Cadillac XTS…Car design Part2

American Big 3 has been doing downsize for last 3 decades, but particularly to GM, I just don’t think they are still having problem with it.

I talked about Cadillac XTS the other day.

For try, I extended Front & Rear end of Cadillac XTS.

This is how I did by Adobe Photoshop….actually, it is not bad at all……

This means XTS needed longer front and rear ends to be better design.

But, I still can’t stand the popped up rear end and limited head clearance at the rear seats.

So, this is what I did….this is based on my previous work plus extended front and rear ends.

Actually, this is quite impressive….but even original XTS is 5.1m long and those modified one is well over 5.5m….this is about same as ancient Full-size vehicles…..

At least they should have done this kind of model 10 years ago when gas was cheaper.

Old day, Americans did not care about body size at all. They just extended size to make better design. That is how they are still not good at designing within limited size.

This is also the good example of it.

Or….designers make this kind of model….but they have to fit it to smaller size….this will completely destroy the design. In this case, I would have to say design process itself is wrong.  Designers and engineers need to work more closely to…

2014 Cadillac CTS

Photos of 2014 New Cadillac CTS were revealed yesterday.

First of all, they are getting rid of ugly “Art & Science” line. That is a good thing!! I don’t understand why they kept using that ugly toy like design for a decade to ruin their own reputation.

At least those rounder lines looks more sophisticated….but at the same time it looks like mixture of Mercedes and BMW essence…….

When you see the rear view, it looks more like Cadillac XTS.  At least it is better than current CTS.

What about front?

Huge grills and tiny headlamps at the corners….do they know the word “harmony”???

To do design, most important thin is harmony.
In this case, the huge grill attract all my vision and can’t see anything else….or other parts looks quite week.

If they want to use that kind of grill, they will need more accent on the tail lamps as well.

This is how I did modification by using Adobe Photosphop.

I made the grill smaller and made the headlights wider instead to balance.

Also big difference is…..I had to reduce the height of the front mask.

I wonder why modern designers like “thick face”…..???  It is OK to do it if they know what they are doing.

Look at Rolls Royce…not the latest one.

When they use huge grill like it, they will have to think of headlights and bumpers, but they did not have enough time for it.

I want to tell all the car designers

If you are not sure what you are doing….go back to basic!!

Also they are trying to follow international standard, but following BMW or Mercedes does not mean to be answer for Cadillac.

People who want something like BMW will buy BMW. They won’t go for Cadillac eventhougth they were slightly cheaper.

Cadillac has to have something which BMW does not have if they really want to sell outside of North America.

They used to have it…but not anymore. They are just too busy to copy BMW and got rid of their own culture.

For Luxury cars, most important thing is their own cultural background. Cadillac has 110 years of history and culture which Lexus does not have. But now, they just look like downgraded BMW or Lexus.

Perhaps….like me, people who feel something special to the name of “Cadillac” are already old generation……

<<Go Back

Chevrolet Caprice….C pillar destroyed whole design

New Chevrolet Caprice which came out in 1990 was shocking to every American people.
Almost everything was carried over from the long going previous model which came out in 1977 apart from its completely new weird body style.

A year later, Mercury Grand Marquis came out with more traditional looking and all the customer was taken away by Ford and Caprice was mainly used as Police or Taxi.

It has been over 20 years since this thing came out and it is quite hard to find one of those today.

I saw one on a street and what do I think now? Still ugly is ugly…..It was called “Beached whale” old days.

A year later, Big brother Buick Roadmaster was added to the line and was looking much better than Caprice.

What is the difference?

From the distinctive curvy A-pillar, it is obvious this is sharing the same platform.

Well…..it has bigger grill….. let’s look at the rear…….

It is looking much more respectable….isn’t it?

I can see the biggest difference is the shape of C-Pillar.
Let’s try some experiment…..I matched up Buick Roadmster’s C-Pillar onto Chevy Caprice by Adobe Photoshop.

Look at this…….isn’t it amazing? Those 2 are looking totally different design….but just using Roadmaster’s C-Pillar really changed the Caprice’s sloppy design. Nobody would call it “Beached whale” anymore!!

This is not bad at all. Later on, they modified line of rear fender and quarter glass, but it still did not improve a lot. This was how they should have done much earlier.

This is the one I modified around the tail lamp. It also changed the image quite a bit.
This series was not  popular partly because even 20 years ago, full-size cars were out of style. But, still the biggest problem was Caprice’s style.

Then, they produced Buick, Olds, Pontiac and Cadillac later on…..but obiously we could tell those were Caprice with tons of make up.

In case of Ford, Lincoln Towncar first came out, then Mercury and Ford came out later. It was better way to do and also they were better looking.

That was how GM lost in this market and withdrew in 1996. Then after that, Ford dominated this market…..but they did not do anything new and just kept aging and kept loosing customers and finally, all the Full-size Ford was seized in 2011.

This generation of Caprice was ugly….it was just because of the C-Pillar. This is good case study to say how important the shape of C-pillar is.

By the way this Caprice had Station Wagon as well and was looking way better. It was also because of the shape of C-Pillar.

Car Design…Dodge Challenger

Dodge Challenger was known as a muscle car which was launched in 1970 and it came back to the market after the long absence since 1974.

Lets check at this modern muscle car today.
I would say it is not that bad….at least way better than Mustang or Camaro…..but this one still has the same problem with those other competitor.

First of all, why do they have to make Door Glass so small?
All the window is mounted very high and glass area is small…..that makes me feel really cramped although it has enough space.

You got to know I am only 5.8 feet tall and 130lb……and still feeling cramped. What about average American people?

That is how I did some modification by Adobe Photoshop.

As I told before all the window is located very high that is because of the extremely thick body.

Also because of the low roof…..those 2 are making glass area extremely small.
So, I sliced the body to reduce the height, then  lifted up entire roof to keep the space utility and also increase the glass area.

Also the angle of front windscreen has been lifted up slightly.

Maybe the original one looks more massive…or more powerful……but I just could not stand the high and small glass area.

Some reason,all the Americans are like that these days.

Also I reduced some gap between tire and wheel arch.

American muscle cars used to be roughly made….but those day, petrol was dirt cheap and at least they had reasonable space.

But today, the situation is totally different. They can’t do that kind of rough design anymore. It is good to bring back the legacy…..but at least they should keep the basics of car design.

I am not telling to make like 4 door sedan. I am just telling just small thing can make big difference and it will create extra value. That’s all!

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Car Design….Cadillac CTS…cheap & ugly LEGO toy

Cadillac CTS…….the top selling Cadillac today. At least they say the average age of Caddy owner has come down to 50s compare to a decade ago, it was about 70yo.

This means Caddy’s attracting younger buyers rather than people in retirement home in Florida.

What’s an aggressive face! It is going to scare old people away!

Is it beautiful? Is it elegant? Is it luxurious? Is it spacious…..?………The answer is “No”.

Last 10 years, Caddy has been trying to deny their 100 years of history, then trying to be more like Lexus, Acura or something. Actually, it looks more like “LEGO” toys.
Angler like Lego toy, narrow and cramped…….I don’t see any item to show it “Beautiful”

Look at the how bad the proportion is…….the widest part of this car is front fenders…..compere to that, see how narrow the cabin is……..that is why this car looks extremely small for the actual size of the body. It reduce the interior space significantly as well.

I am only 5.8 tall and 120lb….then, I am still feeling it cramped.

Cadillac CTS………..Length :191.6 in  Width : 72.5 in  Height: 58 in

  Lexus ES ………….Length: 191.1    Width: 71.5       Height: 57.1

It is amazing !! Lexus ES is a smaller car !! Which do you think is roomier or more luxurious?

The crisp lines designed by ruler, cramped & uncomfortable interior, and expensive…….Do you want to buy it?

I’d say “No way!”

This is what I modified by Adobe Photoshop. Cabin Width has been expanded. That will expand space especially around passenger’s shoulder to elbow which is extremely important to create comfortable cabin space..That also expanded the Width between headlights.

Although I hate the shape of headlights, it looks wider and more stable as well.

Grill has been a little bit pulled up as well because I did not like the position of the original.It is the same on the rear shape. Vertical tail lamps look good with wide body width…..but with the narrow width like CTS, it makes it look narrower.

This one reminds me Honda Prelude from early 90’s. But remember, CTS is a Luxury sedan, not a sporty coupe. It is exactly the same as the front view.

Again, for the rear fenders….the widest part, the cabin width is way too narrow.

For this image, I expanded the width of the Cabin and the width or luggage space. That also expanded the width between tail lights as well. What I can say is…..

Designers didn’t know how to design within the limited size.

Old days, American people did not know how to design small cars because they did not have to worry about the size at all. But it was 4 decades ago and they still haven’t learned small cars design yet.  Bigger than Lexus ES or BMW 5 series, but CTS looks much  smaller, cheaper and also has cramped interior. That is mainly because of the wrong proportion as I explained in this topic. There are so many things to do for Cadillac, but first thing they have to learn is……again “Right Proportion”.

Also they need a bit better finish for every exterior items. It just looks like cheap ugly custom car.