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HomeDesign

Design

2016 Toyota Prius styling is out of this world -- literally
Satire

Sci-fi design of 2016 Toyota Prius draws debate

June 27, 2016 Steve 0

AUTOMOTIVE VIEWS NEWSWIRE — If the 2016 Toyota Prius strikes you as out of this world, that’s on purpose. The normally staid Toyota Motor Corp. decided that the fourth-generation Prius needed space-age swoopiness to go […]

Quotes
Quotes

Chevrolet Camaro’s design has deteriorated over last 40 years

November 22, 2015 Steve 0

“Back in ’79 we were at a BBQ and the grill ran out of gas. The 5 gallon propane cylinder would NOT fit thru the trunk opening in my friend’s new Z-28. I see not much […]

2015 Honda Fit
Design Notes

2015 Honda Fit: Increasingly tacky

November 15, 2015 Steve 0

Over the years I’ve mostly bought Hondas — and almost always have gravitated toward the brand’s smallest models. Once the Civic got too big I was glad that Honda brought to the United States a […]

2015 Ford Mustang
Current Events

2015 Mustang: Faux pony car goes generic

November 15, 2015 Steve 1

With the 2015 redesign of the Mustang, Ford had the potential to reassert its leadership in what I have referred to as the faux pony car field. Instead, Ford took the cheap and easy way […]

Current Events

Should VW’s design chief fear civilization’s end?

July 27, 2014 Steve 1

(UPDATED 12/15/2022) Volkswagen Group’s global design chief Walter de Silva is worried that optimizing aerodynamics in order to meet tightening emissions standards could hurt aesthetics and branding. In an Automotive News question-and-answer piece, he complained […]

Drive-by musings
Drive-By Musings

Car design conformity was the norm even before regulations

June 10, 2014 Steve 0

Question-of-the-day features can often result in banal flame wars. That’s why I was pleasantly surprised that a “red meat” question by The Truth About Cars — is regulation ruining car design — generated a fairly […]

Readings

Reinventing the Automobile: Personal Urban Mobility for the 21st Century

April 30, 2013 Steve 2

The authors took a clean sheet of paper and sketched an alternative approach to car design that may seem mainstream today but was decidedly exotic when the book was published in 2010. They proposed a […]

Readings

High and Mighty: SUVs — The World’s Most Dangerous Vehicles and How They Got that Way

April 22, 2013 Steve 4

Although written by a former Detroit bureau chief of The New York Times, this book uses high-octane rhetoric to challenge the value of sport utility vehicles when they were just beginning to reach the peak of […]

Readings

Forward Drive: The Race to Build ‘Clean’ Cars for the Future

April 20, 2013 Steve 0

Almost all of the material in this book is now dated, but I include Forward Drive as a cautionary tale about heralding change in the American auto industry. Forward Drive was published in 2000. That was […]

Posts pagination

« 1 … 42 43
  • Is Jaguar smart to run away from its design heritage?
    October 8, 2026 20
  • AMC Pacer clay model
    Why does Joe Ligo’s PBS series sanewash AMC’s mid-70s recklessness?
    October 6, 2026 20
  • 2026 Ram pickups
    A pyrrhic regulatory rollback and how poorly the 1978 Matador coupe sold
    October 2, 2026 12
  • 1962 Chrysler 300
    Did the 1962-65 Chrysler 300 ‘dilute’ the letter series?
    September 29, 2026 7
  • 1968 Ford Mustang
    Three rules led to a stultifying level of conformity in 1960s U.S. car design
    September 24, 2026 12
  • 1976ish Toyota Corolla
    Data on imports sheds light on their dramatic gains from 1964-80
    September 18, 2026 5
  • 1974 Chrysler New Yorker
    1974 Chrysler New Yorker was a tragedy that played out on four levels
    September 16, 2026 16
  • Internet problems reminded me of U.S. automakers in the 1970s
    May 2, 2026 1
  • 1956 Buick hood scoop
    Readers brainstorm ideas for future Indie Auto stories
    October 14, 2022 141
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