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Comment by nextos | Hacker News Reader

The problem is that most cars have lost their distinct personality due to brands consolidating into large conglomerates, and subsequently developing platforms to reduce costs.

I love old brands with models that stood out, and it's a shame that originality in engineering has been mostly replaced by assembling components together plus some minor aesthetic tweaks. I guess the situation is fairly similar to programming, where SICP has been replaced by gluing libraries together in Python. Perhaps it's a sign of maturity, but I miss some stuff from the past.

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It’s sad. Every new car today looks like the same identical “bar of soap with wheels.” They are differentiated visually by small things like grille shape and lighting clusters. Everyone blames it on fuel economy and safety features but I think that simply no manufacturer is willing to be daring anymore, and they have trained their customers to like boring design. Even colors: you rarely see anything but white, black, gray, red, and blue.

Probably the most drastic counter-example would be the Aptera Vehicle (yes, that's the actual name). Assuming the production models release on time (late 2022 into 2023), it'll be the most distinctive-looking car on the road.

Maybe it's a good thing - cars used less for social signaling and more for getting from A to B.

Brands of cars are still very obvious with badging and model names. They could be identical vehicles but people will still use the more expensive version to signal.

Leaving aside whether it is good or not, I think this is the future.

When automated driving takes over, few will want to own a car. Most will rent from various fleets so they can watch a movie, play with their phone/partner/etc while they get from A to B. As usual, there will be good things about it and bad things.

Audi, Porsche and Mercedes would like to have a word with you :) Every now and then companies come with different designs than a bar of soap. But it is getting rarer. However, if you think that Tesla is the future, you are right. For me, to spot the differences between Tesla model i need a meter.

Yeah, like the Porsche "surprised whale" Cayenne, or those Mercedes two-seaters that look like they are made from two different cars...neither of which can have looked very good to begin with.

And when you say "red" it's more like a merlot, a dialed-back red. "Blue" is almost black. But you forgot metallic beige, magnetic taupe, candy artichoke green....

> Every new car today looks like the same

> Everyone blames it on fuel economy

If you're as obsessed with efficiency as Aptera, you end up with something very different and daring.

> Everyone blames it on fuel economy and safety features but I think that simply no manufacturer is willing to be daring anymore, and they have trained their customers to like boring design.

So many incredibly iconic and beautiful cars would be flat out illegal to sell today (in the EU at least). I'm not dismissing the lack of innovation (and more accurately risk aversion) as a factor. Regulation does drive a chunk of it though.

How about the cutting edge of Serbo-Croatian technology?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I1LxlZ8pTRg

Also known as Fiat Ritmo

Fiat Ritmo was the product of one of the first platforms. For example, Lancia Delta was developed on the same FIAT platform, albeit with some changes.

At least it has personality! :)

> due to brands consolidating into large conglomerates

Worse, it's more like cowardly "risk aversion". Stay in the lines, don't take design chances. What color? Something conservative, maybe desaturated, maybe metallic....

Which is perfect for low visibility. I almost hit a conservative desaturated metallic car once when it was overcast, I was quite tired and the other driver did not turn on their headlights. If I like one thing about newer vehicles it's LED daylight running lights and automatic headlights that turn on in low light.

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