When in Doubt, Hire an Italian

Two of my favorite imports, BMW and Subaru, just can’t seem to get it right lately when it comes to exterior styling. BMW is still working through the whole Bangle nightmare, and I personally have not quite recovered from the travesty that is the new Impreza/WRX/STI. Seriously, is it that hard to design a good looking car?

Maybe these manufacturers should just focus on what they are good at: building kick-ass cars. Maybe they should leave the exterior design to people who know what they are doing: Italians. No one ever decided not to buy an Italian car cause it was ugly. People decide not to buy Italian cars because they are too expensive, or because they are too fire prone. But Italians know how to design great looking cars.

Isuzu figured this out back in the 70s. When they wanted a new Impulse, they went to Giorgetto Giugiaro, and he penned something pretty cool. VW has gone to Giugiaro, too–he penned the first generation Scirocco. In the early 90s, Lexus went to Giugiaro for the GS 300, and Subaru went to him for the SVX. So what’s the deal now? Are BMW and Subaru too proud? Come on guys, make it easy on yourself and hire an Italian. You’ll end up with better looking cars, and you’ll sell more of ‘em, too.