English cars seem not to get carried away by market trends or passing fashions. However, they are recognized for their constant but cautious and prudent evolution towards the fusion of two styles: classic and modern.
In the design of a car, there are elements that play a very important role in generating acceptance by the public. Just as we are attracted to a woman's lips or her look, cars also have their seductive attributes.
It is vitally important how the designer hierarchizes and nuanced each of these elements. The most crucial are optics, grilles or air admissions, tires and the proportionality ratio of dimensions. English designs have always been characterized by not being positioned at extremes.
Jaguar cars are a materialized synthesis of the most typical features of the focused culture, with the premise of incorporating the two styles already mentioned. A Jaguar is a high level car, it is elegant but does not abuse the use of those traits that give it its refined character.
If you pay attention to British sedan cars, you can observe the restraint with which the headlights are designed, not only in size but also in shape. Grids impose the desired gala image, without being shocking because of their size or exaggerated brightness.
Sports coupes are really unique. They have the habitability of a sedan, the maneuverability of a Ferrari, the power and acceleration of the purest American blood... and the purity of the English design. Very large wheels, very smooth curves, but well defined, outline their waist line; moderate grids and rounded overhangs close an untouchable drawing, worthy of admiration.
The design is so well worked out, so finished, that is why no one (with discretion and good taste) modifies an Aston Martin or a Jaguar. It is common to see sports cars with added, not original spoilers and skirts. This is not the case with the models cited.
High-end vehicles are comfortable inside. There you can also appreciate the delicate way to modernize without abusing fashion. This means that if the trend is to combine aluminum and dyed leather, they will add to their traditional combination of materials such as wood and leather, some subtle details in aluminum.
English cars: “Except for Morgan, they don't stay in the past despite being conservative. They have more elegance than the French, but their design is never avantgarde.”
The cars of the company Rover also have a very typical aesthetic of England. But because they are of a more popular level, they are not as exquisite as Aston Martin and Jaguar. It is very likely that at this point of the note you are wondering, and Rolls Royce and Bentley are not listed? My answer is this: both are somewhat beyond British tradition. While the Rolls Royce aesthetic is more ostentatious but delicate, it responds to its own tradition. Rolls made a way to walk, the parameter with which they measure their products, is their own legacy and the taste of their small and select audience.
© Adrián Blanco 2004 — Prohibited the total or partial reproduction of text and/or images without explicit written consent of the author. —