Corsairs Grille Grows for it's Refresh

[ANTAUS]

Autoblog.com

[bzcat]

Chinese buyers preference for big tacky grille is really ruining all the designs. ?

 

I can't even look at a new BMW and I've owned 4. 

[DeluxeStang]

I'm pissed, Lincoln design just started to get good these last few years. If this is any indication of the things to come, it's going to start going downhill again.

[paintguy]

Increasing grille sizes when more than half is blanked off doesn't make sense. As Ford and Lincoln electrify, need for a grille will be eliminated. 

[AM222]

1 hour ago, paintguy said:

Increasing grille sizes when more than half is blanked off doesn't make sense. As Ford and Lincoln electrify, need for a grille will be eliminated. 

The grille-less Tesla face like on this Model Y is probably one of the blandest front ends. Like a face without a nose. 


I know some carmakers are filling that grille-less void with contrasting-colored panels/ patterned-panels and LED lights.
This Lincoln concept looks nice. Perhaps a toned down version of this front end design could make it to production (in some future EV model)?

Edited July 20, 2022 by AM222

[silvrsvt]

2 hours ago, AM222 said:

The grille-less Tesla face like on this Model Y is probably one of the blandest front ends. Like a face without a nose. 
 

IMO its more like someone shaving their eyebrows off...something is just off when you look at it. Having a grill on a car or some sort of pseudo grill (think Mach E) is so ingrained with car styling that it can turn off people when its missing.

 

The grill on the Corsair is very Audi like IMO. I think it will look better once the bright work is applied to it and it isn't just a monochromatic piece of shiny plastic. 

[akirby]

It needs the larger sync 4 screen.  That’s a game changer in our Nautilus.  The rest is fine.

[blwnsmoke]

Yes, looks like crap when majority is blocked off.  Remind me of the Explorer PIU which looks like ? ? with their grill.

 

I like big grills if done right.  Audi for example looks fantastic and executed well.

[DeluxeStang]

13 hours ago, AM222 said:

The grille-less Tesla face like on this Model Y is probably one of the blandest front ends. Like a face without a nose. 


I know some carmakers are filling that grille-less void with contrasting-colored panels/ patterned-panels and LED lights.
This Lincoln concept looks nice. Perhaps a toned down version of this front end design could make it to production (in some future EV model)?

I agree with you. Thankfully, as you mentioned, a lot of brands are doing creative things with lighting, surfacing, and contrasting elements with their designs to make them look attractive, but different from an ICE car. I feel like Tesla's designs just keep getting worse and worse with age. I have a theory that minimalism becomes less aesthetically pleasing as objects become larger. We want something small, like a phone, to have a relatively basic design. When they have too much going on, it just looks clunky and forced. With cars, it's the opposite, when they lack design element, and just have emotionless, blank surfaces, we tend to notice. It just looks out of place. 

[slemke]

There were many cars in the ‘80s with minimal or no grilles that looked just fine.  Taurus/Sable, Thunderbird was minimal, Probe, even Crown Victoria tried the look for a while.  Air intake was under the bumper for cooling.

 

The big non functional grille may go down as one of those “what were they thinking” styling statements.

[AM222]

4 hours ago, slemke said:

The big non functional grille may go down as one of those “what were they thinking” styling statements.

A lot of designers use the grille shape as part of the vehicle's identity. In reality, the grille on most 21st century cars are just a tiny rectangular holes.
Imagine the if the current Mustang's grille was only limited to the actual openings, it would look terrible. 

The grille-less face of the Taurus and other 80s to mid-90s Fords were unique at the time.

Edited July 21, 2022 by AM222

[ice-capades]

6 hours ago, slemke said:

There were many cars in the ‘80s with minimal or no grilles that looked just fine.  Taurus/Sable, Thunderbird was minimal, Probe, even Crown Victoria tried the look for a while.  Air intake was under the bumper for cooling.

 

The big non functional grille may go down as one of those “what were they thinking” styling statements.

 

The grille elements need to transition from being functional on ICE vehicles to a design element.  

[silvrsvt]

6 hours ago, slemke said:

There were many cars in the ‘80s with minimal or no grilles that looked just fine.  Taurus/Sable, Thunderbird was minimal, Probe, even Crown Victoria tried the look for a while.  Air intake was under the bumper for cooling.

 

The big non functional grille may go down as one of those “what were they thinking” styling statements.

 

The thing is that using those examples they still had "grill" to them.

 

The 86 Taurus had a larger opening around the Ford oval on it 

 

The 87 T-bird Turbo coupe has a crease going down the middle of it

 

The first gen Probe had a small slot, the second gen had hide away headlights and lower grill openings

 

The Tesla 3 is just a bland front facia, where as the other examples you used had additional styling in the form of a bumper and other opening. 

 

 

[slemke]

16 hours ago, silvrsvt said:

 

The thing is that using those examples they still had "grill" to them.

 

The 86 Taurus had a larger opening around the Ford oval on it 

 

The 87 T-bird Turbo coupe has a crease going down the middle of it

 

The first gen Probe had a small slot, the second gen had hide away headlights and lower grill openings

 

The Tesla 3 is just a bland front facia, where as the other examples you used had additional styling in the form of a bumper and other opening. 

 

 

The opening around the oval was more styling to make it appear floating than functional.  The 1st gen SHO and police version had a slot above the bumper for additional cooling.  2nd gen SHO did away with it and relied on air flow from below the bumper.  I would hardly call that a grill, but rather ducts.  Same with the Tbird beak.  They all had lower air openings. Nothing I would consider a traditional grill, though. Model 3 appears to also have some sort of opening below the bumper.

 

The problem with the model 3 is the void above the bumper.  It’s like there should have been something there that got cost cut away.  The model S doesn’t have that same visual appearance.  It is a more cohesive design.