If you put a 1980s car next to a 1990s car, the design difference is almost immediately noticeable. The former often look angular and strict, while the latter received many more smooth lines and rounded surfaces.
On some models, this transition is particularly evident. The BMW E34 and its successor, the E39, demonstrate it literally before your eyes: the latter has a noticeably smoother body.
A similar story happened with Japanese cars. It's enough to compare a 1980 Toyota Camry with a model from the next decade.
But the turning point was most clearly manifested in American cars, which for a long time were particularly drawn to straight lines and strict geometry. The 1991 Buick LeSabre looks like a typical representative of the old school — with sharp edges and an angular body. And already the 1992 LeSabre received noticeably smoother and more rounded forms.
After that, the trend only intensified. Just remember what most cars on the roads looked like in the 2000s and 2010s.
Rounded cars existed long before the 1990s
However, it would be wrong to consider rounded bodies an invention of the 1990s. Streamlined design appeared much earlier.
As early as the 1930s, cars like the Chrysler Airflow used smooth forms not just for appearance. A more streamlined body allowed for reduced air resistance.
However, in the 1950s and 1960s, the American market went in a different direction. Streamlined cars began to sell worse, and buyers preferred larger, more angular cars.
Gasoline was steadily getting cheaper then, so the need to reduce fuel consumption through aerodynamics bothered almost no one. As a result, until the 1970s, most American-made cars retained characteristic sharp edges and a minimal number of curves.
In essence, the body was often built around the classic scheme of three separate volumes:
- hood;
- passenger compartment;
- trunk.
This approach became so familiar that for a long time it was perceived as natural.
Why Europe remembered aerodynamics earlier
For the American market, such a design was quite logical, but in Europe, the situation was different. Fuel here traditionally cost more, so car efficiency was much more important.
In the 1960s, a gallon of gasoline in France cost 73 cents, while in the US it was only 31 cents. European designers therefore began earlier to look for ways to improve body aerodynamics. The less air resistance, the easier the car moves and the less fuel it requires.
American designers also turned to smooth forms even before their mass adoption. But in the US, such solutions were often associated with the space race and the then-fashion for futuristic design.
However, mostly such ideas remained the domain of concept cars. Production cars continued to look much more traditional.
Ford Sierra became one of the first signals
One of the first designers who began to promote a rounded body for a regular mass-market car was European Ford designer Uwe Bahnsen.
In 1982, the Ford Sierra appeared, and its body was noticeably smoother than most cars in the same class. For its time, the car looked so unusual that critics were in no hurry to accept the new style.
Today, the Sierra's shape no longer seems radical, but back then its roundness was one of the model's main features. The car even earned the nickname "jelly mold" among the public.
Initial sales were also not outstanding. Buyers needed time to get used to a completely new concept of what a car should be for the mass market.
Jack Telnack brings experience to the US
One of the members of Ford's European design team was Jack Telnack. In 1980, he headed the company's design division in the US.
During this period, American gasoline prices began to rise rapidly due to the conflict in the Middle East. Therefore, aerodynamics ceased to be purely a design exercise and became an important tool for improving car efficiency.
Telnack began actively using wind tunnel testing for car bodies. He first applied this approach when working on the 1983 Ford Thunderbird.
This marked an important stage in the transition of the American automotive industry to more streamlined forms.
Ford Taurus turned roundness into a mass trend
The real breakthrough came several years later, when the Ford Taurus appeared in 1986.
Today, its appearance no longer seems incredible. But at the time of its release, the model looked completely different from familiar American cars. The mass-market car received smooth edges and a rounded body — and buyers accepted this design.
The Taurus even played the role of a car of the future in the movie "RoboCop".
For Ford itself, the model became particularly important: its sales actually helped the company overcome serious difficulties, after which a new styling began to spread rapidly in the market.
Following the Taurus, numerous cars appeared that used a similar design approach.
Fuel economy cemented the new style
The spread of aerodynamic bodies also accelerated for another reason. American automakers faced stricter fuel efficiency requirements.
Since 1978, the average fuel economy of passenger cars from each manufacturer had to meet gradually increasing requirements.
For designers, improving aerodynamics proved to be a relatively affordable way to increase car efficiency. One Ford designer noted that this approach required fewer engineering changes than trying to achieve a similar result solely through under-the-hood modifications.
At the same time, the automotive industry gained another tool — computer modeling. In the 1980s, it actively developed and significantly simplified the design of complex curved surfaces and their subsequent production.
As a result, several factors converged at once:
- higher fuel costs;
- car efficiency requirements;
- development of aerodynamic testing;
- computer modeling;
- changing perceptions of modern automotive design.
It was their combination that helped smooth forms finally move from the realm of experiments and concept cars into mass production.
Why even angular cars look rounded today
The transition that began several decades ago has so strongly influenced automotive design that its consequences are still noticeable.
Even models that are considered examples of angular design today have actually become much smoother compared to cars of past eras. A striking example is the latest generation Mercedes-Benz G-Class. Its recognizable silhouette has retained characteristic straight lines, but the car itself can no longer be called truly square.
What was once perceived as radically rounded design gradually became the norm. And the strict cars of the 1980s look so unusual today that their era can be easily identified even without knowing the specific model.