[svxistentialist]

Originally Posted by PaulDexler

I keep getting hung up on styling debates. One of the great appeals the SVX has for me is that IT DOESN'T LOOK JAPANESE. I don't mean this as a slur, but there are a couple of styling characteristics that seem to appeal to Japanese home market buyers. First, they seem to like more extreme wedginess in the shape. I used to call it the "big hips" look. And second, they seem to like a blunt, aggressive front fascia. The SVX has neither. It has a horizontal thrust that is parallel to the ground, a distinctly European styling mode. And modifying that look with anything that makes a big, flat air dam front makes the car look as if it has been scared by a Cat D8 dozer.

A case in point. When Toyota opened its Calty Design studios in Southern California, the first car they developed was the Celica. U.S. buyers flocked to the model, which sold far better than the one it replaced. However, in the JDM market, it sold less well than the previous model. This seems to be mainly the result of different styling tastes on the two sides of the Pacific.
So, to get back to the SVX, a restyle on the front would have to continue the bullet-like thrust of the current nose. And please, don't make it wedgy.

Just as an aside, I was going through my photo archives, and found this shot I took of the SVX wagon prototype I took at the Los Angeles Auto Show in '93 or '94, when it made its brief appearance on the show circuit.
Paul

Great picture Paul, thanks.

What you have said re the bullet nose and horizontal styling I have mentioned before and I'm in agreement with you in general terms.

This does not mean I'm taking an ultra conservative stance or think the SVX is so perfect it can't be improved. But I do believe the design ethos from scratch was for a clean design with obvious clean penetrative profile to the wind, which requires or demands a projectile nose rather than a cow catcher.

And for the record I'm not too fond of the "cleaning up" design features of the Amadeus. It loses what little aggression the SVX had at the nose and ends up looking like a humongous great suppository.

Not my cup of tea.

Joe