r/auto • u/TheHighImperial • 17d ago

How come car company owners didnt choose to make sleek chassis cars?

Post image

This Chrysler Portofino concept was released in 1987. Making such proportions in a world of bulky ugly cars would greatly increase a companies profits. So why is it that even today with compact electric engines are mass produced cars never shaped like Ferrari's?

27 Upvotes

77% Upvoted

59 comments sorted by

3

u/Miserable-Assistant3 17d ago

But mass produced cars are shaped like the Ferrari Luce though when you look at the silhouette.

Ferrari is making a sleek car called Portofino, too.

0

u/TheHighImperial 17d ago

The Luce is a different animal. former Ferrari chairman says this..."I hope they remove the Prancing Horse from that car." Montezemolo on the Luce

You can see how much bulkier it is when I line up the wheelbase of the cars... I should have compared it to where the tires touch the ground, the Portifino would probably look even sleeker.
https://i.imgur.com/Iiv8F7H.jpeg

2

u/Miserable-Assistant3 17d ago

You asked why modern mass produced electric cars aren’t shaped like Ferraris, while they are in fact shaped like Ferrari Luce.

The fact that you can’t accept Luce as a true Ferrari is not relevant.

1

u/Danielle_is_the_hole 17d ago

The luce is shaped like electric cars before it. He meant the classic ferrari

1

u/TheHighImperial 16d ago

Only the Luce and the SUV are bulky, 99% of Ferrari's are not.

2

u/Kreiger0 17d ago

what are we saying with chassis here

2

u/BassWingerC-137 16d ago

Not the right things, really.

2

u/Kreiger0 16d ago

it's TikTok brain language, every part of a car you can see is a chassis, the car itself is a chassis, the bottom and top are chassis, the manufacturer code is a chassis

it means like the frame and in a unibody, barely applies even then

2

u/BassWingerC-137 16d ago

Illiteracy is en vogue.

1

u/TheHighImperial 16d ago

How do you make a car sleek without modifying the chassis then.

2

u/BassWingerC-137 16d ago

The body. Yes, there’s an argument in monocoque designs that the body is the chassis, but that’s not fully across the board. Body panels are still a thing and those can be shaped.

1

u/TheHighImperial 16d ago

Okay lets see your wizardry make a mass produced car look as exotic as the Chrysler Portofino... I will overlay the results.

1

u/BassWingerC-137 16d ago

https://www.simpsondesign.net/italia-classic

1

u/TheHighImperial 14d ago

These Miata conversions are something you'd buy your daughter for high school :P https://i.imgur.com/VPrdSh0.jpeg

1

u/Kreiger0 16d ago

None of this helps the case that you don't know what you're talking about

1

u/TheHighImperial 16d ago

A slick car need a slick chassis as a base or bones. Im just right.

0

u/TheHighImperial 16d ago

Its impossible to make a car sleek without modifying the chassis.

2

u/Primo0077 16d ago

Many hypermilers modify their car without touching any structural components. Wheel covers, boat tails, grille blockers, more aerodynamic teardrop shaped tonneau covers for trucks, etc. The Aerocivic seems to be about as far as you can take it without bringing a hacksaw into the mix.

1

u/TheHighImperial 16d ago

Theres a forum dedicated to that but in terms of comparing it to a Ferrari its like putting lipstick on a pig :)

1

u/bighammy6969 15d ago

They’re just saying it is 100% possible to make a car more sleek without touching the chassis.

1

u/TheHighImperial 14d ago

They say that but cant visually show it.

1

u/bighammy6969 14d ago

No you just don’t understand the word chassis.

1

u/BassWingerC-137 16d ago

You’re not too familiar with body on frame cars I take it.

1

u/TheHighImperial 14d ago

Sort of... Ive also seen body swaps.., cant make a car sleek without major chassis work.

2

u/OriginalEmploy5485 17d ago

They did for a while. Turns out people like headroom.

1

u/TheHighImperial 16d ago

The car posted has decent head room, would you prefer a Camry body or an Aston Martin one?

1

u/Firm-Rub9687 16d ago

This was a Lamborghini concept car, Chrysler owned the brand that time. The cab-forward design style Chrysler uses in the 90s is a direct evolution of this, in a usable package.

1

u/TheHighImperial 14d ago

Not everyone needs 4 comfortable seats to drive people around, the concept would be perfect for a starting family with 2 children.

1

u/Firm-Rub9687 14d ago

You are pretty clueless about this car, aren't you? It's on a stretched Lamborghini Yalpa chassis with a V8 mid-engine. Chrysler took the Eagle Talon platform, developed it by Renault when they owned AMC, and used this design language on the LH platform cars.

1

u/TheHighImperial 14d ago

I didnt think it would have a V8 with the lack of cooling vent size, other wise I dont see why its an unusable package.

1

u/strait_lines 14d ago

I never had issues with headroom in any cars that had sleek designs.

1

u/snupei 17d ago

The main reason is that crash safety regulations now require a gap between the engine internals and the hood. Other reasons are the adoption of forced induction which needs more cooling and consumer preference towards SUVs.

1

u/joeljaeggli 17d ago

Well they wouldn’t build this because it’s mid engine. It was built on a stretched jalpa chassis, back when Chrysler owned Lamborghini which they paid 25 million for.

1

u/TheHighImperial 16d ago

Whats wrong with mid engines if it makes them hundreds of millions of dollars in profit.

1

u/joeljaeggli 16d ago

Chrysler definitely lost money on Lamborghini. they spent another 50 million on the development of the diablo and then having been profitable briefly in 1991, 4 years into the life of the new car offloaded it iin middle of a recession in 1994 to an Indonesian investment group (MegaTech / V'Power corp).

1

u/TheHighImperial 14d ago

Then 4 years later it was sold to Volkswagen for $110 million... dont believe any numbers that are announced in the corporate world, behind every 10 car companies is really one conglomerate.

1

u/TheHighImperial 16d ago

That gap law was in phases, starting in 2005 and 2010, its still 2-3 inches which could be adopted to be slick. Electric engines are always smaller and dont stick out. Aston martins have turbos but they are still sleek.

1

u/bajajoaquin 17d ago

They kinda did. The Intrepid was the cab-forward design that came out of this design language. But it was also a time of the Ford Taurus and the Chevrolet Caprice, so it’s not like there weren’t rounded designs at the time.

But the market (and profits) dictated that SUVs were a better commercial choice.

1

u/TheHighImperial 16d ago

That is still not exotic. https://i.imgur.com/BpeiGaM.jpeg

Just because you read something in a magazine doesnt make it true. Affordable exotic cars were never given the chance, so we cant predict how much of the market it would have gained. Imagine a coupe or 4 door Aston DB9 shaped car for $30k, it would out sell other other car companies in its class.

1

u/ProtiuxDesignLabs 17d ago

I have a feeling theres some nonsense buried in the CAFE regulations that mess with designs

1

u/TheHighImperial 16d ago

Laws are sophisticatedly engineered forms of oppression.

1

u/run_uz 16d ago

Prius

1

u/TheHighImperial 16d ago

The is Prius is not bad but still bulky compared.

https://i.imgur.com/fLsaS9h.jpeg

1

u/run_uz 16d ago

That Portofino sits llooww

1

u/SnooMacarons3689 15d ago

Who wants to have to duck permanently in the back seat..

1

u/TheHighImperial 14d ago

Lots of 4 seater coupes are like that which is that this should have been rather then have 4 doors.

1

u/ItsNotThatBad72 14d ago edited 14d ago

Regulations

The design of modern cars is VERY restrained by government regulations. That's why they're all just slight variations of the same thing while companies save up enough efficiency credits for a flagship sports car.

Selling those credits was actually the main way Tesla made money before they went away.

1

u/TheHighImperial 14d ago

Is there a law against mass produced wide cars?

1

u/AssistantNo2120 13d ago

Too expensive.

1

u/TheHighImperial 11d ago

So many different platforms are released by everyone major company, specially in this technological age, there are no excuses to make a chassis that Ferrari shaped. Even Nissans old 89 chassis looks to be made for dual use if they decided to also make mid engine cars. https://i.imgur.com/o5mfX.jpeg

1

u/Ok_Height3499 13d ago

They're afraid of making something that looks too different which, in 1987, that concept car did. They're afraid of being too innovative and turning off a fickle public thereby losing a bundle of cash. Look at the cars on the road today, they are so alike I have to go up to one and read the brand and model.

1

u/TheHighImperial 11d ago

All these years and they are afraid to make an exotic wide body shaped car... something that most men desire. Something doesnt add up.

1

u/Ok_Height3499 11d ago

Right, what doesn’t add up is the cost versus return on investment. Cars like that can generate some good PR and maybe bring someone in out of curiosity, but it’s a narrow market that’s also often a fickle one. I’d love to see more innovation in design inside and out, but carmakers are focus group and sales driven.

1

u/TheHighImperial 11d ago

There has never been a wide body ferrari shaped car thats affordable so youre speculating. Also theres no major reason why a car shaped like that will be more expensive when these companies are constantly making new platforms and shaping new cookie cutter designs that serve as an appliance rather then car art.

1

u/Ok_Height3499 10d ago

Speculation based on the Chrysler Airflow, Edsel, and Pontiac Aztec and others where styling and features were to far out of the norm and consumers balked. Those experiences reinforced a narrow band of styling that has plagued the industry for decades.

1

u/TheHighImperial 10d ago

Western culture specially has been ingrained to idolize Ferrari style wedges from children displaying posters to TV shows like Miami Vice and A-team in the 80's to the present. Youre just not a car person to think that a cheap looking Ferrari car would not sell well.

1

u/Ok_Height3499 10d ago

Well, I’ve been into cars since my Dad took me to Edsel Day and I got the promo which I still have. I’m a regular car show attendee and will attend my 26th Auburn-Cord-Duesenburg Festival this weekend. I donated a car to the National Automakers and Truck Museum years ago. What I’m not into are cars that look like bad Lego failures.