Mar 20 2015
The latest concept it unveiled in Geneva, the LF-SA, is really extreme-looking, and what’s most surprising is that it shows off a vision of a futuristic city car, not some ridiculous unattainable supercar.
Lexus is really daring with the way it’s styling its cars (think IS, NX); it may turn out to be the exact opposite of timeless, but maybe future generations will look back with appreciation for the boldness of trying. It’s not pretty, heck no, but it looks like it’s from a Hollywood movie set in the future, and a movie with really high production values to. There’s no doubt that machines stamped out their metal panels, and the mishmash of lines they create could be called busy, but the result is a really unique and distinctive look.Good design rarely gets appreciated by its contemporaries – these new Lexus cars have a really sculptural quality about them. Lexus is the more extreme example out of all the Japanese brands, but I think the best one so far is Mazda. It now makes truly beautiful and also very sculptural-looking cars. Just look at all the sporty, aggressive faces it’s putting on its bread and butter cars. The Camry and Avalon, for instance, look like they want to physically eat the road ahead, but at least their design expresses some emotion and passion where before there was absolutely nothing in that respect. As we all know, that Honda is at it too, of course, although of all the manufacturers, it’s by far the most restrained with the styling of its vehicles. There are still examples like the super-sharp NSX, or the funky and practical new HR-V crossover; Acura, as a brand, needs to be reevaluated and changed, as in its current form it doesn't seem attractive to the usual German-loving premium buyer. Mazda has really attracted a lot of attention since it started designing its cars so that people would notice them for a change. Toyota is on board with this too.
Granted, a new Mazda is not as striking as a new Lexus, but many would undoubtedly argue they prefer the slightly more understated look of the former. Pick any car in the Mazda range, from the 2 to the 6 or any of the two smaller CX- models and you'll be treated to really high quality Italian-esque design. Perhaps VW’s is the way of stability and a purely evolutionary approach. Evolutionary gets old, but you can’t say the same about the revolutionary. The more traditionalist Europeans are keeping things mostly understated and not so in-your-face.
Although not all manufacturers are on board. This approach is obviously just as valid, and VW has been successfully applying it for decades and it’s seen many more flamboyant manufacturers struggle and even die around it.
