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Everyone knows what a Hofmeister Kink is… but until today’s debut of the Infiniti JX, nobody had ever heard of a Hofmeister Curve. Well, here it is… what do you think of it? Gimmick or gamechanger?
24 Comments on “Infiniti JX Introduces The Hofmeister Curve...”
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I don’t like it, and I’m an Infiniti fan boi. 2010 G37S 6MT owner and have been in the Nissan family for a while.
This is ugly, so kill it with fire and build me an Infiniti G37 hatch (not the EX) with a manual. GO!
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I’m not a fan of the curve, but other than that I think it looks pretty good, especially everything forward of the A pillar.
Especially compared to the abomination that is the QX…
The QX56 looks good IMO. It’s a polarizing design, but IMO they pulled it off.
This just doesn’t do it for me. I think it’s ugly. Maybe it’ll look better in person. It reminds me a lot of the Q7, which I think is absolutely hideous, even in top trip. In base trim, it’s an awful looking vehicle.
Its definitely polarizing, but I think that the QX looks exactly like what it is, a boxy SUV that underwent an unsuccessful attempt to look sleeker by adding random curves. And whoever approved of it’s fender vents should be fired.
I do see a lot of the Q7 in this CUV, and I agree that the Q7 is ugly, but I think its basic shape is fine. The thing I think makes the Q7 look terrible are those long slender fog lights/turning signals/whatever (I’m not exactly sure what they are) up front and those long slender rear reflectors out back. They look like something that should be on a bus or semi.
If the Hofmeister Kink means shamelessly copying the Audi Q7 then Infiniti has pretty well nailed it.
To my mind it sucks and looks incredibly fugly, but these things were never my type anyway.
However, if it replaces (I’m assuming) the Q56 then maybe it’s not so bad.
im not sure – it makes my eyes feel strange, but it seems to hide how tall and boxy that upper back edge of the car is.
I think i like it, just like i like most things unusual. however, those roll/wave shapes on the side are a bit too much for my taste. Car kind of looks like its melting
Edit: I dont know what the hoffmeister curve is. I was thinking it was near the top of the D pillar
Another amorphous blob soon to join a sea of other amorphous blobs. But, it looks hip and trendy enough, so it should sell.
Big whoop-dee-doo…
+1
Oh, boy. Another gimmick that will be repeated endlessly until someone comes up with another gimmick.
For a while Infiniti was designing such lovely, clean-looking cars. Now they’ve gone all Japanese Bangle (or is it Franco-Japanese Bangle?).
Interesting. Is there room for another wagon in the segment? Doesn’t appear to be an SUV (built on a frame) so will have much less towing capability than say the QX. Can’t tell if it will have 3 rows for people moving. If it gets the Japanese 5.6 it will haul a**. May struggle with the 3.7. Looks exclusive enough to command a decent price. Panoramic roof??
It looks like the exterior hadn’t solidified yet and they put it in a wind tunnel.
I’ll never buy one, but I still think my 240sx too big and heavy.
I’m not fluent in german, but if “Hofmeister”** means visual eyesore…then yes, indeed, this is a quite a “Hofmeister curve”. Kinda like the new Honda Odyssey has a “Hofmeister-butt”.
To my eyes Infinity hit it’s visual design epoch with the 1st gen 2003-2007 Infinity G35 Coupe…elegant, beautiful and timeless, that car will probably still look gorgeous 30 years from now.
**based on some of the restrained, elegant cars BMW has created (mostly pre-Bangle) I know that Hofmeister isn’t a synonym for ugly. It’s a shame what’s being done in his name though**
Kinks, curves… why can’t anybody just make a nice sweeping c pillar anymore? As the eye goes from front to back of a car, it’s naturally following the airflow over the car…the h-kink interrupts this in a very intervention kind of way. More classic styling is like a Frank Loyd Wright ‘prairie’ house, built to merge with the landscape… modern styling is very postmodern, or as Moe Szyslak would say, ‘wierd for the sake of being wierd’.
I miss a nice clean sweeping line to the C-pillar…
http://hondamobilia.vtec.net/Civic/Images/1994%20Civic%20Coupe%20%28US%29.jpg
http://carscritic.info/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/Ferrari_308_GTS.jpg
http://image.automobilemag.com/f/multimedia/photo_gallery/8300130+w1024+h768+st0/0803_04a+2009_lamborghini_gallardo_lP560-4.jpg
Just another ugly SUV theres nothing appealing about it
Looks like someone reversed the D-pillar into a bridge. Kind of like a Hofmeister dent. (“No, honestly, honey, I didn’t crash it – it’s a Hofmeister Kink!”)
I didn’t know what the Hofmeister curve was (thanks for the link).
I think I like it, but I need more time. I think the idea of shaping the C-Pillar (and glass) to echo the profile of the rear is not a bad one (it can help with overall flow and continuity if done right), but whether it works may depend on whether you like the shape of the rear?
This should sell well in China. It may be called Hofmeister, but it definitely looks Asian.
This things looks like it should have the Hyundai H out front in the grille instead of the Infiniti logo.
With relation to the classic Hofmeister kink, I can’t decide if the Infiniti designers made a very clever styling observation or just a lazy modification. They simply rotated the kink about 180 degrees and called it a curve.
Not bad in its first application, though. Hopefully it will look just as good at different scales, unlike the kink that I think looks better on smaller cars like the 3er vs larger cars like the 7er. When used correctly, it could be great. I just hope other designers don’t “cut and paste” just because it becomes a popular styling cue. Fresh in my mind is the blacked-out A-pillar and angular windowlines made popular by the Nissan GT-R. Looks great on Godzilla, but horrible on the Kia Hampster, err, I mean Kia Soul.
Just realized the current QX56 has a variation on “the kink”. It’s nowhere near as clean or dramatic as this one, though.
it’s unique…I like it for that, at least. In an age of extremely conservative automotive design, it’s great to see something a little bit brave being tried.
It looks like a badge engineered Toyota Highlander.
It looks broken.