Cars

What is going on with car design? Firstly the stupendously ugly trend of the gaping mouth radiator grille. The only car I have seen that it appears to work on is the Mitsubishi ASX and then only just (and not the white one). I blame BMW. The moronic sharp edge design trend they set off with a few years ago, under the direction of Chris Bangle set in train a movement towards exaggeration and careless design. The early design was so bad the boot looked like it was an add-on, missed from the original drawings.

It created antagonistic and meaningless shapes and form that was hideous to behold. They persevered. They shouldn't have. And, as if by force of propaganda, it is cropping up in other designs, thus proving, as with architects, stylists are not the people to define taste.

Mercedes are similarly now ugly cars, not prestige, with a multitude of LED 'driving' lights that make them look like chav transport, or pimpmobiles. Mind you, that is another trend that designers have not been able to avoid. Do they do Burberry seats?

Then there is the outrage over Bentley straying into SUV territory, with the design concept the EXP 9F. The theory seems to be that Bentley isn't that kind of brand, but Porsche is I suppose (Cayenne)? No, I have no conceptual problem with Bentley making an SUV, but what I do agree with is the criticism of the EXP 9F's design.

Clearly it is intended to appeal to those of a bling persuasion (so footballers and drug dealers) and a number of the details appear to be the result of a primary school art competition,. Overall though, the designer seems to have looked at a Ssangyong Musso and thought 'hell, yeah!'. I hope they spend time and money when they  make it, because the money they saved by getting the guy who changes the paper towels to do the design, needs compensating somewhere.

Although it is a mystery no-one cared about, we now know where the Japanese blokes went who designed 1990's ghetto blasters, those abominations of over-detail, too much plastic chrome and pointless excrescences. They now design the dashboards of cars like the Ford Focus and the Vauxhall Astra. They are so bad, so over the top, I could honestly believe they would make you physically sick, every time you sat in the car. We often refer to decades as being the ones 'style forgot', but it seems we are now living in an age when we simply forgot style.

I'll end by mentioning a V12 Ferrari, the FF. It's a bread van.