Vellum Venom Vignette: Restyled 2012 Chevrolet Cruze LTZ – RS

by Sajeev Mehta

Published: May 8th, 2012

vellum venom vignette restyled 2012 chevrolet cruze ltz rs

I’m shocked and honored by the warm reception the Vellum Venom series has earned from TTAC’s B&B. Your comments are read, digested and will influence the series, but some comments move quicker than others. To wit: Josh Howard’s photochop of my Chevy Cruze image.

“You were so right about the smoothing out of the Cruze front end and getting rid of the small fake DLO plastic piece in front. This car looks WAYYYY different and more Toyota-like with some of the changes you suggested. – JH”

Now imagine Josh’s changes with a bow tie in the center and we are done. This “Vellum Venom Cruze” looks Acura-like, a bit more BMW E36-like and much like any other classically proportioned sports sedan from the modern era. But wait, we aren’t done re-designing this little hit from the big General. Hit the jump for another rendering of Epic Win.

Damn, son! Aside from the possible lack of widening(?), that’s the exact grille I wanted!

This submission was from TTAC’s own sinistermisterman. Note the softer edges in this grille’s rendering–compared to Josh–and the crossbar added at a lower position, allowing for a smooth hood cut line and parity with the headlights. Parity! And while Mr. Sinister didn’t incorporate a re-think of the DLO fail, it’s pretty clear that both members of the B&B understand what I regularly demand: proportion and ATD (Attention to Detail) über alles.

What do you think of both “Vellum Venom Cruze” concepts, Best and Brightest?

And of course, here’s the original photo for comparison.

#Analysis #Chevrolet #Design #Styling

Sajeev Mehta

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3 of 27 comments

Sinistermisterman on May 08, 2012

Interesting reading peoples feedback. I quite like Josh's flat grill without interruptions from the crossbar, and having read some of the other comments, I agree that the logo is just too flippin' big. So I give you my second attempt. A wider grill, no crossbar and a small logo. http://tinypic.com/r/2en9fdc/6

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- 99_XC600 on May 08, 2012
  
  Great job. Just black out the gold emblem and put a red outline on it and it would be a winner
  
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300zx_guy on May 10, 2012

Coupe render looks awesome! As for the photoshop mods in the article, fake DLO trianges at the front window tend not to bother me so much, maybe because they are typically small (one exception being the redesigned Civic, the older one with a small window in front of the mirror looked much better). And while the way the grill on the Cruze bumps up above the level of the headlights has alway struck me as odd, with the modded grill the face looks much less aggressive, so I am surprised that I prefer the original in this case. Perhaps the best would be the original size grill (with the bump in the hoodline), but the bar a little lower so the upper and lower openings would be closer in size. Sorry I don't photoshop, or I'd try to render that.

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