Let’s say for a moment you’re in the market for a new set of wheels. New or used, it has to be within cat-kicking distance of your budget. It needs to haul people, stuff, and Starbucks. It’s gotta be fast. And fun to drive. And maybe, it needs to conserve fuel. But I’m willing to wager most of my paycheck that your number one criteria is that you gotta like how it looks. It has to say “you,” which brings us to styling, right?

Nearly every automobile manufacturer on the planet appears to have a design lineage or hallmark. BMW has the twin-kidney grille and the Hoffmeister kink at the C-pillar. Porsche, the iconic 911 profile. Jeep (and now Hummer) has the 7-slot grille. Rolls-Royce, the unmistakable chrome barn door screwed to the front. Dodge, the cross-hairs. Even Hyundai/Kia, whose products appear to have fallen out of the ugly tree and hit every damn branch on the way down, can regularly be counted upon to create vehicles that somehow retain their corporate ingredients.

But most appallingly, I’ve noticed a widespread tendency of cars starting to share many of the same styling cues! It’s like designers from different companies are attending power-lunches to compare sketches. Nowadays, when a new production model is rolled out, the automotive press awaits breathlessly, hoping, pleading for something new and different. Most of the time, we’re astronomically underwhelmed. Yep, just a different way of organizing all the elements. The community parts bin got raided again.

Let’s take for example, the air-intake/air-exhaust vents on the front quarter panel, just ahead of the front doorcut. The BMW M-series cars have been valiant in their effort to differentiate themselves with this little detail.

But, like lemmings, a horde of others have followed: the Buick Lucerne/Enclave, Cadillac CTS/STS/Escalade, Dodge Nitro, Ford Taurus, Hyundai Tiburon, Jaguar XF/XJ/XK, Land Rover LR2/Range Rover/Sport, Maserati Quattroporte, Mini Cooper, Pontiac G8 and Saturn Vue all employ the fender vent as an intentional styling idea. And that’s just off the top of my head! Are you starting to see the trend, here?

Of course, one could argue imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, but would you stop already?! Are designers so hog-tied they’re reduced to copying one another? Are all the good ideas used up and spent already? Designers are paid to figure this out, that’s why they’re called designers. There’s a name for people who copy other ideas until they’re as mundane as the guy screwing caps on toothpaste tubes… mimics. They’re fun for about thirty seconds.

Gone are the days when a fender vent made a car somehow distinctive. It’s become a favorite trick of designers and marketing departments alike, appearing on designs so characterless they cause hypnosis in showrooms. Shake it off! I think it’s time to pull our heads out, go back to the drawing board, and re-think the whole enchilada…

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