QOTD: What Body Style Needs to Make a Comeback?
This is the 1999 Buick Cielo Concept and its incredibly similar in form and function to the Soarer Aerocabin we featured yesterday. As a hardtop convertible that retains its roof rails, the Cielo (which isn’t brown, unfortunately) isn’t the only car – or even the only Buick – to leverage this concept.
A year later, Buick built the Regal Cielo Concept, applying the same technical idea to a production sedan.
“This is a translation of the most significant feature of the Cielo concept car directly into a potential production application,” said Mark D. Hines, Regal brand manager at the time. “Although Regal Cielo is technically a concept car, it is clearly a vehicle which can be built.”
Like the Regal GNX concept of the same year, the Regal Cielo never did see production.
The idea of a convertible car that retains its roof rails when the roof panels are down hasn’t been entirely abandoned – it’s only disappeared on bigger coupes and sedans.
Switching our focus to Fiat, the 500C makes use of this roof rail concept, though the panel itself is made of fabric instead of metal, probably due to the fact the diminutive hatchback lacks any modicum of trunk space.
With the number of glass panoramic roofs on factory vehicles in the market today, a case might be made for replacing these fabric or metal panels with something a bit more transparent.
Best & Brightest, what body style do you think should make an encore appearance? My vote goes to a return of what I call the “private convertible” seen above.
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I would say that we need the 5-door slant-back hatch a la the Rover SD-1 or Saab 9000 to make a return. The A7 is kind of on the way...but it's service costs are way to high for my tastes. AND we need a 5-door, sedan height wagon (I am speaking to you, Subaru)! With a turbo! Nor would I mind something in the general shape of the Citroen SM...or Subaru SVX!
The cab-forward Chrysler LH platform needs to come back in the worst way. The second-gen Intrepid would be the best thing to start from. If not...if there was ever a way to go back into the past, Chrysler would have purchased the rights to Tesla to get the Model S, dumping the electric drivetrain stuff to save for something else, something not as worthwhile. It looks very much like an LH car, and if the LH evolved, this would be it. Every time I see a Model S, I'm not thinking about a premium electric car. I'm thinking of a premium RWD American full-size sedan--an alternative (and maybe an eventual replacement) to the Charger and 300--with a 3.6L Pentastar and a 5.7L Hemi under the bonnet. An all-new Intrepid and Concorde with better drivetrains and a more refined look and feel.