As the automobile industry continues to develop and mature, the professor discovered that there are some things that were rarely seen in the past and used in very few car models, but have become commonplace in recent years, especially at the automotive [design] level. Things, such as what we are going to talk about today - [through-type taillights], or "integrated taillights".
If you pay special attention to the new cars released in recent years, the floating roof was very popular in the first two years. In the past two years, this kind of through-type taillights became popular. Now you will find that when you walk on the cars in the streets and alleys, , whether it is high, middle or low-end, sedan, SUV or MPV, whether it is an ordinary family car with a price as low as tens of thousands, or a Bugatti with a price of tens of millions, all use through-type taillights.
So today the professor wants to talk about this "broken" through-type taillight.
First answer a question: What is the use of this through-type taillight? Will it have any impact on the interests of our consumers? What is it for? Can it save fuel or something?
The answer is obviously, this through-type taillight can only bring you a visual experience; it can neither reduce wind resistance nor save fuel. Whether to choose a car with through-type taillights depends entirely on personal preference, so if you only If you want to know what impact this thing can have on your interests, just read here. The following is about the story of through-type taillights and its impact on car brands.
The professor's brain twitched for a moment and he counted the models on the market with through-type taillights. Based on the date the professor wrote, they included the ones just released, excluding their derivative models, that is, plug-in hybrids and extended special editions. Those, by car name, there are more than 48 models available on the market that have not been discontinued and do not include old models!
There may be some omissions, but this number will only be more or less. Some models with special channels and those with chrome-plated trim in the middle of the tailgate or that do not light up are not included.
Therefore, after all calculations, there are more than 50 models on the market with through-type taillights, and there are many 100,000-class models of independent brands. Therefore, the design of through-type taillights is already bad.
Now that through-type taillights are so common, I wonder how many people still remember how this design came about? Which brand and model was the first to adopt through-type taillights?
The answer is: Lincoln Continental.
To be precise, the first model that through-type taillights appeared on was the fifth-generation Lincoln Continental, which was a mid-term facelift model from 1970 to 1979. Starting from the fifth generation, it was a "quasi-through-type taillight", which was not completely through-type. , because there is a license plate in the middle, and it was not until the late fifth generation that the through-type taillights were "completely integrated".
The design inspiration comes from the grille of the fourth-generation Lincoln. The taillights of the fourth-generation Lincoln are usually placed on both sides, but the size of the grille is very large, so it became the design inspiration.
But unfortunately, by the sixth generation model, the through-type taillights of the Lincoln Continental were cancelled. Then it was in the modern Lincoln models that the through-type grille was brought back to the attention of consumers. Subsequently, various brands on the market They all started to imitate.
In fact, although the threshold for designing this thing is low and difficult, and although through-type taillights are easy to make, if you carefully compare the models on the market, you can still tell that some brands of models are actually shoddy and mechanically following the trend, and some brands of models are It is really designed with care to maintain the unity of the body design, thereby creating a sense of beauty and design.
Let’s talk about some negative examples first:
The professor won't mention names for fear of causing trouble. You can explore the streets on your own. Here, the professor will only talk about how to tell which parts are mechanical and which are shoddy.
First of all, it is especially obvious for some mid-term facelift models. They were not available in the early stage, but will be added in the mid-term. Many of them will be, especially the 100,000-class models. Because the production and design of a car are already fixed, changing a line or a small module is a huge project, not to mention changing from non-penetrating to penetrating involves adding light groups and changing the production template. of.
Therefore, for some cars, the early version of the taillights was originally separated on both sides. After the through-type taillights are added, the shape of the light groups on both sides of the early stage has not changed. It is just by adding a light strip in the middle to achieve the "penetrating" effect. Yes, those are just mechanical changes. This kind of modification is quite low-cost, but it is also the laziest and has the least sense of design. You will find that some cars with penetrations are not as good-looking as non-penetrations.
Which ones are shoddy? Look at the effect and workmanship. Visual effects, lighting effects, seams, shapes, etc.
The easiest time to see it is at night. At night, if you look at the lighting effect of the through-type taillights, you will find that some through-type taillights "penetrate" very carelessly, and the gap between the tailgate and the light groups on both sides is too large. Like a moat, this is a cost issue. If the money is not enough for suppliers, the seamless effect between the two light groups will not be enough.
There are also some models whose original light sets are not suitable for through-type designs, but they follow the trend and have to be changed to through-type designs, which creates huge gaps and incongruity. The cost is there. How much you spend will determine how good the results are. But how good can a car costing 100,000 be?
Then let’s talk about positive examples.
The positive professor was not afraid to praise and praised the Audi A7 that the professor had test driven a while ago.
First of all, you can see that the through-type taillight of the A7 is very integrated and coordinated, and the workmanship inside is very good. The gap is very small. You can see that the LED light strip is connected to the edge. This shows that the workmanship is in place. And effect, this is the lamp factory, this is the gap between luxury brands and ordinary brands that cost more than 100,000 yuan.
Then there is the visual effect. Nowadays, when Audi is playing with lights, everyone is playing with LED. When you were still using long strips of LED lights, Audi switched to a complex composition of multiple LEDs. This is the new design language of the Audi family. , Audi A8 and Q8 both have such a design, which extends from top to bottom. When it comes to the A7, Audi's family-style design language is added to the through-type taillights. In this way, it is exclusive to Audi's unique brand The recognition comes out.
Over the years, especially in the past two years, the homogenization of designs has been particularly obvious. Suspended roofs, luxury/sporty designs, oversized central control screens, and the through-type taillights discussed in this article have all appeared more and more frequently. The higher the price, the weaker its advantages will naturally be. How can car brands, especially independent brands that are not very competitive, break through?
The professor's point of view is to create distinctive family characteristics.
In this regard, joint venture brands, especially luxury brands, have done particularly well, such as BBA. They have a strong enough design team to create a family language for their brands.
In terms of independent brands, the professor personally believes that BYD is doing better. It recruits designers and technicians from major brands to create its own family characteristics. The Dragon Face design language is already a household name, and its design is well-known in the market;
Secondly, although design is less difficult than the three major items, perseverance is also very important.
For example, the Southeast brand is designed by Pinfa Design. The results of the first two years were pretty good, but the model updates in the past two years have almost stagnated. The new Wing Dance, to be fair, can no longer be seen as the work and design of Pinfa. The quality is too mediocre, probably because the design fee cannot keep up.
There is nothing wrong with hiring foreign aid. The important thing is to do it to the end and do it with your heart. It is better not to do it in a rough and mechanical way.
Maybe in the past two years, through-type taillights have been popular, and in two years something else will be popular. According to the professor’s observations in the past two years, it seems that everything that can be seen and imagined has been ruined. In two years, I don’t dare to say what design professors will be popular, but overall there are several trends.
1. Three-dimensional
The professor believes that design is constantly evolving and progressing. Previous designs were limited by manufacturing processes and costs. Many were flat planes, like the previous light group shapes, which were limited by manufacturing, or like the previous Porsche 911, which stood up like a frog. Eyes, or made into jumping lights.
In the future, I believe it will be more three-dimensional. For example, like BMW's taillights, you can see the taillights of the current X3. The shape is concave and convex, very three-dimensional, which can bring more prominent lighting effects, and there is a future The new generation 3 series and 7 series have such a design. I believe this is one of the trends and may be widely adopted in the future.
2. Exercise
This can be said to be an obvious trend. Whether it is the top three Japanese brands, BBA, or independent brands, their models are all taking the sporty route. This is naturally due to the younger market. Even the former middle-aged Camry Becoming a sports guy, the first-generation official car A6L has transformed into a technology giant. At the same time, it has become more sporty. There are also luxury-oriented Mercedes-Benz, and the C-class has also begun to become very sporty. The professor will not analyze it too much. They are all obvious. Get the changes.
3. There are still some who go their own ways.
This aspect mainly refers to some big players, like Audi, playing with lights is an everlasting unique skill, always at the forefront of the trend of playing with lights, always surprising; and there are also BMW, which released the new 7 a few days ago Judging from the system, the changing trend is "the nostrils are getting bigger and bigger", I hope the painting style will not go astray...
There is nothing wrong with through-type taillights, whether they are used or not. I just hope that if you use them, you must be careful, because the problem of homogeneity is becoming more and more obvious, not only in the automotive industry, but also in other industries.
Finally, I will end by borrowing a line from Fa Ge in the movie "Wushuang":
“Art (design) allows us to see the beautiful side of the world,
But this painting (certain design),
But it makes us see that this world is just a table of leftovers. "
