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I know this is subjective but: Is there a reason they needed to add those distinctive and overly-futuristic headlights that screams electric car? One of the re
by wuunderbar 7y ago
I know this is subjective but: Is there a reason they needed to add those distinctive and overly-futuristic headlights that screams electric car?
One of the reasons I like Tesla vehicles is that while they look decent they don’t try to overly differentiate themselves. They look like standard mid-market cars.
I would think that if Rivian is targeting the truck/full-size SUV crowd then they would lean on a more traditional look?
- bronco21016 7y agoThis has been my complaint of every EV up until the Tesla Model S. EV seems to equate to no aesthetic design to manufacturers. All you have to do is look at the Chevy Bolt. It’s sad we even call that thing a car IMHO.
- blang 7y agoThe opposite was true with the initial success of the Prius, the ugliness was a feature.
- dsfyu404ed 7y agoThe ugliness was simply the result of the relative priority of aerodynamics and prettiness.
- Retric 7y agoThe Tesla model 3 has a lower drag confident than the original Prius while looking much more like a normal car. The hatchback is inherently a poor choice from an efficiency standpoint. Oddly they are both beaten by the Audi A4 sedan and several others.
- olivermarks 7y agoI've always thought of the Prius design as similar to Birkenstock shoes - not pretty but the most practical in terms of aerodynamics and arch support. EV's need to focus more on aerodynamics to eke out range rather than look fast, which they are already are at low speeds across their torque band anyway.
- gwbas1c 7y agoThe model 3 doesn't look like an ordinary car, it looks like an "I own the road" sports car.
- maxsilver 7y agoI'd argue the opposite. I wish car companies would push their EVs further into the futuristic aesthetic. The Chevy Bolt is a wonderful vehicle, but it looks almost exactly like a legacy gasoline car. A regular person could easily mistake it for the current Chevy Spark. Similarly, the Chevy Volt looks almost exactly like a Chevy Malibu. And a Nissan Leaf looks fairly similar to a Nissan Note. I'm aware that they don't want the car to look too "scary" or unusual, and it's a huge cost savings to re-purpose existing parts/designs. But just as a personal preference, I wish the more EV-focused concept-car-styled designs could actually make it to market.
- fooblitzky 7y agoI think the BMW i3 struck a good balance with futuristic looks. It's just different enough to be noticeable, but not so different to appear impractical or off-putting.
- brianwawok 7y agoYes, conspicuous consumption. Same reason purses don't NEED logos all over them. A lot of buyers of EVs aren't doing it to save the environment - they are doing it to let everyone know they are saving the environment. If your car just looks like a Ford Focus, you lose that.
- nereye 7y agoPerhaps you meant 'Conspicuous conservation'? See http://freakonomics.com/2011/04/21/conspicuous-conservation-and-the-prius-effect/ http://freakonomics.com/2011/04/21/conspicuous-conservation-... and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conspicuous_conservation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conspicuous_conservation.
- bch 7y ago> Same reason purses don't NEED logos all over them. In a way, they do. [0] [0] https://youtu.be/gLUzgWAEGjY https://youtu.be/gLUzgWAEGjY
- dorgo 7y agoFor me, it's not about environment or what people think. It's the same situation as with SSDs. - it is new - it is gonna to replace the old - it has better karma / feng-shui - it has some improvements in user experience - even if there are disadvantages - there is this "want have" feeling
- jhayward 7y agoYou may not have been paying attention to headlight design in high end trucks and SUVs lately. They are all about the led-enabled "creative" design.
- cptskippy 7y agoYes, the new and creative ways of annoying sedan drivers into purchasing vehicles with higher ride heights.
- hellllllllooo 7y agoDifficult to resolve this kind of thing either way. If you like it you like it. Could reasonably ask why Tesla has old fashioned headlight design? Purely subjective.
- cptskippy 7y agoThe primary reason the Nissan Leaf looked as dumb as it did was because it appeals to early adopters to have something that is outwardly different from convention. I would imagine they're taking a similar approach here.
- gwbas1c 7y ago> as dumb as it did The Leaf looked awesome, it was the best looking car I ever owned.
- Zanni 7y agoI think you mean "as distinctive as it does," but yeah, you're bang on. Ditto for the Prius.
- myself248 7y agoEhh, the Gen-I Prius (MY97-03) was also sold as the Echo with a traditional powertrain, and it looked pretty normal, if a bit homely. The Gen-II Prius ('04-09) was smoother and looked more uniquely-Prius, but it still had pretty normal headlights and stuff. I think it was the most normal of the bunch. The Gen-III Prius ('10-14) took the Kammback profile even more seriously but still doesn't look totally alien. Unmistakably Prius, though. The Gen-IV Prius ('15-present) is where the design went completely off the rails, jarring slashy features on an otherwise-watermelon-seed-shaped car.
- cptskippy 7y agoYeah, I think the Gen 1 is largely overlooked because it was just a repurposed Echo. That might actually be validation of why new technologies adopt unconventional designs.
- rangersanger 7y agoForget the headlines, it's a pickup truck that doesn't list bed length in the marketing materials. The pickup truck is the new SUV, but come on. At least let me pretend to consider if I can fit a sheet of drywall in there. Also, I hate,hate,hate the trend of putting the spare under the bed floor, instead of under the frame. Clearly a design decision by someone that doesn't use their pickup bed for picking things up...
- dzonga 7y agoCAD design vs reality. A lot of fuxked up things today are a result of too much CAD design, thin laptops with no repair utility. Difficult to repair cars etc.
- village-idiot 7y ago> Clearly a design decision by someone that doesn't use their pickup bed for picking things up... To be fair, this is the vast majority of truck drivers. Exceedingly few trucks sold today will ever be asked to do something that requires a truck, most are commuter vehicles driver for social status reasons. A few occasionally might tow a boat.
- bdavisx 7y ago>Exceedingly few trucks sold today will ever be asked to do something that requires a truck Kind of like all of the "never been off-road" "off-road vehicles"?
- village-idiot 7y agoYes, ditto with garage queen race cars.
- sorenjan 7y agoAll while our only planet is going to shit because of fossil fuel usage. American fuel is too cheap, making this kind of excessive fuel burning possible without paying the external cost.