Styling? Whats happening?

[Hack]

Well if Ford made a mid engine mustang, which seems possible, people would still complain. They would say it's too similar to other designs and too expensive. It would just be trading one set of design characteristics for another.

If Ford made a mid engine Mustang, at a minimum, GM people would come in here and say it looks like the new Corvette or was copied from it or Ford got the idea from GM. Possibly some Dodge people would come in as well. I'm sure they would have something negative to say about it.

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[DeluxeStang]

Half assed indeed.

And of course...the Big Mac

Give the people what they want and only those in the narrow margins will complain eg compulsive rock throwers and luddites. If it's hot...it's hot. Really good design is rarely very divisive.



You're right of course, virtually everything has been attempted and the principles of hood length/overhang/waist height/wheel arch relationship etc have been known by designers for ever. But it's how those principles are applied that makes the magic. Manufacturers can still take the same principles used by Ferrari and Lamborghini etc for decades and apply them to arrive at something that's unique. I give you the 2022 Emira made by the tiny Lotus company.

Ferrari demonstrates mastery of the principles over and over again - albeit not always perfectly - and still managed to outdo themselves last year with the Roma (yep, it's a 4 seater with no photocopier screens on the dash - ok ok not fair let's not go there ):

If a Mustang ever actually DID look like a Ferrari I've a suspicion that those of us in the bell curve would be beating a path the the nearest dealer. There may be some lamenting of the loss of shape elements but overall...maybe not so much (see above).

Except good design is often seen as design which takes chances while still be attractive. For that reason, good design is almost always divisive out of the gate. Using the Roma as an example, I and several others loved it from day 1, but I can vividly recall people hating on features like the body colored grille, or the shape of the headlights. Using another example, many consider the s550 to be one of the best looking affordable sports cars ever. Yet when it came out, probably 90% of the comments out there were negative.

Ask a designer, they'll tell you good designs should be loved or hated. That means it changed things up enough to evoke stroke emotions. I've heard it said that the worst response to a design is meh, where most members of the public feel indifferent about it.

Also, of those 4 90s designs you showed, only 2, maybe 3 are truly attractive. The c4 is a hot mess, the Ferrari is meh. They looked good relative to other designs from that era. But there's nothing about those designs that's really memorable or eye catching when compared to more modern designs like the c8 or Roma.

Note that I said half assed, not that they were the worst things I'm existence. Show me one design element on that Ferrari that's truly iconic, that you could show in a close up, and people would immediately know what model of Ferrari it was.

 

[DeluxeStang]

If Ford made a mid engine Mustang, at a minimum, GM people would come in here and say it looks like the new Corvette or was copied from it or Ford got the idea from GM. Possibly some Dodge people would come in as well. I'm sure they would have something negative to say about it.

Exactly, we can hope with ford going out of their way to test multiple c8s that something is planned. But I don't want to get my hopes up. Even if they did release something, like you mentioned, gm fanboys would try to turn it into something negative.

 

[shogun32]

Is this really a "modern" design, though, or do these things just go in cycles?

it's cycles. The only thing that's changed is designers have invented 50 more words so they can sound high-falutin' artsy over their wine at parties, instead of the simple metal-bashers that they really are.

To me the Roma looks wrong, the ass doesn't match the front - like someone tried to put a Porsche back there.

 

[IFFV68]

Is anyone else disturbed by the direction Mustang styling is headed. Honestly,in a profile picture, if the average person was not told it was a Mustang that they were looking at I don't think they would believe you. All that's left on the exterior basically is three light tail lights and a grille shaped similarly to the original. I don't care how big or powerful the engine is, if it doesn't look good " I ain't buyin' "

The one you ain’t buying somebody already bought?

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