any modern music has to be sandwiched in between classical pieces by the great composers.  They know they have to do that otherwise the audience will simply go home early or arrive late to avoid having to listen to the modern rubbish..

I think cars have gone the same way.  Today's generation would say it's progress..  And I think they are even bought by different people.  Today's ugly supercars are bought by footballers and Arab princes with way too much money and no taste.  The real cognoscenti buy classic cars, and look at the way the prices of them have gone sky-high to reflect the demand for them..

Beethoven v. Stockhausen. (Ludwig wins after extra-time in a penalty shoot-out  )

[Paul Jaray]

I think cars have gone the same way.  Today's generation would say it's progress..  And I think they are even bought by different people.  Today's ugly supercars are bought by footballers and Arab princes with way too much money and no taste.  The real cognoscenti buy classic cars, and look at the way the prices of them have gone sky-high to reflect the demand for them..

I don't think it's that simple, in my opininon. Probably when Pininfarina showed his Cisitalia it became universally known as his masterpiece because the time was right for that. A pontoon design was already there. Even in the 30s there were such designs (without PF's grace and style of course) but when you compare the masterpieces of those years (like some coachbuilt French cars, a classic Auburn, some Alfa and dozens more) with those experiments (teardrop cars or streamlined cars), you register them as strange, interesting or original...but you can't call them nice or elegant.
Now, looking at a '34 Bendix, for example, we can see how it was ahead of its time and we look at it with a different eye.
I think this new design it's not just the result of a tastless new generation, but a signal of the change the object car is facing: we used to love, cuddle and respect our car, it's like a member of our family. Now it's like a TV or a washing machine and it has to scream out loud it's main character: if you look at these beasts you'll see speed, power, aggressive performances. I'm sure the Countach (or the Testarossa) had the same impact, but now that we saw also other wedge shaped cars, we assimilated the concept.
Don't forget we are now in the SUV craze...a vehicle that still has to explain (to me at least) its nature.

[Iluvatar]

I don't think it's that simple, in my opininon. Probably when Pininfarina showed his Cisitalia it became universally known as his masterpiece because the time was right for that. A pontoon design was already there. Even in the 30s there were such designs (without PF's grace and style of course) but when you compare the masterpieces of those years (like some coachbuilt French cars, a classic Auburn, some Alfa and dozens more) with those experiments (teardrop cars or streamlined cars), you register them as strange, interesting or original...but you can't call them nice or elegant.
Now, looking at a '34 Bendix, for example, we can see how it was ahead of its time and we look at it with a different eye.

In the past we can identify some revolutionary cars, which introduced a new concept catalyzing the evolutions of prior years. The Cisitalia 202*, the Lancia Florida by Pininfarina, the Citroën DS, the Lancia Stratos Zero concept by Bertone.
What they have in common is that they were considered beautiful and revolutionary also when they were new, and they was an inspiration for all the following models. Something we don't see with any modern car.

*in fact the revolution of the Cisitalia was not the pontoon line (it's not a real pontoon having the rear fenders shaped out of the side) but the bonnet line lower then the fenders, a real new feature!