It’s official, cars are designed to have a face
Identifying a new car can be as simple as looking at its nose.And the frontal treatment of a new model is usually designed to appeal to the model’s target buyers, be they first-time shoppers or retirees.
We’ve previously reported on a Carpool investigation on whether smiling cars sell better, so we know that there is something well and truly in the designer's mind when sketching the design.
"In a way, the face of the car is the face. We are people and usually we look first at the face," the design director of Bentley Motors, Stefan Seilaff, told carsales.
"The character of a car is the face and I believe in it. You can do a big mistake if you get it wrong,"
Seilaff created one of the most adventurous concept cars of 2019, the Bentley EXP 100 GT, and says it was vital to get the front-end look right.
Even though it is pitched as a "futuristic electric car", the EXP retains classic Bentley round headlights and a giant grille in a deliberate move to keep it on-message and on-target with current standards.
“With some concept cars done 20-to-30 years ago you still feel thrilled and inspired, but with some you are a little, how you say, embarrassed,” Seilaff explained.
"But the EXP 100 GT still had to be a Bentley. You can do whatever you want, because the future will be so different, but it still had to be a Bentley. I hope in 20 years people will not laugh too much."
According to Seilaff, the front of the car was the real key to the EXP and that’s why it still has a traditional-looking radiator grille.
"The psychological thing is to say 'This is still a Bentley'. You can argue if it is functionally necessary.
"It’s definitely for an elegant person. Elegance, for me, is the characteristic word. Whether it is female or male, I think it doesn’t matter."
Seilaff also says the facial recognition has been a reflection of potential buyers for many generations.
"Small cars look more like babies, with big eyes," he says.
"Sports cars have a very mean way to look. Of course, the look is a way to maintain stereotypes, but it is true.
"If you look at the Volkswagen Beetle, in a way it was a neutral face with no character. So this is well fitting for a people’s car -- almost a socialist car.
"But it was supposed to be a car for everybody. Maybe with the psychology it was an accident, but it worked very well," the Bentley design chief said.
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