Aesthetics are changing, technology is innovating, car design is constantly "evolving", there are always new trends and new ideas appear, but new things are less likely to be accepted, just like when we see those designs that we can't understand, but are greatly shocked, we always ask the question: Why design like this?
Maverick or cut corners
As the most incomprehensible new trend, the split headlights absolutely jump out of the category of "ugly", but make people feel awkward, disrupting the traditional front face layout of the eyes, nose and mouth in everyone's heart, and dividing the most colorful and most divine headlights into two areas, if not handled well, it is difficult to find the visual center of the front face at a glance, making people confused and a little flustered, which is really uncomfortable.
In fact, split headlights are not a new product, as the prototype of split headlights, the majority of fans like the flip lights in the last century has been very popular. The maverick French car has used the design of split headlights for many years, and now the split headlights will once again attract attention, but brands such as Lynk & Co and BMW have used them as family design elements.
In fact, the split headlights are not just to highlight the personality and improve the recognition.
Split headlights divide the traditional headlights into two independent functional areas, the upper part is the day running lights and turn lights, light up the daytime lights during the day, use the narrow LED light source to show the sense of technology, and the conspicuous position is a good way to meet the needs of the turn signals. The lower half is the main light source, which is lower than the position of the traditional headlight, and when turned on at night, it will reduce the possibility of blinding the driver on the other side. Although these are the advantages of split headlights, the effect is limited after all, in fact, the more direct reason for the use of split forms is cost.
Traditional design of the headlights as a water spirit of the big eyes to strive to portray, whether it is the contour shape or the internal structure of the lamp cavity are exquisitely crafted, but the split headlights are not the same, not only the above daily lights are narrow and narrow, even the main light source is hidden, the shape and structure of course do not have to be so complicated, which will save costs in research and development design and mold manufacturing. But whether it is innovative or not, saving money and practicality, as a consumer, I still hope that the split headlights will be as pleasing as possible, do not distinguish between the main and secondary, and make it too scary.
Old "rules" New "order"
If the design of the headlights affects the visual effect of the front of the car, then the impact of the body posture on the entire shape will be huge, which is very obvious in the design of new energy vehicles in recent years: many electric vehicles are becoming more and more like vans.
In the traditional design of the past, we are more happy to see the slender, stretched body form, and a large part of the sense of luxury comes from the compactness of the front suspension. The longer the distance between the front wheels and the firewall, the more models that conform to this law, the more powerful the engine and the higher the class, as many first-class and sport models are designed.
But now some electric vehicles and concept cars no longer follow this set of rules, very front and very inclined angle A-pillar, almost connected with the "engine compartment", the entire body height is also higher, into a van-like sedan form.
In fact, this posture is also a helpless move, before the battery energy storage technology did not appear to break through, the use of smooth shape to reduce the wind resistance coefficient has become the first priority, and electric vehicles do not need to reserve space for the huge fuel power system, the A-pillar and firewall forward can also leave more space for the crew compartment, which also meets the needs of more space in the future intelligent travel. As for the smaller collapse zone caused by the forward movement of the firewall, there are some radical claims that the future automatic driving system will greatly avoid accidents, so there is no need for a large collapse zone, in any case, it is also a reason for the "van".
In addition, in the promotion of manufacturers, the increase in body height is to create a so-called cross-border style, but in fact, it is subject to the thickness and layout of the battery on the chassis, which is forced to cross the border. In fact, the shape of the "van" reflects the limitations of the current technology and the trend of more emphasis on functionality in the design of electric vehicles, in this situation, the "van" may be more and more unable to change the reality.
Practical is not as good as exaggerated coolness
Compared with the appearance, the car interior has changed more in recent years, and the most obvious thing is that it is getting bigger and bigger, and the more outrageous the central control screen. Since tesla model S uses a large vertical screen, Mercedes-Benz S-class uses a large screen, the era of screen domination of the interior has arrived. Today, the big screen forces have attacked the city and pulled out the wall, and the two fronts of the new energy and fuel vehicles have opened the bow left and right, and the new cars are either more screens, larger size, or more and more large.
Some "conservatives" believe that the current screen is too exaggerated, so that the design of the entire center console is greatly reduced, and the interior design should not be a large tombstone inserted on a plastic board. More importantly, the operation screen is not like the use of physical buttons, the touch screen is more likely to cause the driver's attention to shift, some data show that in 2017, the United States due to driving distraction caused fatal accidents accounted for 9%. If this is the case, then why are the major manufacturers so obsessed with the big screen?
Because the big screen can not only catch up with the fashion of intelligence, but also has other functions.
First of all, the function of the car is more and more, not only can run on the line, but also installed a variety of comfortable, entertainment configuration, want to control so many functions, all with the physical button will become the central control like a computer keyboard, dense and not easy to find, and a large number of keys will also increase the cost of the mold. In addition, for new energy models or new power brands, in order to launch products faster, some functions of the new car are not fully developed when they are listed, and they must be improved through the OTA on the tall, if the physical button is used, it is embarrassing to find that a function needs to be deleted, so the big screen of the car machine has become the most loyal partner of the OTA, and you want to delete it at will.
In fact, these are the benefits of large screens to manufacturers, if there is any benefit to users, in addition to visual shock and the function of showing movies to the co-driver, there is not much practical use. Even so, under the wave of intelligence, the trend of multi-screen large screens will continue for a long time, but some models recently released are also doing new explorations, and we believe that with the maturity of human-computer interaction, the screen will return to a more practical form, no longer for more and more, for the big and large.
As ordinary consumers, we can't change design trends, we can only silently watch the manufacturers perform, but this does not mean that we must accept them. While there's no absolute difference between good and bad design, what you like is what you like, and it's important to keep thinking independently. To distinguish which designs are what you want through the meaning and purpose behind the design, don't be taken by the so-called trends and publicity.