Automobile Body Styles and Designs

Automobile Body Styles

• SUV- SUV's have existed since the 1930's but experienced explosive popularity >during the mid 1990's. The SUV or Sports Utility Vehicle is a type of body style that is built on a truck frame, and kind of like the an Estate, but is bigger and higher up. They were originally built because there were a lot of people that needed a 4-wheel drive vehicle. They are designed for off and on-road work. An example of an SUV is an Audi Q7. (Picture found here, and information found here)

• Convertible- A convertible, also known as a cabriolet, is a type of body style with a retractable roof. They are usually best for people to buy if they live in areas with warmer weather. Some of the convertibles are affordable, but usually they are luxury cars. An example of a convertible as an Audi A5 convertible Premium Plus 4 cyl. (Picture found here and information found here)

• Coupe- The is normally thought of as a sporty type of vehicle. They are similar to the saloon, but with only 2 doors instead of 4, however there are some manufacturers who still make them with 4 doors. It is reasonably comfortable for seating in the front, but the back seat space is limited, so it's not good for families. (Picture found here and information found here)

• Van- For individuals or businesses that require a vehicle with a single large enclosed area, a van could be a leading choice for drivers. Capable of securely holding a large amount of passengers, vans are significantly styled for practicality rather than other factors such as performance. From the 1930s to the 1980s, vans were almost entirely based on truck-like chassis structures. Vans built on truck-like frames such as the Chevrolet Express prove most useful for commercial entities that require toughness and durability. If equipped for passenger, large vans can seat up to 15 occupants. Popularizing car-based construction. Van's are good for people with big families. (Picture from here  and information found here 

• Sedan- A sedan, also known as a saloon, is one of the most popular body types of cars today. It can seat a least 4 people and a separate trunk (boot) for storage. An example of a sedan is a Honda Accord. (Picture from here and information from here)

Automobile Design

• It usually takes about 3 years to design a car, sometimes a little more, sometimes a little less. They usually start off with the sketching phase, which is just them drawing a bunch of different pictures of the car. 
• Design is called problem solving because the people have fine arts degrees, but what they are doing isn't fine arts. They have criteria that they need to meet and draw their design based on it. It is essentially solving a problem.
•  The feasibility stage is when the workers need to put the sketches on a "package" and match them up with something that maintains the theme, but fits over top of the engineering. This is the biggest stage. 
• I think that designing an automobile would interest me more than the other jobs in the automotive industry, such as automotive technicians, but I don't really think that would be my number one future job choice. I will probably like driving, but other than that I won't care how my car is made and will probably not be interested in how they're made.