Pieces Parts

 It all started with Ford and their "New Edge" styling. Sharp creases, bold angles, and straight lines are the concepts in car design, but it's going too far. The Honda Element typifies the new look, but there seems to be a subset, what I call "Lego styled" cars. The Saturn Ion is the worst offender I've seen so far.



 Instead of the car looking like a piece of sculpture, it looks more like something created with Lego's. Is there any reason for the bodywork around the windows to be made of so many pieces that don't flow together? You can't look at the car and see one entire shape, your eye is drawn towards each individual part, and nothing meshes together to create something that is greater than the sum of the parts. It gets even worse from a rear-view.



 Each piece can be interesting in itself, there's no crime in that, but when that's all you see, a mishmash of seperate items instead of a whole car, something has gone horribly wrong. Your eyes should flow over the lines of a car, drawn from the front to the rear in an easy sweep. Someone at GM's design center needs to take a lesson from Mazda. The 626 is a perfect example of a car that looks more like it was hewn from a solid block of steel, instead of individual pieces bolted together.



 That is how cars should be styled. Graceful, sleek, and beautiful.