Photo: sugardesign_1/Instagram
Believe it or not, pretty spectacular Volkswagen cars are not that hard to come by. Even AI-powered tools of assisted design are now capable of producing stylish results – which begs a question. Why is the German company so bad at producing enticing models when they have an army of humans at their disposal?
This German automaker is one of the oldest legacy carmakers in the world and is also an integral part of the namesake Volkswagen Group – one of the most powerful entities in the automotive industry. The multinational constantly fights for the throne of the largest automotive manufacturer in the world with its peers and also commands an army of brands that are almost just as varied as nature itself, considering stuff like Bugatti or the heavy commercial vehicle Traton group.
Anyway, back to Volkswagen, the brand has thrived for decades on the back of the popularity of models such as the Beetle, Golf, Passat, Tiguan, and more. But a new age is upon us, and the corner office head honchos are signaling that most nameplates (from Polo to Tiguan, and from Passat to T-Roc) might be in jeopardy if they do not renounce their traditionalist ICE ways. Even the mighty Golf has no gasoline version planned for the ninth iteration, which possibly means that the ID. 2all concept is onto something – a novel Golf EV transformation.
However, there is one problem with the strategy, even if they successfully transition to a fully fresh ID. lifestyle thanks to the ID.3, 4, 5, 6, and Buzz vehicles that are already out and about, plus the upcoming ID.1, 2, and 7 plus 7 Tourer! That would be VW’s ubiquitous design blandness, which has not been shaken off even with the arrival of the MEB-based zero-emission heroes. Sure, there are exceptions, like the ID. Buzz, which is a nice call-back to the times of hippy happiness – and it’s probably going to shake up nicely the vanlifer sector.
But what if people wanted more out of Volkswagen and its upcoming model reinvention, starting from the top of the four-door saloon game? That is where the ID.7 – which was presented in full body camouflage at the 2023 CES in Las Vegas, Nevada – will reside. But people still fear this Passat (and potentially Arteon) replacement that is scheduled to go live sometime this year might be just another case of styling blandness sitting on top of a five-door body style and MEB-based underpinnings.
As such, some folks do tend to take matters into their hands. Or, rather, at the tip of their CGI brush, as is the case here with the imaginative realm of digital car content creators. Thus, Sugar Chow, the virtual artist better known as sugardesign_1 on social media, is again fiddling with AI-assisted tools of digital styling, and the results are pretty darn ‘pretty.’ Actually, they are even prettier than what VW’s human designers have been doing so far!
Sure, it’s easy to achieve perfection in the virtual world, but we sense these four-door sedan ideas work so well because maybe the author used for inspiration a different setup than the ID. and MEB strategy. So, what if the pixel master asked his Midjourney AI assistant to create a potential VW sedan flagship on top of the J1 Porshe Taycan and Audi e-tron GT underpinnings?
Anyway, back to Volkswagen, the brand has thrived for decades on the back of the popularity of models such as the Beetle, Golf, Passat, Tiguan, and more. But a new age is upon us, and the corner office head honchos are signaling that most nameplates (from Polo to Tiguan, and from Passat to T-Roc) might be in jeopardy if they do not renounce their traditionalist ICE ways. Even the mighty Golf has no gasoline version planned for the ninth iteration, which possibly means that the ID. 2all concept is onto something – a novel Golf EV transformation.
However, there is one problem with the strategy, even if they successfully transition to a fully fresh ID. lifestyle thanks to the ID.3, 4, 5, 6, and Buzz vehicles that are already out and about, plus the upcoming ID.1, 2, and 7 plus 7 Tourer! That would be VW’s ubiquitous design blandness, which has not been shaken off even with the arrival of the MEB-based zero-emission heroes. Sure, there are exceptions, like the ID. Buzz, which is a nice call-back to the times of hippy happiness – and it’s probably going to shake up nicely the vanlifer sector.
But what if people wanted more out of Volkswagen and its upcoming model reinvention, starting from the top of the four-door saloon game? That is where the ID.7 – which was presented in full body camouflage at the 2023 CES in Las Vegas, Nevada – will reside. But people still fear this Passat (and potentially Arteon) replacement that is scheduled to go live sometime this year might be just another case of styling blandness sitting on top of a five-door body style and MEB-based underpinnings.
As such, some folks do tend to take matters into their hands. Or, rather, at the tip of their CGI brush, as is the case here with the imaginative realm of digital car content creators. Thus, Sugar Chow, the virtual artist better known as sugardesign_1 on social media, is again fiddling with AI-assisted tools of digital styling, and the results are pretty darn ‘pretty.’ Actually, they are even prettier than what VW’s human designers have been doing so far!
Sure, it’s easy to achieve perfection in the virtual world, but we sense these four-door sedan ideas work so well because maybe the author used for inspiration a different setup than the ID. and MEB strategy. So, what if the pixel master asked his Midjourney AI assistant to create a potential VW sedan flagship on top of the J1 Porshe Taycan and Audi e-tron GT underpinnings?
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