What If: The Pontiac Aztek was Redesigned

Personal File: I always enjoy the crazy and creative ideas that TheSketchMonkey produces on his YouTube channel and last week was no exception. For a second time in just over a year he took a stab at fixing the design-challenged Pontiac Aztek. I went back to his first attempt and was inspired to take my own spin on the redesign. The twist with my intepretation was to not only clean up the design but approach a "what if" redesign that focused on more successful design cues from other models in line up.

Execution Highlights

• Chevrolet Avalance wheel wells, rockers, and lower side trim replaces plastic cladding
• Pontiac G8 sedan fender vent, door handles, side rear-view mirrors and rims
• Pontiac Vibe headlights and kidney grilles
• Custom brushed D-pillar, rear side glass, gas door, rear bumper, upper door lines, new fascia cut lines, lower front bumper and top air intakes
• Moved Aztek badge to a more traditional location on the driver side front door
• Recolored the car into something more appealing than ripe banana yellow

Final Thoughts: I think I nailed the look I was going for in the redesign. It wasn't a complete redesign of the vehicle, but simply an update to a cleaner and more polished look Pontiac was finally attempting to create before it was shuttered. If the brand ever comes back, I hope they'll take a second look at the Aztek. While earning the reputation as an ugly duckling, for those who own them they are an extremely capable vehicle.

AR Rewind #1 - Pontiac G8 Coupe

Rewind: This is the first in a series of posts where I dive into detail on the work completed for Edmunds InsideLine engagements. Each post will highlight challenges, tricks, techniques and results of the creative brief requested. These often required a balancing act of quality, scale and scope to make the short turnaround times to go to press.

Creative Brief: I had been chopping cars for years in the Readers Talent section of GMInsideNews forum. I gained experience and learned quite a bit partipcating in their on and off again monthly car design contests. When the Commodore Coupe 60 concept came out in very early '08, a lot of the forum members, myself included, immediately went to town chopping the car into a Pontiac G8 coupe. The stars aligned as one of my earliest versions of the front-end chop garnered some serious attention from the then editor of InsideLine Scott Oldham.

He found my contact info and gave me a ring on the phone - this just 3 weeks after my first child was born. We talked for quite awhile about the car, how I came up with the concept and what Pontiac might actually try to do given how serious Bob Lutz was about aligning Holden to Pontiac here in America. From there, he asked me if I was interested in creating different angles of the car.

Execution Highlights - Front

• Donor Pontiac G8 GXP sedan parts used: front clip, rims, front fender turn marker, lower side sills, b-pillar, hood, headlights, and window wipers.
• Copper orange color selected to match the GXP - color matched the door handles and rear view side mirrors as well.
• Swapped right-hand to left-hand drive (steering wheel switches sides)

Execution Highlights - Rear

• Donor Pontiac G8 GXP sedan parts used: tail lights, badging, trunk spoiler, lower diffuser and exhaust, wheels, front fender turn marker, lower side sills, b-pillar
• Copper orange color selected to match the GXP - color matched the door handles and rear view side mirrors as well.
• Swapped right-hand to left-hand drive (steering wheel switches sides)
• Added slide glass along with the b-pillar as on the second picture as the concept windows were down

Final Thoughts: With family encouragement, the work just lept out of me over 3 or 4 nights as I completed it in-between rocking my newborn baby. I focused extensively on creating quality panel gaps, color matching, fitting elements into proper perspective, and many other techniques to produce renderings of which I am still extremely proud. Scott was happy with the work and from there we started a partnership for new article content over the next 2+ years.

Original Blog Link: Pontiac Ponders G8 GXP Coupe

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

Thoughts on 2014 Impala

Personal File: Where to start... I'm a little bit excited and a little bit saddened by the 2014 Impala. I think overall it will be a hit out of the park and a vehicle GM desperately needed (triggering the death of the w-body)! Visually speaking, the front 3/4 is a bold American style with great proportions. As you make your way to the rear end though, things take a decisively bad turn. In what I can only describe as look-a-like syndrome, the rear end looks more like a Hyundai Sonata than an iconic American sedan.

Since I felt that was missing, I wanted to try my hand at bringing in some of that classic/retro American DNA to the rear and and this chop is the result:

• new trunk and decklid - lowered and reshaped along with trunk lines to give it more of a muscle car look
  
• revised tail lights that are longer and revised trunk back - both done to enhance the classic over the Korean look
  
• reworked the "quarter panel" crease to flow into the top of the trunk line for a more unified look. Helps give a hint of late 60s Impala as well.
  
• revised c-pillar glass trim which now echos slightly the new Camaro
  
• angled belt line with door handles down slightly towards the back door which allows it to meet up with the quarter panel crease for better visual flow. Again, his helps hint at the late 60s Impala.
  
• Zl-1 Camaro wheels
  

For grins and giggles I went full-on retro and came up with this version that has the iconic 3-lens tail lights from the early 60s Impalas. A little over the top, yes, but it was fun to play around with the design elements.

What do you think? Are you as disappointed with the rear end of the Impala as I was - especially after how well thought out the front end was designed? Oh - and one last thing - what is up with that steering wheel?

All source photos copyright original owners

Rumored: 2014 Chevy Cruze MCE

Personal File: Lot's of recent rumblings online of the 2014 Chevrolet Cruze getting a 'rush job' MCE to visually align it with the new Impala and upcoming SS sedan designs. GMInsideNews and a few other outlets have released renderings that tease of what that could look like in various forms.

I was surprised to see this as I had been dabbling with something like it just for fun myself back in June. Never having liked the Cruze visually, I was exploring what could be done to update it and 'bridge the visual gap' between the two very differently designed 2013 Malibu and the future 2014 Impala sedans. My rendering combined aspects of both vehicles into a clean and sharp MCE.

Coming back to this chop again after the rumors started surfacing, I wanted to put a little more polish on the rendering. Here is a list of what has been done to a 2012 RS Cruze:

• revised c-pillar
  
• new wheels from Malibu
  
• hood and headlights and grille from Impala heavily brushed
  
• lower fascia heavily modified from Malibu heavily brushed
  
• reworked tail light shape
  

What do you think? Will GM will do something like this or are all the rumors just that - bunk?

All source photos copyright original owners

U.S. Getting Updated Chevrolet Spark

From GMInside News: Way back in January 2009 General Motors confirmed that the Chevrolet Spark mini-car would ultimately be sold in North America. After an extended period of time outside of the media’s limelight, recent spy shots have confirmed that the Spark will receive a mild update prior to arriving on North American shores.

Earlier this year GMI confirmed that the Spark, despite its absence from corporate communications at GM, was still slated to arrive in 2012 as a 2013 model. According to the newest information from GMI’s product development sources, that timing is still accurate.

Click here to read this article.

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

What if GMC received a Canyon based on the new global mid-size truck platform?

Personal File: I really like the new Chevrolet Colorado Concept revealed this year at the Bangkok International Auto Show. I don't yet know if it will make its way to North America, but I have been wondering what if they created a GMC counterpart. I would assume the Canyon brand name would be kept and the vehicle would integrate design cues found on GMC XD, Granite and All Terrain concepts shown over the past few years.

I've been contemplating doing a chop of this for a while and my brother finally convinced me to put my thoughts down "on paper". Using the GMC Granite as the main donor base, I combined its GMC cues onto the Chevrolet Colorado concept. The results of which I think look outstanding! What do you think? Should GM build a new Canyon on the global mid-size truck platform?

All source photos copyright original owners

Two-Door GM Compact Coming, But It’s Not A Cruze

From GMInside News: Late last week rumors surfaced (for the second time in a year) that Chevrolet is prepping a coupe variant of the new Cruze compact sedan. While we hate to be the bearers of bad news, we can confidently say that there is no Cruze Coupe in the product plans. There is, however, a two-door (err...three?) GM compact car in the plans for North America.

Click here to read this article.

All source photos copyright original owners

Thoughts on the 2011 Honda Accord - Update

Personal File: Been a LONG while since I've posted - been really busy at work - but I wanted to put this chop together at the request of a commentor on the previous Accord post (thanks JustCorey!)

Having more time to think about the design of the Accord and after reviewing JustCorey's comments, I came back to this chop a second time. I've integrated an additional full light bar and turn markers across the trunk instead of a "reflector" stripe that is on the car now. I moved the license plate location down and added more brightwork into the rear end above the license place opening. Everything else I had already done from the last chop tied together nicely with these new updates.

I can't take all the credit however; most of this donor tail light came from the last-gen Honda Odyssey minivan and surprisingly fit the theme. With some modifications and a little bit of custom brushing, I feel this new chop shows more of what the Accord should have looked like with the established Honda DNA.

What do you think? What the Honda designers are doing now isn't working, so I hope they will seriously consider revamping the Accord sometime soon.

All source photos copyright original owners

A Chevy Kappa - what GM could have done with the platform...

Personal File: Like many others who are passionate about the automobile, one of the most painful parts of the GM bankruptcy/buyout last year was the loss of the KAPPA platform. If given another development cycle, I think GM could have had one of the best small two seaters available on the market. We'll never know what would have happened if things turned out differently, but it is fun to ponder if GM had deemed the platform a necessity to keep.

Since Chevy would have no small coupe or small convertible ready for the 2011 model year (no Cruze coupe or convertible would be available), I bet GM would have slotted the Saturn based KAPPA into that segment void. Since it already has a lot of what I would call 'Corvette DNA' in the design, a rebadged Saturn Sky would have fit nicely into the lineup.

Using a Sky Redline mixed with a little of the WTCC concept from a few years back, and some custom brushwork, this is my take - the Chevrolet Stingray. What do you think? Quite a looker I must say and something that would not be out of place slotted underneath the Camaro and Corvette!

All source photos copyright original owners

Thoughts on the 2011 Honda Accord

Personal File: Let me first preface my post in saying my thoughts and prayers go out to the Japanese tsunami victims.

On to the post - I noticed the slight visual updates to the 2011 Honda Accord at the Chicago Auto Show and immediately noticed they added "retro" style tailights bars that go all the way across the trunk lid. This is obviously a nod to older Accord models, however I think adding this feature has made the rest of the existing tail light look sorely out of place.

So what is a guy like me to do? I went in and adjusted the outer tail light and the side beltine to better integrate the new retro tail light additions. To better show these adjustments, I've done something new and created an animated GIF. If you click the image above, you'll now see the changes in animated form.

What do you think - do these mods put the vehicle in better alignment and proportion or should they keep it as is?

All source photos copyright original owners

Rumor: 2013 Dodge Viper Confirmed, Not A Re-Badged Alfa

From Edmunds InsideLine: The trouble with rumors is that they often change shapes and directions like a cloud on a windy day. Today's "it's a lion, no, no it's a tree with a face!" comes from the Detroit News who are reporting that the new Dodge Viper is confirmed for production in 2012 as a 2013 model and that it is not based on an Alfa platform. The 2013 Dodge Viper will use an architecture of its own that will be less cabin rearward, and have a similar shape to the 8c, but with different proportions. It will not use a Ferrari powerplant.

Click here to view this article.

All source photos copyright original owners.

---

UPDATE: The link to this article no longer exists as Edmunds' Inside Line was discontinued in 2013. You can still view the original article via the Wayback Machine.

---

Dodge Viper Rendering Takes First Place in Edmunds InsideLine Photoshop Contest #3

Personal File: Contest #3 is in the books and and I shake out as the winner. It was another great Fiat/Chryler merger theme chosen by the InsideLine staff and another great competition between the top three. Kudos to the other selected finalists. Looking forward to the next one!

I will enjoy my Season 11 Top Gear DVD prize :)

Click here to view this article.

---

UPDATE: The link to this article no longer exists as Edmunds' Inside Line was discontinued in 2013. You can still view the original article via the Wayback Machine.

---

Dodge Viper rendering selected as finalist in InsideLine's Photoshop Contest #3

Personal File: I entered the new Photoshop contest over on Edmunds InsideLine and have again been selected as one of the finalists. The theme this time was a take on stab at the next generation Dodge Viper rumored to be designed on the Alfa Romeo 8C platform. This was an interesting proposal that turned out to be surprisingly easy to accomplish. Wheelbases were similar and overall design points were easy to modify or establish with Viper elements.

What do you think? Do I have the goods to take top spot in the voting?

Click here to view this article.

All source photos copyright original owners.

---

UPDATE: The link to this article no longer exists as Edmunds' Inside Line was discontinued in 2013. You can still view the original article via the Wayback Machine.

---

Ferrari 229 Compatto powerslides into second place in Edmunds InsideLine Photoshop Contest #2

Personal File: Rats! It looks like I was squeezed out of first place on Photoshop contest #2. Well played Alejandro! The LamboYaris was great. Although I would have gone for the VW GTI as a base, you did a bang up job and deserve the win. Kudos to the other selected finalists as well.

Here are some fun comments from the voting - enjoy

How is the Ferrari not getting more love! That actually looks like it could be a real car. Best features are the windshield flowing into the hood and the front and rear fender flares that don't look out of place.

the Ferrari 229 is the best looking of the bunch... take off the Ferrari prancing ponies and you have something that could be a real model.

My vote goes to the ferrari for best photoshop and most realistic.

Can't win 'em all - On to the next!

Click here to view this article.

All source photos copyright original owners.

---

UPDATE: The link to this article no longer exists as Edmunds' Inside Line was discontinued in 2013. Article is not available on the Wayback Machine.

---