American
Styling Revolution
Evolution of Body Features
1927 La Salle
- Harley J.
Earl
- Harley J. Earl had a significant influence
on the American car styling
- In 1927, he designed the Las Salle for GM
- He was influenced by the European Touring
cars
- Was much "rounder" than the
conventional US cars
- Use of bright colors was proposed, which was
a revolutionary move for mass produced cars
- This was the start of "color
awareness"
Alfred Sloan introduced the notion of "planned
obsolescence" to promote car sales
Impossible without efficient mass production
Annual model changes became necessary
Average car ownership dropped from 5 years in 1934 to 2 years in 1954
1947 Pininfarina
Cisitalia
- The 1947 Cisitalia influenced Harley Earl
and many other car designers, giving birth to a new breed of sports and GT shapes
- Note:smooth sides
- Integrated grille
- Fastback tail
1950s
Jaguar XK 120
- A British car produced for the US market
- Successful sales
- Probably influenced Harley Earl to work on
the Corvette
1953 Corvette
Most European companies were
producing vehicles primarily for the US market
For example, in 1952 the MG had only 0.27% of the US
market, which was 65% of their annual production
In the US, as early as 1944 glass-fiber bodies were
being studies
The low-priced plastic-bodied Corvette was
opinion-tested in GM’s Motoramas
Corvette became a world-class sports car
1957 Ford Edsel
Ford wanted a car that,In the medium price range
Be readily recognizable by its
styling
Technologically advanced
Something totally different
Edsel was planned to death
- The traditional gut-feel approaches were not
followed
- Every detail was planned
- Thousands of styling decisions were made
- Market research was conducted
Ford produced a myth, producing a different
style for the sake of a different style
Too much public expectancy was generated
It had push-buttons for everything -
"Juke-box" engineering
From a planned production of 200,000
units per year, only 110,000 were sold in two years, and the project was cancelled in 1959
Corvette continued to grow at 50% annually
A case for slow and incremental
introduction of new designs
1964 Ford Mustang
Introduced in 1964 to compete with
the Corvette
Was intended to be a "muscle
car"
The Mustang became everything that
the Edsel was designed to beCaptured the growing American youth
market
Well designed
Well promoted
- The American share of the world market has been declining since 1950s
- A "horse power" race was on in the 1950s
- Cheap performance
- Pollutants
- Unsafe
- Cars became lower, longer, and decorated
- Tail wings, round glass, grille, chrome
"It is futile to pretend that industrial design
or styling has any other function than to support marketing" Gene Bordinat, Design VP at Ford, 1962
- The above state of mind failed to fully recognize the role of car
body styling,
- Failure in design leadership
- Distortion of the image of the American cars
- Small cars where not produced …
- An anti-car lobby flourished …
- Ralph Nader
- Unsafe at Any Speed
- Pollution, safety, social status …
- Various automotive laws were introduced
- Pollution, safety, design etc.