The argument is often made that most new cars all look very much alike save for anomalies like Tesla’s abominable stainless-steel refrigerator on wheels. This phenomenon is far from new, though. Hopping on trendy design bandwagons is a safer bet for automakers than innovating a truly unique design that may or may not find success among the car buying public, and maximizing sales is usually a high priority. If one design trend is having its moment in the spotlight and it’s a hit among buyers, other companies want to imitate it.
Examples of trending design elements influencing the entire automotive industry include Audi’s introduction of sleek and stylish LED daytime running lights and BMW’s introduction of sporty, low-slung coupe-style SUVs. This particular video explores the 2000s design trend of the backswept headlight design, which was so popular it touched nearly every segment.
The liberation of the American automotive landscape from the restrictive legislative requirement of sealed-beam headlights in the ‘80s allowed automotive design to evolve into more organic shapes. It’s shocking to consider that cars have only had flush headlights in the United States for 40 years, but those 40 years have arguably been some of the most transformative in the history of the automobile. This video explores a few different factors that may have lent a hand in the homogenization of headlight designs in the 2000s, and though none of it is definitive, it points out an interesting pattern.
Do modern cars all look alike? Sort of, but no more or less than cars from generations before. The new design trend that automakers seem to be infatuated with is one that I personally am not a fan of: split headlights. Designs with accent lights higher on the front of a car and smaller satellite headlights that actually serve as the primary light source for nighttime driving placed lower in the bumper. Hopefully the next trend is more universally celebrated.
