2012: Year Of The Mediocre Redesign

Doug DeMuro
by Doug DeMuro

I recently rented a midsize sedan from Hertz. Hoping for a go in the latest Fusion, I was instead placed into a new Camry, though it may have been a 2007 Camry. Differences between the two are only discernible to Toyota engineers, though a new campaign gives dealers the ability to tell them apart using a VIN decoder and a magnifying glass.

As I was driving the new/old Camry, I realized something: the phenomenon of cars that look like older versions of themselves isn’t unique to the Camry. In fact, I submit that 2012 was the year of the mediocre redesign. Naturally, I have several highly anecdotal examples to back up my grandiose assertion.

Forget about the Camry. Let’s start with the Camry’s arch-rival, the Honda Accord, which was redesigned for 2013. Allegedly. As far as I can tell, the only real revisions are a lane change camera that probably cost $9 from China, and new rear tail lights that cost nothing because they were designed three years ago by Hyundai.

In all the whining about the 2012 Civic, the automotive press largely failed to mention perhaps its biggest flaw: it looks exactly the same as the 2011 Civic from virtually every angle. This is especially troubling because the previous model was such an enormous leap forward in the compact car world; something of a new refrigerator with ice in the door to a 1920s icebox. By comparison, the 2012 Civic is a stainless steel fridge that seems new and cool until you find out it can no longer display your magnets.

While you might think it’s hard to find a car more innocuously redesigned than the Accord and Camry, that car is the new Volkswagen Beetle. Pitched as more masculine than the old model, it’s actually exactly the same, although now it has uglier wheels. And maybe this time the brake lights will work.

The new Silverado’s tepid redesign has already been covered all over the automotive press, so there’s no need to mention it here. Of course, that won’t stop me from doing it anyway. The most important point is that I was wrong in an earlier article when I said the Silverado has no new engines. In fact, Chevrolet is replacing last year’s 4.3-liter V6, 5.3-liter V8 and 6.2-liter V8 with a new 4.3-liter V6, 5.3-liter V8 and 6.2-liter V8. In other words, the engines are getting the same “redesign” as the truck.

Meanwhile, Land Rover followed up its highly successful third-generation Range Rover with a beautifully-redesigned fourth-generation model: the 2012 Ford Explorer.

While the latest BMW 3- and 5-Series models are very different from their predecessors, they’re now identical to each other. Based on my real-world driving experiences, turn signals remain a very unpopular option on both cars.

After seven years, Porsche customers finally laid their eyes on the new 911, only to discover it looks just like the old 911 except with entire paragraphs spelled out on the back. Of course, the evolutionary 911 never changes much; instead it simply grows larger, wider, and more powerful with each passing year. Kind of like Warren Buffett. And like a share of Berkshire A, it also keeps getting more expensive.

It wasn’t just lookalike styling that made 2012 redesigns mediocre. The Nissan Pathfinder traded its trademark towing capacity for bland lines. The Acura RLX traded bland lines for even blander ones. And the Cadillac XTS traded lethargic engines and front-wheel drive architecture for … lethargic engines and front-wheel drive architecture. But without bland lines.

From the above, you might get the impression that I think all 2012 redesigns were bad. That’s not the case. From Escape to Fusion, Ford stands out as the carmaker that’s done a tremendous job this year with clean-sheet redesigns. You’ll agree the next time you go to Hertz. Unless they give you a Camry.

Doug DeMuro operates PlaysWithCars.com. He’s owned an E63 AMG wagon, roadtripped across the US in a Lotus without air conditioning, and posted a six-minute laptime on the Circuit de Monaco in a rented Ford Fiesta. One year after becoming Porsche Cars North America’s youngest manager, he quit to become a writer. His parents are very disappointed.

Doug DeMuro
Doug DeMuro

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  • Chicagoland Chicagoland on Jan 24, 2013

    Have to accept reality that it's not the 50s/60s with radical restyles every year. There is only so much that can be done for aerodynamics sake. Most 'excitement' is with what features will be standard on a new model? e.g. Bluetooth is now on the base Civic LX, used to be a luxury. Another reality, looks don't make a car drive better. To win sales offer more features for the money versus trying to look like a 1959 Caddy.

  • Ponchoman49 Ponchoman49 on Jan 25, 2013

    Also poorly executed redesigns: 2010-2011 onward Corolla 2012-2013 Altima 2011-2012-2013 Civic 2012-2013 Lexus ES/GS 2008-2009 Sonata Notice how singers are singing old songs and movie makers keep remaking old movies. I'm glad I'm not the only one who sees how badly out of ideas and boring/sterile things have become in this new Millennium. Look around you while driving. Highways all look the same, bridges have zero architectural eye appeal as the did 50-100 years ago and all look like boring slabs of roadside concrete, buildings are just large boxes of fake stucco and steel etc. It's as if beauty, color and originality has been sucked out of the human race, especially the younger set.

  • Lorenzo Heh. The major powers, military or economic, set up these regulators for the smaller countries - the big guys do what they want, and always have. Are the Chinese that unaware?
  • Lorenzo The original 4-Runner, by its very name, promised something different in the future. What happened?
  • Lorenzo At my age, excitement is dangerous. one thing to note: the older models being displayed are more stylish than their current versions, and the old Subaru Forester looks more utilitarian than the current version. I thought the annual model change was dead.
  • Lorenzo Well, it was never an off-roader, much less a military vehicle, so let the people with too much money play make believe.
  • EBFlex The best gift would have been a huge bonfire of all the fak mustangs in inventory and shutting down the factory that makes them.Heck, nobody would even have to risk life and limb starting the fire, just park em close together and wait for the super environmentally friendly EV fire to commence.
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