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22 - Friday, February 7, 1992 —- North Shore News

AUTOMOTIVE

Auto show gave glimpse into future | design

IN THE ’70s, the styling of
cars was typically boxier
and clunkier.

OVERDRIVE

A long hood and short deck
design, a la ’78 Ford Thunderbird,
was considered attractive. In the
°80s, Audi’s 5000 series and the
Ford Taurus set a new trend in
the auto industry by introducing a
round, flowing ‘‘jelly bean’’ look.

Around the same time, General
Motors and Chrysler approached
the market with the opposite trend
— a boxier design with a steeply-
raked, formal look roofline. Un-
fortunately, cars like the ’85 Pon-
tiac Grand Am with a limousine-
like roof désign never took off,
and GM and other makers quickly
introduced many  bean-looking
cars. So where is design going in
the ’90s?

The ’90s, at least so far, em-
phasizes a functional, flowing

design with a low front end and a
high back. This design can be in
the form of a wedge-shaped
design, or a ‘‘soup bar’’ design.
The wedge design is evident on
many cars today, such as the
BMW 325i, Volkswagen Passat,
Cadillac Eldorado, Oldsmobile
Achieva, and Honda Accord.

The wedge look was created to
reduce wind resistance and to in-
crease interior space. There are
still many ‘‘jelly bean’’ or ‘‘soap
bar’’ designs as well, including the
melted-butter-look Chevrolet
Caprice, fluid-shaped Lexus
SC400, and the super-mooth
Mazda 929 Serenia. Others, like
the Toyota Tercel and Civic
sedans, fit in between the two
categories with spherically-shaped
bodies and tall deck lid.

Since automotive design trend,
or any other trend for that matter,
usually originates from sunny
California, | contacted the Art
Centre College of Design, located
in Pasadena, California (one of
the three recognized schools with
a dedicated automotive design
study). Ron Hill, chairman of the
transportation department, indus-
trial design, commented, ‘‘It’s
difficult to answer what the design
will be like by the year 2000,
because there is really no guideline
to this. But we're constantly sear-
ching for an answer that will give
us the competitive edge in the
future design.’? Because the mar-
ket is so difficult to predict, the
guessing game ‘‘drives the market-
ing people bonkers,” according to
Hill.

Within severai years, how-
ever, both the wedge and ‘‘soap
bar’? shape will probably Jean

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FORD'S CONTOUR utilizes an experimental compact engine and transmission configuration, which
allows designers to reduce the size of the engine compartment and vehicle itself, while still in-

creasing the passenger space.

toward a design known 25 a
“cab-forward’’ design. ‘‘Cab-
forward’’ simply means that the
occupant space (cabin or cab) is
situated toward the front of the
car relative to the rest of the
body. The cabin sits near the
front of the car to minimize the
aerodynamic drag as much as
possible. Hill says, ‘‘Cab-forward
is the result of miniaturization of

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components. Increased sophistica-
tion means a smaller engine and
drivetrain, but the cabin is staying
the same size or even geiting
larger.’” So basically, shrinking
the vehicle size — which reduces
weight and improves fuel economy
— and increasing the passenger
space create this ‘‘cak-forward’’
shape.

Many of us may immediately

ISUZU.

think of the Chrysler New Yorker
and Dodge Dynasty (both with
vertical, formal roofline) when we
think of Chrysler sedans, but
Chrysier’s image in the sedan
market is going to change
significantly soon. Chrysler will
launch a new generation of family
sedans, called LH cars, which
boast this ‘‘cab-forward’’ design

See St:baru page 23

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