ENGINE AESTHETICS
My father, who reads parts of the NYT I don't, calls my attention to this article on the last frontier in auto styling--making the engines look good:
Photographs of suggestively shaped engine covers have even begun to supplement shots of cars on curvy roads in the marketing materials of automakers. Infiniti's promotional materials, for instance, feature the styled cover of the 4.5-liter V-8 engine from its flagship Q45 sedan. In a photograph, the sculptured black engine cover is softly lighted to make it look as if it is carved from basalt. Light plays over the stone's surface, suggesting the gravitas of the Black Stone of Mecca or the monolith in "2001: A Space Odyssey.""
Under-hood appearance has been an issue for Nissan for about 10 years, although we've really gotten serious within the last four to five," said Sheldon Payne, a product design manager at Nissan Design America, the company's California studio. "Engine covers have been an easy way to address part of our concern, especially since so little routine maintenance is now required. We can create a nice impression with relatively low cost by designing a cover to hide the 'mess.' Our intention is to reassure customers that things have been seen to."
In the days when there was enough room around the engine to see the ground below, the engineer alone ruled the space under the hood. When Mr. Laituri was hired by G.M., he was fresh out of industrial design school. "It was just me, a couple of kids and two old guys left over from the Frigidaire division," he recalled.
But the concept of applying a styling theme to areas not always in the customer's view was beginning to catch on.
"Design had recently cleaned up trunks and glove compartments." Mr. Laituri said. "We rethought the motor and came up with a theme: a diamond on a black velvet pillow. That meant blacking out everything possible around the engine--all the wires and pipes--and covering the engine with a faceted shape bearing the Cadillac crest and shield. The idea was to emphasize high technology. It was not going to be just an engine. It was a power plant."