XeroK00L

I actually like it that way--a grille that best fits each specific model's character. The grille is one of the most important design elements that define the character of a car. If anything should be made different between different models, it'd better be the grille!! I want my Avalon to look sedate, my Solara to look sporty, my 4Runner to look rugged, my Celica to look mean, and my Yaris to look cute and youthful

I hate the one look different sizes approach that many other makes seem to adopt.

PhilipMSPT

iTrader: (5)

The grill is a very important design element. When you see a car coming, you notice the grill first.

BMW, Audi, Cadillac, Mercedes -- they all have very distinctive grills that you can differentiate from a mile away, whether they are performance coupes, luxury sedans, or huge SUVs. Somehow, Toyota lost a sense of family style, and you cannot say that all Toyota cars share a certain style.

If someone asks, "How can you tell a BMW from any other car?", they will tell you it's the double front grill. If someone asks, "How can you tell an Audi from any other car?", they will tell you the grill is rather square with four interlocking circles with a grid-mesh grill. If someone asks, "How can you tell a Cadillac from any other car?", and they will tell you it's the wide horizontal grill slats with edged nose.

So, "How can you tell a Toyota from any other car?"

ST430

you just cited luxury brand names in all of your examples...For toyota, I don't think its necessary for brand recognition. A Camry is a Camry, regardless of its grill. You see 300K samples of them throughout the US, you are going to recognize them regardless of grills or not. For high level brands like like Lexus, where you see less examples of them around, brand recognition via visual cues is almost required. Marketing wise, it is good to have a "family" resemblence in those panache brands (witness new L-Finesse theme), but in general mass cars, its better to target that segment specifically without regards to other "family members" (who cares about a corolla when you're selling a Tundra truck).

XeroK00L

Thanks, ST430. You put it in much better perspective than I did. What I said shouldn't apply to premium brands indeed. Premium brands need brand recognition and the grille is where they should do it.

Koma

iTrader: (3)

Chevy is doing it. Which I find really bad. And it's a very bland family styling. But as some else has said before they don't sell Chevys based upon looks but upon name. I have to disagree somewhat, I wouldn't buy any car with a great name and facts to back up the claims if it looked like crap.