I bumped into the above digital render today, as it was posted to the Instagram account of “Type 7,” an official factory marketing and content arm of Porsche. So it was posted, essentially, by Porsche, and before I excoriate it, let me say that the work done on this render - the actual technical skill required to make it - is beyond reproach. Talented cats, these. No question about it.
But… come on.
WTF is this?
Because Type 7 is part of Porsche it has a broad reach, and because it has broad reach, there were dozens of comments below the post, most taking some form of “awesome!” and “badass!” and “what the 911 Dakar should have been!” You know the drill. Lots of explosion emojis and flame emojis…. Typical stuff.
But… come on. How old are we? Seven? Because if we’re all seven years old, then current automotive design trends make perfect sense. But I don’t think we’re all seven years old. What is going on these days? I know this is just a render, but just because we can do something doesn’t mean we should, and besides, ridiculousness is not confined to the world of digital renders. It exists in the steel and aluminum and plastics of honest-to-goodness production vehicles, too.
WTF is THIS?!
Do we need to talk about radiator grilles? Do we need them to be as large as hockey rinks, or as menacing as a rabid hyena? How about headlamps? Does every headlamp need to glare at us, with an evil, terrifying, squinty stare? Is it important for our production vehicles, even our most mild-mannered “crossovers,” to look like they intend to kick the living shit out of us? What are we designing? Motor vehicles we want to drive, or marketing tools to promote a UFC cage match?!
© Frank Frazetta, and probably on the “mood board” at some automotive design office or another.
Where is the dignity, people? Where is the maturity? Where is the grace? Our motor vehicles shouldn’t be designed to menace people or to imply some kind of superiority or implied threat level. They shouldn’t look like childish, cartoonish “villain” cars, extras from some straight-to-streaming, dystopian film about the future. And our renders? Do they need to look like something out of a Franz Frazetta calendar?
My kingdom for some cooler heads. My kingdom for some restraint.
I yearn for a day, hopefully sooner rather than later, when automotive design, be it OEM, aftermarket, or even digital renders, returns to a medium of grace, style, dignity and maturity. I yearn for a day when a new BMW reminds me a bit of a 3.0CS and less of a Sylvester Stallone flick. I don’t have high hopes it will happen any time soon, but I yearn for that day.
I’m sorry, it probably cost a fortune, but… come on.
We’re primarily building Land Rovers here at Autology Motors, all day and every day. And when we’re designing them we’re generally spending a lot more time trying to figure out how to remove things from them than we are trying to figure out how to hang more doo-dads onto their flanks. Because not every Land Rover owner is using his ride for a 12 month van-life expedition in the antarctic, and building every one of them to create the false impression they are? That’s, just… not right. It’s like playing dress-up. It’s trying way, WAY too hard to make the vehicle, and the owner, look like something they aren’t. That isn’t our jam, and it really shouldn’t be too many people’s jam either. It’s inherently disingenuous.
What can we do about it? Not much. At Autology Motors, we just keep our heads down and keep building what we build. The automakers, and the rendering people, will keep making what they make. But I for one don’t intend to stay silent about it. I’m pretty much done with flamboyant, absurd, inelegant, cartoonish car design, and I don’t care where I see it.