what are the tendencies of car design? can you say it in a general way for each decade since the invention of the Ford T model?
let's say, what was the design tendency of the 90's? minimalism? of te
80's? 70's?can anyone write it down for me please? thanks in advance.
On a broad scale, design tendencies tend to be that which sells. Auto makers are, after, first and foremost, profit making companies. That they make cars to make that profit only means that the cars are a means to make the profit. Stock holders tend to remind company officers of this pretty frequently. That said, each maker has its own "niche" in the market, and strives to make its product marketable within that niche. The prolification of models/brands the maker puts out is an attempt to fill that niche with so many different products that the customer who is shopping within that niche will be able to find what he wants.
Within that, most makers will pick and choose from available technologies to make their product more seductive to the customer. This means that if the niche doesn't include luxury performance cars, they won't be offered. (This is why Chevy, for example, doesn't attempt to compete with, say, Ferrari. Wrong market niche for Chevy.)
Given this, one can't really say that the tendencies are towards something as nebulous as "minimalism." Instead, the tendency is towards what the customer wants. The maker will not try to make the customer want anything the maker won't make. (This ignores government mandates.) So, why would a maker tend toward minimalism if the customer doesn't indicate that he wants it? For example, the customers' desires for, for example, SUVs (at present) will drive the makers to make more SUV models, in an attempt to make what the customer wants. (Ford's Excursion is a good example of a model that was made to fill a perceived need, which wasn't there. So Ford is dropping it.) After the gas 'shortages' of the 70's, the makers made what the customers wanted: high fuel mileage cars. This has been complicated now by CAFE rules. The majority of customers don't seem to want such cars, but the makers are required to make them anyway, and thus, try to sell them.
End result: the tendency is to make what sells. Market research is used to determine this as best as possible.
How many other places you ask this???? Try the library......
Auto design is much like music - not so much a tendency as an evolution. Decades matter little - it is phases, market driven phase. In the past, someone would venture a styling first and others would 'play' with it (fins were a prime example).
Currently we are in the "used bar of soap phase"..... from here I expect to see some really off the wall sh*t..... stuff that the editors of the 1957 Popular Science magazines could never even dream of.
-- Jim Warman snipped-for-privacy@telusplanet.net
Maybe you should do your own homework.
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