Why no friendly face?
The front view of a car is often compared to a face, with the headlights being the eyes and the radiator grille basically being the mouth. As early as the 1950s, car designers succeeded in modeling friendly "faces", a good example being the Austin-Healey Sprite. Perhaps it was not the intention at the time to create a particularly friendly face, but the lights had to be placed somewhere and the compact convertible also needed cooling air. Because they wanted the most aerodynamic shape possible, the headlights ultimately had to be positioned on the hood, leading to the nickname "Frogeye" or "frog's eye". To this day, this car, which was very reasonably priced at the time, receives friendly looks and a lot of positive feedback.
Of course, the Sprite is not the only car with a friendly face.
In the new millennium, many designers followed other trends. Cars now looked fiercer, more aggressive and often almost a little angry. This was obviously easier to sell than a friendly radiator face. Interestingly, however, car designers are remembering the positive effect of smiling car fronts again, especially when developing electric cars ...
