Why are Asian cars ugly?

Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder!!
Yes there are some ugly Asian cars, but we also have quite a few ugly US cars, Italian, German, Indian, British and the list goes on, on and on....
its great some of your owned a Ferrrai, Porsche etc , at one time Porsches were looked upon as ugly as well..so as Edsel, US boats of the 40/50/60s with heavy chromes and tail fins.

 

There have been many really hideous English, German and Italian cars. But the trouble with Asian ones is 99% on them are ugly (to my eyes, YMMV). And there has never, ever been a single sublime one. So I fully agree with the OP.

I disagree with the "Asian simplicity of design" school of thought, as I find some Asian cars as the busiest styled, most gimmick-packed designs ever.

On the other hand, almost everything else in the Asian aesthetics pleases my senses, so go figure, LOL.

BTW, if you really want to get into seriously ugly cars, no one beats the French and their Citroen Ami et al.

 

Wasn't the 240Z done by the same guy that did the BMW 507?

 

I sure wish they'd built this one. Mazda would have had my $$ back in '95/'96 if they did...
Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

The bumper-integrated exhaust (a quadrilateral of some form) on the LS460 is now being seen on the newest 7-series, as well as the MY 2010+ S-class.. certainly a small detail, and not necessarily indicative of a "great, original design," but I think Lexus had it first, in this case.

 

I must admit I like the looks of the Subaru 22b(I'm a little biased though, see profile pic). But it just doesn't have the subtle and classic lines of something like an old Jag or Bimmer. And the GD and newer Imprezas are great performers but I wouldn't call them gorgeous.
Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

No - that's a myth. Albrecht Goertz was doing work for Yamaha when Nissan came calling. His designs were rejected and taken to Toyota, which then became the 2000GT.

The 240Z was designed by Nissan, although it is fair to say the direction was influenced by Goertz, the final design was NOT his.

Die-hard 240Z owners go nuts over this myth.

 

I still think that the MKIV TT Supra was the best asain car ever made.

 

Only good looking RX-8 in my opinion is the grand am race version


The bottom car is the Honda HSV-10. It's Honda's entry in JGTC this year.

 

Generalizations and stereotypes are dangerous. I believe most who frequent FChat are true enthusiasts, but not everyone is going to agree on what is good looking. I currently have 1 Italian, 1 German and 2 Japanese cars and am very happy with all of them. As far as which are the best looking I would rank ours as Ferrari, Honda, Lexus and then Audi. The Audi and the Lexus are just transportation “tools” but they are very good at what we use them for. The Ferrari and the Honda are tons of fun, and I believe are beautiful cars. I get almost as many compliments when I am driving my wife’s S2000 as when I am driving the F355. So much of car design is now coming from around the world regardless of where the studio may be headquartered; a fair amount is now coming out of California. Just because a car was designed by Pininfarina, does not mean it does not have an Asian influence (for both the Ferrari Enzo and 599, the supervising designer was Ken Okuyama from Japan while he was at Pininfarina; he also was the chief designer for the Honda NSX as well and supervising designer for the Porsche 996). I think most new cars are bland regardless of where they originate from. I am not a fan of any of the new Mercedes designs, the Porsche 996, Boxter, Cayman and Cayenne any of the current BMW line, any of the current Audi line up with the exception of the A4, A8 and R8, and find the Ferrari 599 and 612 not my cup of tea. I really do like the new Ferrari 458, the current Porsche GT3 and the current Aston Martin line up. ymmv...

 

...and usually true

 

Touché, with the emphasis on usually, nicely played!

 

I have asked myself the same thing over and over and the truth is that Europeans generally know how to design cars a bit better. They have been doing it alot longer and one can only think of the old Alfas and Bugattis, not to mention other brands who have dissapeared.

Culturally speaking, every nation is subject to a different forms of beauty and luxury which influences their design language. By travelling to Italy and exploring the peninsula i was able to understand where their understanding of design and beauty derives from. There is a beautiful landscape and simplicity. Beauty is everywhere, hence the cars are just as beautiful.

Japanese beauty is different. More industrial and less about La Bella Figura and more to do performance and economy.

Every country has a different design language. Italians just seem to like curves and proportions

 

That Goertz had a part in designing the Toyota 2000GT is also a myth.

 

I think in another 10-20 years this will be a rare and classic car. As the X and Y generations age, cars like these, and EVOs and Skylines will become very popular, very rare and very expensive. At some point we will be calling these classics.

Think of how popular and expensive muscles cars have gotten recently. THe 90s imports are the muscle cars of the future.

 

Beauty IS, in the eye of the beholder.

The Mits GTO (3000GT)
Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

"But if I had to make a list of the 100 best looking cars of the last 40 years I would be hard pressed to find an Asian car that I would include. In any price range. The highest praise I can come up with is that "Subarus aren't freakishly ugly anymore" or "the Honda Fit looks tidy for what it is" or "the Lexus RX looks nice". The Datsun 240Z is one of their better ones, but it may have been a happy accident inspired from elsewhere, because every succeeeding version made it worse up through the hideously swollen 2010 Nissan 370Z."

I own a few Toyota's now, and a Nissan amongst my Asian cars, Ive had the 240z, and an early NSX which i thought the lines were very good, and I think those designs will be timeless...I bought a TT 300ZX in 96, new and still have it today, bone stock, its not the most classic design when compared with my Lamborghini, but it still has an appeal, at least the headlights did show up in the Diablo! I contemplated buying a GTR, but I feel its fugly..but fast....

 

Short answer...... they are not Italian

 

I agree the outside of Asian cars are typically not as appealing or outrageous as they technically could be but I disagree that the interiors aren't high quality. Honda/Acura have the nicest interiors for the money, rarely do they use cheap feeling plastic even in the lower end cars. I just spent a week in rental cars, and nothing American felt as nice as my last Accord.

I think almost every country has some good looking cars, it's easy to stereotype but if you really break it down most every car company make cars that are boring and uninspired. BMW hasn't made anything remotely attractive from the Z8 up until the brand new Z4. Mercedes? The SLR is cool, but everything else looks overweight. Ford? Not sure I can think of anything I really like from the last decade, however their interiors have taken a huge step in the right direction. GM has the CTS going for it but nothing else that appeals to me. Audi/VW are weak across the board.

Etc. Etc.

Italian's know how to make an exterior, I'll give them that.

 

Actually Audi are on a roll at the moment. Their head designer is former Alfa Romeo guru Walter De Silva, an Italian of course. You can definately seen some latin curves in the Audi A5.

BMW hasnt made a nice car since the E46 3series and Benz is conservative yet efficient, still works though.

 

Unfortunately, sound aerodynamics created a mold all cars must now adhere to. I suppose there can only be one true blob that is the pinnacle of least wind resistance and the only items left for designers are gingerbread or seam changes to create something appearing to have a unique quality. Old designs were better than what we have now (for the most part) because of the unlimited parameters designers were allowed to explore. As a consequence, it seems the best we have on offer from today's crop is based on retro. Mini, 500, Beetle, Mustang, Challenger, Camaro, Miata, they're winners because the original design was based on pure eye appeal.

Back to the original post. Japanese designs never had much appeal for me. The few showing promise were obvious copies of N/A or European designs although a handful were unique and original. I believe part of the reason Asian style lacked cohesion (at least to Westerners) was due to their intense need for export success. What they believed would be successful in the N/A market took precedence over designs they found inherently appealing and I 'll humbly suggest this rift was responsible for boatloads of over-styled and proportionally incorrect models. I believe their own sense of design suffered a palsy during this era.

From what I've seen, it has only been in the last five years or so that Asian designers finally became comfortable with the idea their own designs were globally accepted. Personally, I still don't find them appealing and as others have mentioned, sales are likely based on the strength of other criteria. Nevertheless many of them are their own designs and there is no denying their success based on sales figures. The locals have noticed and we've gone full circle, the latest LaCrosse is the first domestic to intentionally copy a Japanese luxury sedan and it has left me wondering whether there will be a wave of domestic 'imports' arriving in the near future.