An ugly barge I'd say. This must be the guaranteed ugliest car of 2019 winner?

 

Right up there with it's Lexus cousin.......

 

​​​​​​Excessive grillage!!!
Imagine those black plastic front eggcrates, caked in dead flies all through spring and summer? That's going to look very shabby.
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A little reminiscent of this maybe?

If they would only use the same voice for the Nav. "By your command"

 

It isnt getting any better

 

I really hope Jaguar does not go down this route with grillage.

 

From the picture, it looks like most of that acreage isn't even open to let air pass through. I have kind of wondered about modern styling. In the 1990s, grills got smaller and smaller until many cars had virtually none at all, drawing air entirely from underneath the front of the car. I wondered how some of them avoided overheating or how the air conditioner worked. But the last ten years have seen the reverse, grills getting larger and larger, with now Toyota going for the record, obviously with no regard for taste (I used to be a big fan of Toyota).

 

I skipped the nineties completely because I didn't like the styling. Guess I'll be skipping this fad too.

 

Exactly !
Also I was wondering what happened to aerodynamics, seeing as they are such a major part of fuel economy?

The kind of black plastic they are using for the grillage looks like some kind of textured recycled spec? Speaking from experience of riding motorcycles for a few decades, that is going to look very tardy very quickly. Unless the owners are prepared to clean off the dead bugs every road trip? I can see Toyota owners spending a lot of time with a toothbrush trying the clean out the dead bugs form the egg crate grillage which is where they will congregate.

I have a photo of the superb Jaguar XE Project 8 as my PC wallpaper and I can see the same kind of egg crate mat black grillage creaping in.

Have you seen the new BMW X7? Its a huge slabby looking boxy brute with a mutant sized kidney grill !

PLEASE Jaguar do not go down that appalling ugly route that other brands are. I am passionate about good design and design trends, but not silly fashions.
Jaguar has always had a maturity in its design, their cars should still reflect that.

 

I think your Cylon comparison is entirely appropriate

 

Nissan joins the rush to ugliness.

 

You would have to wear some ugly filters on your eyes anywhere near that?

 

BMW stepping up to the ugly challenge !

 

Is this some sort of competition, one designer betting another how fast they can drive the customers away.

Remember the Pontiac Aztek? Bob Lutz Explains How The Pontiac Aztek Got Made

Suddenly it's looking pretty good now.

 

Sometimes extreme ugly becomes a classic car icon. I fully expect the Aztec will surpass the cult popularity of the AMC Pacer someday. Not that they are particularly valuable, but a Pacer sure draws the crowds at a car show. I don't think the Avalon quite rises to that level, but that Nissan might be in the running.

 

Well, I did want a volkswagen "thing" when they first came out. Looked just like the kubulwagen, what's not to like?

 

Bentley's latest work of mesh.

 

From what little I understand about it, the HUGE grills that we are seeing is the response from the car companies to the government's new requirements for pedestrian safety. Basiclly, if you are on foot and get hit by a car, the grill is to act like a big airbag and catch you instead of killing you. I am thinking we will be seeing a LOT more big grills in the future.

 

That's an interesting theory, basically a big plastic cow-catcher like on the front of an old steam locomotive. But plastic tends to break kind of like ceramics, cleaving sharp points and edges. I guess maybe you'd have fewer broken bones, but likely cut up pretty bad.

 

Yes, you would still most likely end up in the hospital, but at least you would be alive. Some of the grills felt like rubber???????????????? So, maybe a combination of plastic and rubber or just rubber - I am assuming rubber can be shaped into many things??