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Originally Posted by Osnabrueck I agree. Right now, forward design isn't coming from the ultra-luxury brands, but is eminating from middle-class brands like BMW and Audi. It would be breathtaking to see a brand with Audi-like priorities take on the Maybach/RR segment.
Unfortunately, the audience has yet to develop for such things. The world of ultra luxury sedans is still rooted in traditional expressions of wealth and prestige. I imainge it'll take quite some time for us to see truely modern interiors make their way into the super-luxury league.
Take luxury wristwatches for instance - Modern designs don't sell particularly well, unless there's an established history behind them (60s/70s vintage modern, for instance). Rolex, on the other hand, is able to sell their staid and stodgy watches at high volume, and at very high prices. |
You are absolutely correct Osnabrueck, I think one of the reasons luxury brands often tend to fall back on "traditional expressions" is because the biggest market for high-end luxury products tends to be among newly-rich people. When people are successful, more often than not they express their success (often even subconsciously) through the things they choose to surround themselves with. We live in a global culture that has developed a complex code of cultural semantics made up of many archetypes. Most of us understand and recognize these "cultural codes" instantly, they are all around us. You only have to drive through certain upmarket neighborhoods to see that many people express their success through architecture - and most importantly through archetypal details in the architecture. Classical archetypes like large doorways, the column, or the arch, are archetypes very favoured by the upper-middle class - they have deep cultural meanings and strong metaphysical allusions - subtly (and sometimes not so subtly) communicating social status and banal values of "good taste". The same applies in luxury car design - Mercedes' interiors, particularly, appeal to stereotypical preconceptions of luxury and prestige - obviously because that is what their target-market demands.
Although they differ aesthetically, the interiors of the Bugatti Veyron, Porsche Carrera GT, and Pagani Zonda are excellent examples of design at the highest level of contemporary culture. The designers of these cars did not have to make concessions to the mediocre and often banal tastes of the average luxury car buyer.
