![]() 11/08/2017 at 16:17 • Filed to: Design | ![]() | ![]() |
I finally see it and now you can too! The GLE Coupe, the X6, all the weirdness and existence is so easily explained. Americans want crossovers and sedans, put the two together and you get a crossover coupe. Give me a PowerPoint and I can sell this to anyone wearing a tie. Just look at this:
Mercedes-Benz GLE Coupe
The BMW 6 Series GT
The Kia Cadenza (which is the best execution of the shape since I’m the only person on the planet that noticed this).
The Yaris iA
All have that weird proportion that comes when a sedan tries to be curvy in style while still keeping the same rear seat volume from sedans with more linear design languages. Basically, when you decide to do the sleek coupe roofline but cant limit rear seat headroom.
You see this cabin shape lot in the sedan versions of very small cars like the Hyundai Accent and Ford Fiesta. Just cut the trunks down and make sure the C-pillar goes into the deck lid.
Now with that in mind, you can’t tell me that a non-car person wouldn’t look at this X6 and see it as a sedan that can go anywhere.
And now it makes sense why Volvo made the S60 Cross Country.
These are weird and frightening times but I think I can finally see what’s happening to the market.
Stay tuned...
![]() 11/08/2017 at 16:22 |
|
Nope. This is a crossover sedan
Those “coupes” are still just hideous unbalanced anomalies that don’t know what they want to be.
![]() 11/08/2017 at 16:24 |
|
Americans want to feel “unique” when they buy their mass-market, heavily regulated and standardized vehicles. It’s a so-called niche and naturally, car makers just make niches larger (
because:
money) until within a niche you have a niche.
.....
Niche-
ception
![]() 11/08/2017 at 16:24 |
|
It’s a roomier, lifted sedan.
![]() 11/08/2017 at 16:33 |
|
I’ve always wanted to take the lift kit and drivetrain from a Volvo XC70 and apply them to the S60 since they’re basically the same car.
![]() 11/08/2017 at 16:34 |
|
XC60 but good!
![]() 11/08/2017 at 16:42 |
|
And also a sedan.
![]() 11/08/2017 at 17:08 |
|
If I remember that Top Gear review correctly, the X6 can’t even drive on grass.
![]() 11/08/2017 at 17:37 |
|
But it does open its glovebox when the car’s upside down in Sydney!
![]() 11/08/2017 at 17:38 |
|
I think you mean the S80.
![]() 11/08/2017 at 17:39 |
|
Nope, as always, they are SHIT (Swoopy Hatchbacktified crossover for Image-conscious Trash) .
![]() 11/08/2017 at 17:40 |
|
Let’s not forget another fine example.
![]() 11/08/2017 at 17:49 |
|
They’re all on the same platform, but according to Wikipedia:
Based on the Volvo P2 platform, the second generation [V70] shared major mechanical and styling commonality with the Volvo S60 saloon.
![]() 11/08/2017 at 18:12 |
|
That GLE is comfortable, I want to hate it but oh so nice. I’d take a Panamera over it though.
![]() 11/08/2017 at 18:16 |
|
Volvo beat you to it.
https://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/2016-volvo-s60-cross-country-test-review
![]() 11/08/2017 at 18:19 |
|
Yup the guys at AMC were true visionaries
![]() 11/08/2017 at 18:51 |
|
I am continually amazed by the lengths that automakers have to go to (making sedans more practical, making SUV’s more sleek and car-like) simply because we are a nation that abhors the superior automobile - the wagon - and digests the inferior midsize SUV at an alarming rate. So idiotic.
![]() 11/08/2017 at 20:04 |
|
Imagine what they could’ve done with money. Of course if they weren’t constantly trying to just survive they would’ve probably been more conservative with what ideas actually made it through.
![]() 11/08/2017 at 20:38 |
|
If they just could have held on long enough to finish the XJ theyed still be around