TWO ROADS DIVERGED

A QUARTER CENTURY AGO, TWO CONTRADICTORY PHILOSOPHIES COMPETED TO DEFINE THE FUTURE OF AUTOMOTIVE DESIGN.

- BRETT BERK

AT THE END of the 20th century, automotive design presented two distinct approaches for proceeding into the new millennium, a practical and philosophical fork in the road. One path, pioneered by BMW's Chris Bangle and his team, charted a fresh, if controversially faceted, way forward. The other, led by Volkswagen, Audi, and Ford under J Mays, looked to the past, revitalizing it by denuding it of ornament.

It's still not clear whether either succeeded.

Car designers began the Nineties with organic, aerodynamic shapes influenced by rising efficiency standards, a renewed emphasis on performance, and the capabilities afforded by computer-aided design.

“It was very nature inspired, with continuous forms, no edges,” says Paul Snyder, who worked at Ford's advanced design studio in the Nineties and Aughts, and now chairs the transportation-design department at Detroit's College for Creative Studies. “The show cars from that era, the Ford Contour and Focus, were slippery looking. Some of them almost look like fish, literally inspired by ocean life.”

But Y2K cued panic that the world and its technological undergirding would self-destruct, and in politics and design, people looked to the familiar for comfort. “Every century change has this effect on people,” says Bangle, who was BMW's design head from 1992 to 2009. “They see it as a wall coming up, and they begin to turn backwards.”

This revanchist route was paved with production-ready concepts. They included the fawning Mini revival (1997), Chrysler's Thirties Airflow-inspired Pronto Cruizer (1999), and Chevy's Forties Advance Design-aping SSR convertible pickup (2000). But the trend ostensibly launched with Volkswagen's Concept One (1994), Mays's resuscitation of the Beetle.