Style counsel for local manufacturers

Do the yanks have something to offer their local offshoots?


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What is it that the HD Holden and the AU Falcon have in common? Answer: Both have been cast as styling failures in their time. And both have surrendered sales to their respective archrivals as a consequence.

The styling of the HD was reportedly too advanced for the tastes of Holden buyers in its day. It was what saved Ford Australia from sales irrelevance and provided a shot in the arm for the XP Falcon.

Separated from the HD by over 30 years, the AU model was intended to return the Falcon to sales leadership, after the EL Falcon had been overtaken by Holden's new and larger VT Commodore. Not only did it fail to stem that sales loss, it set in place a decline in sales that Ford has arguably struggled to overcome to this day.

You only have to look at how conservative Holden stylists were in designing the all-new VE Commodore to see that Ford wasn't the only car company to learn something from the AU Falcon experience.

If the HD was a bold experiment in 1965, the AU Falcon shouldn't have been as courageous in the supposedly more sophisticated period of the late 1990s. Café Culture had taken a vice-like grip on society, pre-marital sex was the norm rather than the 'exception' and the automotive industry in Australia was catering for a far greater range of car-buying tastes by then.

Yet we like our home-grown large cars to be set in concrete, design-wise. They must not be more modern than three or four years behind the rest of the world. Buyers who are more willing to buy a car that looks radical tend to steer clear of locally-designed large cars. Is that a brand image problem for the locals perhaps? Furthermore, does this say something about the buyer demographic (including fleet buyers) for both the Commodore and the Falcon?

On a recent trip to America it became almost immediately apparent that the North American market has the size and scale to warrant taking a few styling risks. Ford has copped it in the neck for its 'Gillette' grilles, but they can look good. Finished in body colour rather than chrome, the 'three-blade' frontal styling of the mid-size US-market Fusion sedan looks aggressive and sporty. It's certainly something different from the Mondeo's egg-crate grille.

The Edge, which is Ford’s five-seat crossover powered by a 3.5-litre V6, has the right proportions and blend of wedge shape and angular lines. It’s a car that would really appeal to Aussies who like the high ride and driving position of a compact SUV, allied with the same packaging, but don't really need even faux-wheel drive ability. It's dramatic and full of presence on the road. Viewed from the ¾ rear, it's all about the very un-American short-overhang/wide-track stance.

For those who need seven seats, but not the Territory's all-wheel drive and towing capacity, Ford US has the Flex. It's an oddball-looking thing, but it could easily fool those who wouldn't be seen dead in a 'minivan' to think it's an SUV. While it sits lower to the ground than the Explorer, or even the locally-built Territory, it embodies strong, straight lines and the bluff front end associated with more capable SUVs.

The Fusion, already mentioned, is a relatively conservative design, although the grille offsets what looks to this writer like styling details lifted from the Saab 9-3. All the same, it's no more conservative than the Mondeo.

While it's the target of much hate mail from Falcon loyalists, there's this going for the Taurus: it manages to be a much more cohesive design than the last of the locally-built Fairlanes. It doesn't look like a stretched Falcon. In fact, it's better proportioned and chunkier, with a more pronounced rising waistline and a judiciously placed swage line plus some detail styling cues from Galaxy and LTD designs of the past... Yet it's not retro.

Now the problem for Ford Australia is manifold. There wasn't enough money left in the kitty for a comprehensive restyling program to go with the SZ Territory's excellent mechanicals and platform, but also, the frontal styling follows the Ford Europe school of design – suggesting Ford Australia predicts the Euros will win the Ford design war being waged across the Atlantic.

Arguably, the Territory has ended up looking like the XF Falcon: a newer nose grafted on an older body. That may work for Ford Australia, but it leaves us wondering how the upgraded Falcon will present when it reaches the market. Is it too late for a bit of American pizzazz in the local styling gene pool?

The situation is less dire at Fishermans Bend. Holden has inherited world (read: Chevrolet) styling for its locally-manufactured Cruze and the next Barina will certainly be a looker, as we know from the Paris motor show last year. But the gradual move to a global style that will hit the mark has come almost too late. Certainly a migration away from the decade-long Daewoo Kalos design is long overdue.

Would too that the Epica had looked more like the superseded Chevy Malibu... Forget the new model that will be launched here next year, even this year's Malibu (pictured) is a much cleaner looking car than the Epica -- a car that was better at meeting the demands of its target buyer than was generally acknowledged, but was arguably let down by the 'Dame Edna' front end.

And compare the Captiva with the Chevy Traverse. Both vehicles are of similar size, but the Traverse is a clean, handsome design, in contrast with the odd frontal styling, slightly wrong proportions and out-of-place D pillar of the Captiva.

All of this leads us to the obvious question: How much more assertive will the Commodore look, come time for its next facelift (and the major change to follow)?

Many vocal critics were less than satisfied with the Pontiac G8 frontal styling fixed to the limited edition Commodore SS, but it undeniably injected some aggression into the mix. Can Holden pull off something similar to keep the Commodore the country's most popular car – or would that alarm all the Dad and Dave buyers?

The US economy may be in the toilet and they're all fixated with Sarah Palin's will she/wont she vacillations, but give the Americans their due, they're coming up with some genuinely fresh and appealing design work. Maybe it's time for the Aussie designers to draw upon that same pioneering spirit...

... And buyers to forgive them their trespasses.

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