Design Process 2: Bentley Mulsanne
Inspiration - leaping tiger 

Jason Hill (Designer of the Carrera GT) pushed my entire design away from the traditional coke bottle fenders. I originally picked a tiger because it fit with the general ‘lines’ of Bentley, which several others (fourth term as well) ended up finalizing with. The whole point of redesigning isn’t to fit with a brand’s existing line - it’s to facilitate reinvention of traditional lines. Even though the coke bottle does work for classic brands, there are still ways to achieve the same feel to a car without resorting to the same lines.

I’ve snapped and stretched a tangent over the two fenders and still achieved a similar ‘pouncing’ forward weight to the car. The line continues into the front diffuser and acts as a tooth element. The profile is also altered to imitate the tail of a tiger with the upward DLO trim. 

I had a brief discussion during class about this with jason during my final presentation upon seeing all the coke bottle designs on the final day. He told me that you can’t use an inspiration with a motive of using traditional fender treatments- but also that there could still be a particular unique treatment of a traditional line that makes it ‘brand new’ - which is what I still disagree with him on.

So here’s my question:
Does a simple ‘treatment’ of a classic or overused element make it a new design?