Thoughts on the 2021 BMW M3

Personal File: The new BMW M3 and M4 made waves this week and generated a ton of online discussion. The designs of the coupe and sedan are very similar up front with massive twin kidney grilles that wouldn't look out of place on big rig semi truck. Needless to say it's been designed to be polarizing. The sculpted hood wouldn't be too far off if Pontiac was still alive and kicking. From the front wheel arches back, everything diverges especially in the rear - where each car takes on it's own personality. The M3 carries the more traditional and classic BMW sedan design cues, while the M4 breaks new ground and perhaps losing some BMW-ness in the process.

Creative Brief: The goal of this chop was to take the excessively large kidney grilles and resize and reshape them down into more realistic proportions with the rest of the car. Then just a few bits to tidy up that will bring it all together.

Execution Highlights - Front Grille Comparison

• Decreased kidney grilles to better proportions
• Lower air dam intake now goes across the entire front face
• Retailored inner headlight housings on both sides
• Color change and black hood stripes!

Final Thoughts: I'm very pleased with how the chop came together. The smaller kidney grilles helped the front end flow better and the horizontally connected lower grille grounds the vehicle and makes it look wider. What do you think? Did I make it better or worse?

All source photos copyright original owners

Thoughts on the 2020 Nissan Z Proto

Personal File: The new Nissan Z Proto just hit the airways this week and it is making quite a stir. It's been a long time since Nissan gave us new a Z - in fact you have to go all the way back to 2009. Much like the GT-R concept shown at the 2001 Tokyo Motor Show, the finer details of the Z Proto are not yet fully baked, but it does give a good indication of the overall design language, interior concepts, and structure of the vehicle.

Overall the car moves away from the past few generations and favors instead a mix of it's greatest hits. Gone are the bold (overstyled) elements like the boomerang headlights and tail lights and instead feature heavy Fairlady 240Z influences in the front and profile combined with a very miminialist 300ZX style rear end. There is no mistaking this is a Z car and that's a good thing.

Creative Brief: As much as I like the concept car there just aren't enough details in the design. The goal of this triptych was to take what Nissan started with and lay in details with what I hope the real production car might look like when revealed. Some of the highlights include:

Execution Highlights - Front

• Revised headlights from a 2019 Volkswagen Beetle
• Revised grille and lower air dam
• Added front running lights and grill ports on from from a 2017 Nissan GT-R 
• Revised hood and fascia cut lines
• Color-matched pillars to body color

Execution Highlights - Profile

• Revised headlights and tail lights
• Brightwork deleted after B-pillar window
• Color-matched roof and trunk lid to the main body

Execution Highlights - Rear

• Increased size of tail lights
• Added badge on deck lid
• Moved license plate area
• Simplified lower diffuser
• Brightwork deleted after B-pillar window
• Color-matched roof and trunk lid to the main body

Final Thoughts: I was suprised how quickly this one came together and how much better it flows from all angles of the vehicle. The detail bits and bobs were fun to add from the Volkswagen and the GTR as well. What do you think? Did I make it better or worse?

All source photos copyright original owners

Thoughts on 2016 Mazda MX-5

Personal File: I waited patiently for the Mazda MX-5 reveal for many weeks. The car had been teased under a blue car cover and everyone wondered how it would look ... evolutionary, revolutionary, a more aggressive flavor of KODO styling or something even more radical? What was up Mazda's sleeve? When the covers finally came off last week we were presented with very taunt and simplified KODO language that I found quite pleasing to the eye.

As with other sports cars of the day there are hints of other vehicle design themes, such as a Honda s2000 type hood, Jaguar XK rear light treatment and even BMW Z-cars flame surfacing on the front and rear fenders. Having said that I still think it is instantly recognizable as a Mazda. That is actually what prompted this latest quick chop.

As much as I like the car, there is just something visually off-putting about the front. The headlights seem excessively low to the ground and are at odds with the belt-line. The rear lights kick up higher and are larger than the head lights, which, imho, creates wedge-type look that is not terribly well proportioned. The LED headlights look like they were made to be as miniscule to the design of the front of the vehicle as possible, which I suppose works, but it does take away some of the soul of the vehicle.

Creative Brief: The goal of this quick chop was to proceed with fixing the headlights as I had envisioned to create a simple and effective front-end presentation.

Headlight Comparison

Final Thoughts: With the edits, the profile seems to line up better wrapping around to the front of the car. Overall things look more balanced with a stronger stance as well. I would love to see Mazda look at doing something like this for a mid-cycle enhancement. What do you think? Did I make it better or worse?

All source photos copyright original owners

Rendering Comparisions: 2014 BMW i8

Rendering Comparisons: This was a fun one so I wanted to show a little bit more of how I come up with my ideas. You'll notice 3 before and afters below. This is something I may do from now on in these comparison posts, but it takes a lot longer to set up! So let's see how this one goes ... :)

With the seductive BMW i8 finally getting down to business with details and pricing, BMW looks to have a bona fide hit on their hands.

Comparison of M6 Donor with my M6/EfficientDynamics Concept chop

Comparison of EfficientDynamics Concept Donor with my M6/EfficientDynamics Concept chop

Comparison of Production i8 with my M6/EfficientDynamics Concept chop

I really liked the BMW Vision EfficientDynamics concept but was doubtful if it would ever be produced. I figured this vehicle was a test bed for new tech, with the design ideas presented to "trickle down" into the product stable in future vehicles. I wondered then if we'd see some of the design cues on the next 6 Series Coupe - which would be the nearest size car in size and function.

Much to my surprise the revised, renamed and gorgeous Z4 ended up with a lot of the design cues, especially with the trademark "twin gills". This wasn't enough for me though as I still wanted to see how the design would look "wrapped over" the bones of the 6 Series coupe. So, taking matters into my own hands, this was the result.

Now that I've been ogling over the new i8 for a few weeks now I went back to my rendering, done over 4 years ago, and was pleasantly surprised to see a lot of my thoughts and ideas translated pretty well to the production i8 look and feel. Good stuff :)

All source photos copyright original owners

What If: Dodge Grand Caravan SRT

Personal File: So I was in the car the other day driving my daughter to dance class and I noticed a new Dodge Grand Caravan R/T on the highway. The man van looks good but could have had more going on outside and under the hood.

I began to wonder how much more aggressive the Caravan could have looked if Dodge had gone all out and created a true SRT version of the van. So I quickly put this together based on some 2012 Charger SRT8 donor bits :)

The Caravan SRT could feature revised side body work, new lower skirts, bigger rims, brakes, and lower profile tires, new exhaust, new front clip, headlights, power dome hood and a twin-turbo Pentastar V6 power-plant for some get up and go.

What do you think? Would you buy this if you had a need for a family hauler? I think I could :)

All source photos copyright original owners

Thoughts on 2013 Chevrolet Malibu

Personal File: This is a post I've been working on for quite some time as I really can't get past the 'bangle butt' on the recently unveiled 2013 Chevrolet Malibu. Don't get me wrong though, this car is amazing and the interior is top notch. I just don't care for some of the high level exterior details.

Not one to leave a stone unturned, I wanted to see what I could do with it. So I created two different looks for the rear clip:

1. Clean and Contemporary Look (simplified rear fenders, more integrated trunk lid, adjusted rear passenger window cut line, and simplified tail lights)
2. Retro-inspired (mid to late 50s) Look (completely rescultped rear fenders, trunk lid, adjusted rear passenger window, and further tweaked tail lights)

Since I was on a roll, I went ahead and modified the front end as well. IHMO, I feel it too is a little over designed.

• Here is my simplified front end idea. This would not only clean up the front end but also align the vehicle visually with the Chevrolet Cruze LTZ as well.

What do you think? Do my adjustments look better? worse? or just different? :)

All source photos copyright original owners

Chevrolet Cruze Sports Tourer - where is my wagon?

Personal File: Now that the Paris Auto Show has completed, I wanted to take a stab at one of the most promising but underdelivered concepts of the show - the Chevrolet Cruze hatchback. As much as I wanted to like the hatch (it was better looking than the Cruze sedan), I just couldn't get over the decision to do a hatchback over a wagon.

So what is a guy like me to do? You guessed it - make one. Taking the same platform as the hatchback concept shown at Paris, I stretched the body slightly past the rear wheels and added a donor wagon top from the new 2011 Astra Sport Tourer. The pieces easily fit into the existing Cruze body lines, and in fact, seemed to improve the overal look of the car's profile. I also touched up the front end by making the grille more like the Equinox, raising the front hood crease, and squaring up the weird headlight assemblies. The result is a front end that is crisper and cleaner.

Now this is a Cruze that I would actually want to drive! What do you think?

All source photos copyright original owners

What if GM made a Buick LaCrosse wagon?

Personal File: I read on InsideLine a few weeks back that there could be a Regal wagon coming to America soon. This is great news as not only am I a major fan of wagons, but because I figured GM would all but abandon this market (minus the CTS wagon) in America.

if the Regal wagon will actually happen, it got me thinking 'what if the wagon takes off and sells well'? Would Buick consider a Buick LaCrosse wagon too? Using the Buick Enclave as a starting point, I was determined to find out. I think the results are outstanding.

Now that is a proper Buick wagon! What do you think?

All source photos copyright original owners