What will future historians make of these massive grilles?
Design historians of the future will look back to spring 2019 as a time of contradictory expression, judging from the designs on display at this month's New York auto show. A new age was dawning, they'll say, with designers mastering the skill of putting larger people into smaller spaces and electrification coming on like an asteroid. And yet, get a load of those big honking grilles! Was this the last hurrah for gasping, oxygen-thirsty engine compartments that desperately needed to throw off excess heat? Or was it, wiser historians might ask, simply a recognition that consumers loved a cool design?