Dubious Doppelgängers: Suspiciously Similar Cars
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 4 เม.ย. 2024
- A classic car connaisseur notices that a lot of cars look very similar lately. Especially the rear end and taillight styling seems to get increasingly similar. Who is copying who? And is this something of the past decade or is history full of automotive look-alikes?
This video is more about the comments than the video, let me know your thoughts on what is the most important car of each decade or all time!
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the problem isn't that cars always used to look alike, the problem is that cars used to look better.
That's just a matter of taste
Loool definitely not
The best example are the 80s sedans shown in the video, which may look good in the front but are worse than today's design
How far back do you have to go?
@@Rangernewb5550 Early 2010s
@@Rangernewb5550 Early '70s on back.
You completely missed the slew of 70s Japanese cars inspired by the design cues of the 60s muscle cars.
I’m surprised Ed never brought up coke bottle styling that was started by the 1965 Buick riviera. In the US it didn’t last beyond the early 1970s at the latest but in 1970s Japan it was pretty much seen on every car that wasn’t a big sedan. Kei cars and compact cars from that time period were big adopters of it.
Meanwhile Fiat copied the BMW Hoffmeister Kink on their sedans in the mid-1970s and a 1975 prototype for a Triumph Dolomite facelift also had it.
You don't know the size of my library of similar cars my friend ;-)
@@EdsAutoReviews 1977 chrysler new yorker and Lincoln town coupe 1977 (designed by the same designer maybe?)
@@EdsAutoReviews I see. Maybe a sequel video then?
How to forget the 1st gen Toyota Celica or the Nissan Skyline 2000GT-R? Very angular and agressive like the muscle cars from that era.
Actually, it's not so much cars look a lot a like.
It's more like car manufacturers just trade car designers around like football fans trade football player collector cards.
Like the designer of the Chrysler PT Cruiser going to Chevrolet and designing the HHR.
Yeah, but despite that designer making retro design cool, the HHR looks nothing an SSR (also GM) or the PT Cruiser looking like the Prowler (also Chrysler)
Most cars have their unique quirks, and every automaker is just slide down a slide of trends. Cars look good theses days, it's that everything is a SUV these days .
I'm 70 yrs old. As a kid, and even today, I have always thought that 20s and 30s cars looked alike, but my dad could tell what kind of car it was at a glance. Maybe not quite the same thing as your video talks about, but the 60 Corvair inspired a ton of look-alikes. Sunbeam/Hillman Imp is probably the closest. There was an Indian car (not a Tata) that looked just like the Corvair. The later Cadillac Escalades have the vertical taillights similar to the Volvo/ Honda CR-V too. I love your videos, Ed! I've been here since your 3rd episode.
I'm 72 years old and 👍 agree with that assessment of 1920s and 1930s cars. Packard apparently didn't think so. In the 1920s, they had an ad with a car in the distance with the caption "You can tell it's a Packard from here!"
Much later, for the 1948 model, they took their belief a step further and didn't put the Packard name anywhere on the outside of the car. Their ads said that you could just tell it was a Packard.
Packard: Ask The Man Who Owns One
I wish someone would reintroduce a modern car with 1930s Packard designing cues.
@@charlesharmon4926 There's a YT video, _Packard Returns_ about a new effort to revive Packard. I tried to post a link, but it looks like YT won't let me.
@@Jack_Russell_Brown Yes, I can always pick out a Packard or a Pierce Arrow from a street scene of 30s cars. But totally agree they often looked similar in their generation. Sadly the 55-56 Packards just looked like a mashup of what was popular at the time (I owned a 56) it just looked like a fat 56 chevy. The Chevys with that little beltline tuck at the quarter window made the whole car look lighter. Harley Earl was a true genius designer.
The Corvair looked like a huge NSU Prinz!!
I was always finding that Chrysler Cordoba looks like a redrawn Chevy Monte Carlo.
"-Can I copy your homework?
-Sure, but make changes, so we won't get caught."
Ad the Ford LTD II to the list.
@@RC_928I remeber there are like 4-5 cars that look like this (stacked upon headlights)
Wait till you find out about dodge st. Regis and buick lesabre
1981 and 1985 models
I thought the Monte Carlo shape looked like the mid 60s Riviera.
The most annoying one, to me, is the rear side glass half upsweep on almost every single SUV out there..
And small pick-ups!
But the Golf is out there and Panda, np for me
and Audi a6 a7 so this is the solution always worked for me. Ever since from young ages when I was child never changes.
Yep, also the roof is often in a different color and the rearmost pillar is blacked out to give the impression of a "floating roof"
@@pxn748 I wish we had small pick ups in America
I drive a Volvo wagon and my neighbor has a late model CRV. Sure we wave, but we both know who wore it better.
And the Nissan Stagea.
Your comment reminded the book "A Man called Ove".
the oldsmobile silhouette😆
@@frankstrawnation great film
There truly are only so many ways to make a Box That Go Fast™️
The AE86 Trueno, Silvia S12 and the 80s Honda Integra 3door all are strikingly similar.
The 80s had a lot of cars like that.
Also the 1980's Nissan 200SX and then Toyota's own 80's Supra/Celica. I'd even throw in the Delroean.
And the Isuzu Piazza
The 2 door Honda Accord hatch looked similar to the Toyota too.
Also, the 80s Integra looks very much like the Volvo 340 (or whatever it's called).
But at least they looked cool!
I think it's just a case of following trends. You see this a lot in Semi-Trucks, Smartphones, even Appliances. One company sets the trend and everybody follows.
The government sets the trends. They give regulations on manufacturers to produce greener cars, but allow trucks and SUVs exemptions. So manufacturers in turn, produce fewer cars, shutting down domestic plants, and tricking the consumer that their 1-4 person family somehow needs a full crew size pickup or SUV, when they don’t. If you truly want something different, go buy an actual car. A few companies still make them.
0:41 I never knew that the Charger looked so much like that Accord lol
🤪
The awning taillights were a Pontiac treatment in the 60's that followed Shinoda and Knudsen to Ford for the 1970 Thunderbird. Also Ford had the "dog bone" taillight on the Escort and Taurus in the 90's.
Some might go further back and say the awning taillights are from the 58 Edsel but switched sides.
Hey, you talkin' bout my '58 Pontiac Chieftain tail lights? We always used the term "hooded".
@@lylejohnston4125 While the taillights on your 58 Pontiac Chieftain are impressive, this video is using the term "awning" for a different shape.
0:05 You remove the wheels and paint all the cars the same color and it's genuinely difficult to tell them apart, it's honestly bizarre. Basically all cars from all eras looked alike, there are only a few cars that dare to design something different from anything else, and often when that happens, the car is a failure. Or considered ugly.
Hey Ed, I've had an idea for a while for the "What If..." series: What if Chrysler built a new PT Cruiser?
There are some "dare to be different" and be succesful too. The Renault Twingo comes to my mind.
@@juanpabloflores8179 Well, the Renault Twingo is also one of the best cars ever made lol
I love that little car.
@@Sharion.Inuyattyeah I’m American and I even own a Maisto model of a Twingo. That’s how cool they are
Look at the 1956 Plymouth , Chevy and Ford cars in the USA. they are all very similar.
@@bobroberts2371 To add to your list of similar looking 1956 USA cars, I nominate the 1956 Packard.
Surprised you didn't mention the Cadillac Escalade's vertical taillights
Certainly vertical, but not much of that Volvo swing to it in my opinion
That's kinda one of the reasons I hate modern Cadillacs they all have the same front end the only thing that separates them from echother is size
This video makes me appreciate the Avantime, Vel Satis and Citroen C6, they are really unique.
I noticed Lexus not being mentioned once. For me the most annoying design trend is having the turn signal be the thinnest or smallest thing ever while being really close to the main headlight or taillight. Especially headlights where the orange light blends in with the low or hi beams.
I try to tell people this all the time when I hear the overly used saying: “all cars look the same today” that saying has kinda always been true, of course there were eras that where better then others in terms of design, but the fact is that car manufacturers have always fallowed each other throughout the decades. It’s only when your start separating the cars from each era that things start looking more interesting and you begin to appreciate car design more. Look back on old historic photos of traffic from any era and you’ll always a road full of similarly looking cars.
The Peugeot 404, the Austin with all its cousins Wolseley and so on and also some large Fiats from the same era were all designed by Pininfarina who appears to have used copy paste a lot.
See also the Alfa Romeo 164 and Peugeot 605
Was going to say the same
And the Riley, and the SIAM Di Tella from Argentina.
I've just posted a near identical comment. (How Ironic).
@@MaximilianvonPinneberg yep and me too 😀
1980s be like: brick or brick with wedge tail
82+ F-Body was radically different and STILL a good looking body shape.
Volvo 760/740 and g body. Yep.
Pretty much every American luxury or wanna be luxury car, Crown Vic, New Yorker, Fifth Avenue, Chevy Caprice and then all of their rebaged variants
Better than all the disgusting curves we have now.
The Westminster and 404 were both designed by Pininfarina. There's a whole bunch of BMC/Peugeot/Fiats that look identical around that time and were all designed by Pinin. A guy called Hubnut did a fantastic video on them.
I'm pretty sure I've seen that styling with an Opel badge on it, too!
Kia Amanti (Opirus) front fascia looked like a mix of a early-2000s Mercedes-Benz E-Class and Jaguar S-Type
Beat me to it. The Amanti has the exact same headlight design as the W210 Mercedes models
The Amanti/Opirus is an uuuuh... 'acquired taste' to say the least haha
And from the profile and back it looks like a discount '98 Lincoln Town Car!
@@EdsAutoReviews Jaguars from ~1990 until 2015 were an acquired taste as well.
I wish Lincoln hadn't followed the horizontal light bar, and done a more vertical light like Chrysler and Cadillac, but with the Lincoln cross on it
If you want to drive something that looks distinctive and is easy to find in a parking lot, just get a 58 Edsel with three-tone paint! I would love to have one.
I had one. A 1958 Edsel Ranger that was pink and white with grey and white upholstery. Somebody stole it! I also owned a red 1958 Ford Ranchero. I loved both of those.
Genuinely sorry for your loss. 😢@@Colorado_Native
I'd also like my car to be reliable and good on fuel...
Or you can buy a Morgan, those things look like they belong to the 1930's
The Range Rover kinda looks like a Ford Explorer to me
They look a lot alike actually, Ford owned land rover for a while and that's when the explorer became a Land Rover clone.
From my point of view the Ford explorer looks like the Range Rover
And the Jedi are evil
I could be wrong, but u believe they share the same frame platform. Also, like someone else stated, Ford owned that company, so I guess that makes sense for cost cutting.
@@Jack_Staffordlike how they used Aston Martin styling for the Fusion
SUVs look the same to me when the same size
I’m so glad you mentioned Honda because they are really the main culprit with how the accord has been looking for the last generations, ESPECIALLY the latest one
2:44 You appear to have used a picture of the rarely-seen Honda Divid. 😂
Oh wow - you have so nailed this! One of my favorite hobbies is comparing car styling when out in traffic and I see so many examples of just what you are talking about in this video. Sometimes I think you could remove the badges and paint some cars the same color and not be able to tell one from the other. Well done!!
You're right, similarities in design have been observed throughout the history of the automotive industry
The rear end probably looks similar, especially on small cars, in part due to regulations. The rear end must have stop lights, a high-mounted stop light, turn signals, backup lights, an opening as large as possible, and probably a rear window. When the stop lights cannot be on the movable hatch or trunk lid, then the obvious place for them is on the outer edges. Some of these cars I have seen over the years and never noticed how similar they are.
Audi have the q7 with lights in the tailgate.
@@Low760 Correct, but it also has lights in its non-movable bumper.
@@georgeh6856perhaps a heart shaped tail light will definitely reduce all these look alike conflicts.
Mounting them high helps trucks see them better.
Peugeot 408 and Renault Rafale are quite recent examples that spontaneously came to mind just reading the title. They are not exactly similar in a way you could say one copied the other, but they still are conceptually similar as fastback crossovers somwhere in between compact and midsize segments. Apparently Gilles Vidal joined Renault from Peugeot in 2020, and that makes you think a bit. But could be a coincidence.
I think Gilles just has certain design style. Perhaps his influences transferred over in the move
Something that made they look even similar is the fact that both got press release photos in blue.
Both look fking ugly. French, the auteurs of style back in the day, now make ones of the ugliest cars out there. Recently, walked down a street and saw old Peugeot 406. I know it was designed by italians but damn it looks good. Occasionally I see 2003 Renault Laguna around too, it has big nasty scratch on it's hood that ruins it's look, but the guy doesn't seem to care. It's design is awesome too.
@@TheJackal917 Peugeot still has line of cars which are mostly the best looking at their class.
@@BruninMalvadezaAlso, by now having the same style of DRLs as Peugeot the are even less distinguishable
3:00 The 1990 GM Dustbuster minivan trio Chevrolet Lumina APV/Pontiac Trans Sport/Oldsmobile Silhouette had vertical tail lights before Volvo. And you didn't add the current Cadillacs (specifically Escalade and XT4) where straight vertical light design is part of their design language.
Maybe but the lights only reach from the top and bottom of the glass where Volvo 850 extended down to the bumper
@@sutherlandA1 And with taillight going halfway between the 850 and the APVs, we had the first FIAT Punto, just after the Dustbusters in 1993 fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiat_Punto_I
This video is SO MUCH BETTER than most "similar design" videos. It was also really nice that you gave credit to the pioneer who did it first, most people would say Hyundai copied Honda, but that's clearly not the case.
But nobody copies the 50s/60s Citroen DS design for the signal lights being on the roof!
I'm sure there are some cases of "inspiration" in auto design, but the design process is a lot more nuanced than just, "oh look, that part looks like that part". While there are overarching trends that overlap like you point out, there's a lot of thought that goes into the contouring, texture, and line flow than most people realize. A lot of these have minute differences at a glance, but tweaking a shape slightly or changing concavity can have a bigger impact than some realize. Though, it is always good to push automakers to innovative in creating new ideas in design, it really bothers me when people simply say "oh look, they just copied this" or "look, they just mashed X, Y, and Z cars together. That being said, I hope the trend of massive grilles and overly excessive lines goes away as they definitely will not age well. Elegance is always a good thing in my eyes
The lack of art education is making it's mark. I think it was the singer Bono who asked "where are all the sexy cars?" This focus on tech and the desire of a lot of people who actually don't like cars and driving have damaged the design of cars. Everything in the road is just a cargo box on wheels where the focus is just on interior tech. So sad.
I am more capable of recognizing car models and facts about them than anyone I've ever met and even I'm very impressed by this. Really good video man...I just don't get how someone could even look at a modern dinner roll of a car and stave off the urge to vomit long enough to do something like this.
Caddy was doing the vertical taillights in the 60s and 70s.
I have been following this Chanel for a long time, and as any Brazilian I can say I wasn't expecting for the Ford Del rey or for the sinca Esplanada to show up, I checked twice to see it, I really laughed loudly.
I thought I was the only one. Thanks for proving it.
One of my favorite designs of the last 20 years is the Suzuki Kizashi, which the Genesis G70 has so tastefully made their own, 15 years later 😂
I second your opinion on the HR-V. The first time I ever saw this car, back in 2000, was from the back and my very first thought was that it's a Volvo! There are a lot of similarities!
Plus, the Accord/Genesis combo is really hard to be told apart when looking at them from the profile and from the back.
the 1st gen HRV is probably one of the most hideos vehicles of all time
1 - I've heard people say the 8th gen Chevy Mailbu pre facelift looks similar to the 4th gen Holden VF Commodore (more the Calais), which kind of does look similar. Then I did some more research, then discovered that the Chinese facelift variant is full on similar to the Series 1 VF Commodore with the grilles, headlights & tail lights & how they're arranged, reflectors, even the body lines, and where you'd find the number plates on the front and rear. Then again, they're both GM products, with the Camaro ZL1 taking 'inspiration' from the VF Commodore with the lower grille and probably some other GM cars that have it and I'm unaware.
2 - The 3rd gen Holden Monaro (2001-2006) and the MG XPower SV (2003-2005). They both look KIND OF similar, with the Monaro being a smooth and elegant Aussie muscle car, and the MG a big and bulky British muscle car.
3 - For the Ford Falcon FG-X, not only does it share similarities to the, Jaguar but the 4th gen Ford Mondeo looks similar as well. There are more similarities for the front ends, with the rear being quite different from one another. The Mondeo is liftback, while the Falcon is not. The only way you won't mistake the two is with the Mondeo Wagon and the Falcon Ute.
One crazy example is 2012ish VW Jetta and a little older BMW 3 series looks like you could swap almost every panel back and forth. Saw two parked beside each other, and if you covered the badges, you could not tell which one was which from the rear three-quarter angle and side view.
Chrysler 300--Bentley Phantom
Ford Fussion--Ashton Martin Rapide
I think it's safe to say this has been going on for a very long time. 😂
Phantom is a Rolls Royce, I think you mean Chrysler copied the Bentley Arnage. And Ford owned Aston when those cars were in early development so that's not as dubious as the once this video is about.
Go back to the model T. Cars have always looked similar to the counterparts on the road.
Cadillac fins. ~1950’s Cadillac Series 62 had probably the first distinctive vertical tail light feature.
A few I've noticed recently as a Honda mechanic.
2023 Honda Accord - 2024 Ford Mustang (F)
2023 Honda Accord - 2020 Lincoln Aviator (R)
2023 Honda HR-V (ZR-V) - 2021 BMW M4 (R)
2023 Honda HR-V (ZR-V, with HPD body cladding) - 2020 Aston Martin DBX (F)
2022 Honda Civic - 2016 Audi A4 (R)
2023 Acura Integra - 2020 Mercedes-Benz CLA Class (R)
Yeah, the new Accord and Mustang are basically doppelgangers up front.
@@acerimmer8338I bet the mustang designers wanted to punch something when they saw the new accord, their design was finalized first, but came out after I believe. People who don't understand how long it takes to design a car genuinely think mustang designers tried to rip off an accord 😂.
70 Toyota celicas look like small 70 Ford torino
While I can see similarities, I feel like it's a bit overstated. You primarily targetted the rear of the vehicle. There are expectations of what a class of vehicle should look like. A hatch back should have a hatch on the back door. The rear lights on a car will have specific rules about what needs to be there and where it should be located. While there may be differences in various regions of the world, companies are going to want implementations that will work in all markets the vehicle will be sold in. I think with the number of permutations of cars out there, you can generalize almost every feature and say it's similar to numerous other models.
4:38 you show a bunch of cars that are "similar" but I think they are quite different. First, they all have a similar type of rear door based on the class of vehicle.
The Suziki decided to extend the light into the rear hatch. None of the other examples chose to do this. The Leap extends much further towards the rear passenger door than any of the other examples, and doesn't extend nearly as far up as the other examples. The Volvo and the Mitsubishi are the two closest, but even there, the Mitsubish seems to narrow more at the top, and the light bar goes around the white part with the reverse and I assume direction lights vs the Volvo which is on top. Most of those lights work with other aspects of the design decisions. The line from a crease or the locations for the door handles for example.
If you came up with any design that won broad appeal (don't create the next Pontiac Aztek) how hard would it be for someone to find someway to argue that it's actually similar to some other car that already exists on the market. I mean, Jeremy Clarkson has already clearly proven that all Porcshe's are just squashed VW Bug's. If you made something truly unique (and isn't intended to be offensive) in time it expands what is acceptable and will influence other designs.
Damn fine show sir.ya know.,.ive been a truck driver for over three decades and seen a bit of traffic now and then, with all that being said I can kind of appreciate a huge tail lights because a lot of the new cars have tail lights and Blinkers that are so small you can hardly see them flashing. You got some real good content really appreciate your research 👍
And Kia / Hyundai having the tail lights and turn signals separated by a foot or so.
Another issue are turn signals inside the headlights, this leads to washed out turn signals / weak visible light as the entire lens does not light up like a separate turn signal.
@@bobroberts2371 it surely doesn't help
@@bobroberts2371 Very. Here in Britain the standard current Black London Taxi, has of course the given LED super-white glare-o squint headlights with the turn signal an amber ring around the beam unit... Great, headlights on and the indicator flashes almost dissapear behind the glare, Well done mr designer.
@@alan-sk7ky There are some cars in the USA that turn off the day time running light when a turn signal is operated. I haven't seen any yet that turn off the headlight. Turning off the headlight might be an issue if the opposite headlight has failed.
this is such a well researcged video made with so much love, u deserve more views and i know theyre coming keep up the great work ed!!!!!!!
The fact alone you knew about the Mk1 Honda Hrv made me instantly subscribe! Wooo that’s awesome man 👏
Those full-height vertical taillight started out on the Chevrolet Lumina MPV in the late 1980's
The Suzuki Kizashi and the facelift W204 have strikingly similar front end designs
The 2019-Current Mercedes A Class and the 2014-2017 KIA Cerato have a near identical rear end
I'd say the Kizashi was almost the same design as the 5th gen(2005-2010) VW Jetta.
Headlights were also inspired by the Skoda Octavia II Facelift from 2009.
I was about to comment about the laguna coupe and c-class recemblance, love that you mentioned it
Another fantastic video. Excellent work as ever Ed. Thanks for the consistant quality work. 🙂 Dank je wel
2000 Buick Century almost identical in orofile to an S Class Mercedes from the same year.
More comfortable too, at 20% if the price, and probably still running 25 years later.
That era S class also was very similar to a Cadillac model.
No mention of Cadillac's vertical tail lights?
The Escalade taillights are taller than some drivers.
3:25 The Honda CRV has ALWAYS had vertical tail lights. It is equally a Volvo thing as it is a CRV thing (Volvo used it first in 1993, Honda did in 1997). Even the newest CRV that was introduced for the 2023 model year uses vertical tail lights.
This is absolutely incredible. 👏
I'll give you 30' era cars. There were a few standouts like the Airflow and high dollar cars. There's design elements on the rear ends of nearly every newer car on the road that has gotten sickening to see. One is the wrap up plastic that looks like a diaper. The other is a design that curves up from the bottom, goes across to the other side and curves back down. It's so prevalent that it looks like designers just gave up
Like Hispano-Suiza H36 Dubonnet.
Chrysler copying rolls Royce with the 300 comes to mind
I think you mean Bentley, the 300 doesn't look particularly like any Rolls.
8:12. The Westminster and the 404 were designed by Pininfarina. They also designed the smaller BMC car of the Austin A55-Morris Oxford etc. Also look at The Fiat 2300 (also made by SEAT)
Great start indeed! Carry on! 👍
This is why I have a CORVETTE in my garage and a honda in the driveway. 😉
Bring out the New Balances!
I like the new Corvette but it does look like it took a lot of Ferrari inspiration.
For American cars, the most different styling was between 1955 and 1965. Look at a 57 Chevy then a 57 Ford. Also check a 58 Plymouth to a 58 Buick. Thanks to Ed for his time, work and posting.
You beat me to it. The cars from that era within the manufacturer’s divisions often shared some sheet metal, but the distinction between the manufacturers was stark. Another thing missing today that was different back then, year to year changes were significant enough to instantly tell one year from another.
I'd counter this with the 1956 Plymouth , Chevy and Ford all looking very similar.
@@bobroberts2371 They were similar but with a quick glance one could tell them apart, mostly by the chrome trim. Funny thing about Plymouth, did they ever have their "A" pillar vertical or slope back?
@@jetsons101 The 55 ( mini fins ) / 56 ( larger fins ) Plymouth had wrap around windshields so the A pillar was more like a backwards L.
If one knows what to look for the Ply / Chev / Ford have detail differences but the side profile is pretty much the same. In another thread someone brought up the 56 Packard.
If a car looks too different for the times , it won't sell or is called a loser and it is patently unfair to hammer auto makers when they take a risk. See the Chrysler Air Flow where few trusted cars that were not square / PT Cruiser / Pontiac Aztec < interesting that the Pontiac Vibe sold well even though it was a mini Aztec.
The AMC Gremlin sold well oddly enough but I think this was down to it being a small car in the traditional sense compared to a Japanese car.
Great video! How about a part 2?
I was truly NOT expecting the Del Rey or the Simca here. Amazing.
There were some "hand gun robbery" designs through history : Datsun 240z from Jaguar XKE, Mazda Rx- 7 2nd Gen from Porsche 944, and chinese Chery tiggo from 2nd gen Toyota Rav4.
Actually the 240Z owes its design to the ‘67 Ferrari 365.
@@Primus54 I'd say the fact that everyone has a different 'this is what the Nissan S30 is ripping off' opinion is a good argument that they just came up with a very generic looking sports car, rather than ripping anything in particular off.
It also looks a lot like the Nissan A550X design study with fixed headlights.
Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery?
that mediocrity can pay to greatness.
The Mercedes E-Class/C-Class Coupe looking like a Renault Laguna was always very amusing to me. Glad you mentioned it!
Love this, headlights next pleas
Hey Ed how are you doing today?
Does the Toyota Matrix and Pontiac Vibe count? Co-developed, I wouldn't call them a rebadge of each other though.
The Vibe was literally designed by Toyota to put the Matrix on Pontiac lots. It was sold in Japan as a Toyota with a special one-model badge to fill the arrowhead spaces.
No.
Very impressive research was required for this episode, and I really appreciate it! Here in the US, I've noticed what I think of as a real lack of design originality (or is it just laziness?) for at least 15 years. I only hope that a lot of automotive designers will see this and take the hint.
Your observations are terrific. I wish you were around when I would bore my friends talking about the elegance of the A pillar of the 1993 Accord 😊
The “suspiciously” in the title just feels like sizzle to me. While there were a few mentioned that were out around the same time and peculiar, there were many where it’s just clear that a design executed influenced a new design a few years later.
That’s always been the case with design. Designer aren’t given blinders to not see other designs in the industry. They study them and find inspiration in them.
It is still a very fun discussion to have, just not suspicious in a lot of cases.
Really interesting video gg! 👍
I'm amazed that you didn't talk about the first generation Toyota Tundra or the Lexus LS430, which looked identical to the Ford F-150 and Mercedes W140 chassis respectively
Another excellent report.
This was perfection! Even more lookalikes than I ever imagined !
8:17 Ah the Austin Westminster and the Peugeot 404 were both penned by Pinin-Farina around the same time if i recall correctly Ed, so no great surprise at the strong resemblance I think.
Some surprises in here! Little correction though: 7:00 is a Daewoo Evanda, the Epica came slightly later ;)
That was fun. I know mostly about the cars that we had in the US. When you add in the international cars, it becomes even more obvious.
This could be an entire series show casing individual design trends and which cars look suspiciously similar
An honorable mention from me, an American: Infiniti M37 and Hyundai Genesis (2012 facelift) have the exact same taillights. I see a lot of the Genesi and always think its an Infiniti.
Hyundai/Kia seem to take a lot of "inspiration" from other car manufactures. My 09 Genesis is obviously "inspired" by the Bentely Continental (even the Badge has "We have a Bentley at home" vibes), and I lost track of how many times I thought I was coming up behind a second gen Ford Fusion only to find out it's a Hyundai Sonata or Kia Optima.
The taillights are great! the last time I noticed a trend was with the sloped, floating roofs and C pillar swooshes and archers between the axles, but I didnt look at the lights that much. Great Video!👍
Most cars look alike today. The first new car I really liked was the New Beetle because it was different, and I was only 11 at the time.
Thank you for saying this! When I see a parking lot these days, all the small SUVs are completely different, yet exactly the same.
The XJ 220 also had Ford dials, Montego/Maestro switch gear and the lethal Metro rally engine. I use to work on one. Very quick! Great video as ever.
Showing how similar the cars from the 1930's look should just remind us that: "The more things change the more they stay the same"
Thanks Ed 🎉
Some designs are similar due to government regulations, simply or control costs, easier to assemble. The EU, USA, Japan have similar rules for taillights and reflectors to be of a certain square area and have 'side marker' lamps. Having a tail light not in the trunk/tailgate lid means less wiring or when conventional bulbs were still used (pre-LED's) didn't break internally and go out. The bumper height requirements like in the USA also encouraged certain designs where tail lights wouldn't be damaged in a low speed crash.
Plenty of design features come and go, for aerodynamics, are more acceptable to most buyers, government road tax fees based on size of the body, You had the 'tail fin' era, the oversized brand/model badge in the front (Puegeot was one of the worst in the 2000's)
We need a part two of this
Very interesting, as usual
Nice touch with the Grand Turismo esque music 7:40 😅😅
So glad this video was on my recommendation. Subd
That's why I liked the Nissan Juke. The design was unique and polarizing; either you loved or hated it. No one builds beautiful cars for the masses anymore.
One I always noticed was the Kia Cee’d estate looked incredibly similar to the Volvo V50 back in the early to mid 2000s. This was a great video Ed - I have said for many years that manufacturers just copy each other!
One I know of is the 1986 Volvo 780 and 1986 Buick LeSabre Coupe. Very similar glass shape, also with the glass going below the beltline to follow the feature line instead, as well as a very similar roof (with the Buick's being a bit more round). Very similar blocky rear end, both with full width taillights. Both even have thicker trim on the bumper cover and behind the rear wheel, compared to the trim in the middle of the car