Fashion and car worlds mix and match in trend-setting shapes and designs for 2017
Mercedes brings in smoother bodies while Ferrari rewrites interior design, and Rolls embodies a new generation of automotive ateliers
Fashion influences seem increasingly pronounced in the car world this year. At April’s Shanghai Auto Show, Mercedes-Benz presented its rounded Concept A Sedan with the purr and pout of a Parisian atelier. The sedan “shows that the time of creases is over”, Daimler design chief Gorden Wagener said. “With its perfect proportions and a sensual treatment of surfaces with reduced lines, it is the next milestone of ‘sensual purity’ and has the potential to introduce a new design era.”
Such comments suggest retro grilles and curves are back, along with bulging bonnets and bigger wheel arches. Mercedes-Benz also reminded Shanghai how the Concept A Sedan “expresses self-confidence” with deep “eyebrowed” headlights – and reaffirmed the increasing importance of bonnet “make-up” for cars.
Luxury cars in Hong Kong already have daytime running-light “eyeliner” and “mascara”; but look out for more interior cabin “mood” lights made of tiny, colour-changing electronic bulbs.
Audi’s new A8 in Barcelona last week revealed the marque’s advances in LED and OLED light designs, and the sophistication could spur other makes into more dynamic, more communicative grille and tail-light configurations.
However, watch out for BMW’s hexagonal headlights. Launched for the Bavarian marque’s mainland-only 1 Series saloon, they might set a new preference for angular “Chinese” headlight designs.
