The Automobile as Accessory: Current Car Trends

Forbes Autos published an article earlier this week discussing the various emerging trends in car design, focusing on ten current innovations that seem to indicate new consumer attitudes towards the vehicles they are purchasing. Like in so many industries right now, the old business model of conservative action and pure number-crunching is gradually being replaced by a new wave of dynamic, fashion-conscious strategies that serve to get brands recognized in an increasingly fast-paced and savvy consumer market.

The conclusion: image matters, both in terms of pure brand recognition and for ethical, aesthetic and personal reasons. Indeed, businesses can simply no longer hope to sell vehicles based purely on safety ratings and performance –– the automobile is an accessory, and like other accessories it needs to stand out as an extension of it’s user. Forbes reports:

Automakers are striving for sexier-looking cars as a way to draw buyers who once may have been sold on power, performance, warranties or amenities. “This is the absolute best time ever to be a car designer,” says Patrick Schiavone, who leads Ford’s North American design effort. “As a business, we’ve come to the conclusion that sex sells and understand that this is a fashion industry."

Many designers see the car as a form of clothing. "We like to say, ‘A car is the largest object you are ever going to wear,’" says Chris Chapman of BMW. And to their benefit, design is fast becoming the main way automakers differentiate their products and brands. The reason is that the content, quality and performance of vehicles has reached a plateau where most, if not all, are on equal footing within their specific categories.

“With cars built the same, lasting the same, with equal drive trains, design is the difference,” Chapman says. “Every company wants to be noticed.”    

Ten Design Trends to Shape the Future