10 CARS WITH INSANELY BIG FRONT GRILLES.

The original purpose of front grilles was to create an airflow under the hood to cool down the engine. But over the time, they have become a more and more important design feature. Every car brand has their own shape and size. Why? Our brain imagines the front of a car as a face, with the headlights being the eyes and the grille serving as a mouth, and so designers worked with this idea to give cars a certain appearance. The latest trend are huge grills wich cover up almost the entire front end, and so today I’ll show you 10 cars where the trend just went way too far.

1. Every New Audi

When thinking of big grilles, the first thing to come to your mind will be Audi. Why? Because in 2004, Walter de Silva unveiled the new A8 with the ‘Singleframe’ grille. And for the next 10 years, Audi just made it bigger. I laughed really hard when I read in a car magazine about an ‘Audi Design-Revolution’ because the grille was now three-dimensional.
German car magazine has rendered how all the common Audi models would look without that stupid Singleframe grill, definitely worth checking out:

I think most of them look better without the big grille, but what do you think? Comment down below.

NOTE: Nothing against Walter de Silva, he is a great car designer, and with the A5 he designed the best looking Audi ever (in my opinion). I am just not a big fan of Marc Lichte, Audis current Head of design. But he announced (yet another) ‘Design Revolution’ for early 2017, and as long as that doesn’t mean bigger grilles and thinner lights, I am open for it.

2. Bentley Bentayga

Another big trend in the current car industry are SUVs. Everyone buys them, and so every brand needs to have at least one of them in their model range. Bentley introduced the Bentayga, and combined it with the big-grille-trend. But, they actually split the big grille that covers the entire front of the car into four pieces, so it won’t look as sht. But sorry Bentley, in my opinion, you failed.

3. Volkswagen Arteon

Volkswagen was known for creating the most boring cars on the market, strictly avoiding any emotion in their design (except for the GTI models). And now they decided to build a new luxury coupe with an insanely big smiling face that looks like a WhatsApp Emoji on wheels - look, even the color matches perfectly!

4. Lexus LX

Lexus cars always feature big grilles with quite an unusual shape. But the LX just went too far. Yes, it’s a big SUV, but that doesn’t mean it needs a front grille that could easily eat a Smart car. And then the hideous chrome trim all the way around it… Back to the drawing board!

5. Hyundai i30

Do you know who is Hyundai’s Head of Design? Peter Schreyer. And guess for which company he worked before switching to the Koreans? Audi. The front grille gives it away…

6. Toyota Avalon

The Toyota Avalon is a full-size sedan for the North American market. And as you will see later, Americans love big front grilles. I personally think this Toyota is ugly as fck…

7. Dodge Ram

A Dodge Ram is a big car, and so is the front grille. If you’re driving along in a Fiat 500, and this guy tailgates you, all you can see in the rear-view mirror is the chrome strut with the RAM logo. (I tried it out in Gran Turismo 6, racing a fully tuned ‘66 Fiat 500 against a stock Dodge Ram on Spa. The Fiat won…)

8. Opel Vivaro

Nowadays even vans need to be stylish. And what is more stylish then a big front grille?

9. Ford EcoSport

European Fords normally have an ‘Aston-Martin grille’ up front (it really is basically a copy of Aston Martin). This one has a different grille, but that doesn’t make it any better.

10. Mercedes Concept IAA

You’re wondering if this trend will continue? Well take a look at Mercedes’ Concept IAA. The whole front is a grille, and it includes the headlights and a huge Mercedes logo.
Also, remind the day when Tesla made their ‘grilles’ smaller? Everybody protested. So huge grilles will probably be with us for at least 10 more years.

Tobi aka The Stig’s German Cousin

This content was originally posted by a Car Throttle user on our Community platform and was not commissioned or created by the CT editorial team.