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About This Quiz
Automotive design and production are big business. Do you think your knowledge has kept pace? Take this quiz to find out.
The automobile industry is one of the most competitive industries in the world. Because of the extreme level of competitiveness, and the changing demands of consumers, automotive design and production are big business. An automaker that fails to keep up with new trends -- heck, an automaker who fails to introduce new trends -- is an automaker that will likely not be around for very long. But, automakers know this. No one is going to launch a new car company with the assumption that they can make a car that will remain the same for very long. Designs have to change and the way cars are produced has to keep pace with the times. For this reason, car designs are being constantly updated. Some designs resonate well with consumers and some don't, but carmakers have to take a chance with their designs and either keep pace with consumer demand or blaze new trails and give car buyers features that they didn't even know they wanted ("need" is the word the industry likes to use, but no one really "needs" Sirius Radio in the car, do they).
Let's find out how much you really know about automotive design and production.
What is a beltline?
The line formed from the top of the fender to the bottom of the side window sills to the contour of the trunk.
The beltline is one of the most important factors in automobile design. It can provide (though not necessarily) safety in side impacts, and gives a car much of its personality. It can also reduce visibility if set too high, and make the side windows much smaller.
The line formed from the windshield to the roof to the tail of an SUV.
The line from the bottom edge of the bumper to the side sills of the window to the rear wheel well.
The line formed from the front fender, down the side skirts to the rear wheel well.
What is a car's deck?
The top of the dashboard
The bit riders feet rest on
The structural underpinnings of the roof
The horizontal surface at the rear end of a car, usually the lid of the car's trunk
The deck can be the lid of a trunk, or the cover of the cargo area of an SUV or hatchback.
What is a car's dog leg?
The area around the rear fenders, over the rear wheels
The dog leg is the part of the back of a car that looks a bit like the hind legs of a crouching dog.
The suspension that holds up the rear of the car
A type of clutch
A type of gear shifter
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What is DRG?
The logos, etc. on the front of the car
Down the Road Graphics are the parts of the front of the car that make the brand recognizable, like the graphics and the grille.
The stickers on the hood of the car
The badges on the back of the car
A racing stripe
What is a car's leafscreen?
Another term for the windscreen
The lip at the bottom of the windscreen
The leafscreen is the bit of the car that keep leaves that collect at the base of the windscreen, protecting the engine bay from getting things in it that could damage the car's works.
The spoiler
The flared lip around the wheel wells
What is a unibody chassis?
A chassis that combines the body of the car into the support structure
Most cars are made with unibody frames today, but the design element goes back to 1922.
A chassis that puts the passenger compartment behind the midpoint of the frame
A chassis designed for a mid-mounted engine
A chassis that designs the engine into the car's structural support
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What is Alpina?
A tuning company
Alpina is a tuning company that works on BMWs, modifying the mechanical parts, interior and bodywork.
A mountain
The ultimate driving road
A type of turbocharger
What do a Ferrari Boxer and a Tesla Model S have in common?
A frunk
Both cars have a trunk in the front, or a "frunk"
Their drivetrains
Their powerplant
Their brakes
Is Brabus a tuning company?
Yes, they tune Mercedes Benz cars.
Yes, they tune Audis.
Yes, they tune BMWs.
No, they are a manufacturer.
If AMG is a cold, Brabus is bird flu. While AMG might give a car 500 BHP, Brabus won't be satisfied until that number is closer to 800. In fact, Brabus changes so much about its cars that under German law, they aren't a tuning company, but a manufacturer.
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What does the BMW logo symbolize?
The four companies that were combined to make BMW.
The Bavarian flag.
While the association between BMWs and airplanes seems obvious, given the company's history in WW2, the logo actually symbolizes the Bavarian national flag.
It's just abstract.
The propellers of an airplane.
What was Citroën's big "first"?
Air conditioning
Airbags
Inertia Reel Seatbelts
Front Wheel Drive
Citroën produced FWD technology in 1934, starting a trend that eventually took hold throughout the auto industry.
What is a ladder frame?
A structural frame resembling a ladder
The ladder frame is an essential piece of body-on-frame construction, one of the oldest methods of constructing a car. The benefit of this method is that if the body is damaged, the car can be repaired easily because the chassis remains undamaged. The most recently built car with this old body-on-frame construction is the Ford Crown Victoria, which is why it was favored by taxi fleets and police departments for so long.
A structural frame that allows force to be distributed to different rungs of the ladder, minimizing vibration
A frame that covers the exterior of the vehicle with rungs that absorb stress and impacts
Two bars that support the engine within the engine bay
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How did Lotus sell the producers of James Bond on using the Elise in their movies?
They sent them a free car to use.
They parked the car across the street from the production offices.
When Lotus wanted to temp the Broccolis into using their new car in the James Bond franchise, they just parked one across the street from the production offices and when asked, refused to talk about it. Albert Broccoli pursued Lotus and got the car, which was used as a submarine.
They won a race with it right before production began.
They loaned one to Roger Moore
What is the single largest cause of job losses in the US auto industry?
Buyers don't want American made cars
China
Automation
Automation has killed off more jobs in the auto industry than any other factor. Automation can increase productivity, but at the cost of jobs.
Mexico
The vehicle's "greenhouse" is what exactly?
The trunk
The engine bay
The glassed in area in the passenger compartment
Owing nothing to greenhouse gases, the greenhouse of a car is the area enclosed in glass.
The glove box
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What is a C pillar?
The third pillar holding up the roof of a car
The C pillar is the rear pillars in a car, which hold up the roof of the car. The A pillar holds up the roof in the front, and the optional B pillar sits between the front and rear doors.
The rear left wheel's suspension
The connection between the gear shifter and the gearbox
The arm that holds the passenger door in place when it opens
How did BMW come to exist?
The Post-WW2 German government.
It was the result of a merger in 1929
BMW was assembled from several companies that merged in 1929.
The Nazis
The pre-WW1 German government
When did BMW found the Motorsport Division?
It didn't.
1980
1977
1972
In 1972 BMW decided to take on the racing world with the M division, which developed technology which eventually filtered into regular BMW cars.
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Why have C pillars gotten so huge?
It makes the car look sleeker
It increases storage space
It makes the car safer
It's a way of forcing people to pay for optional BLS systems
New safety regulations mean that cars need to be able to support more weight on the roof, so the passenger compartment will not be crushed in an accident.
What is a six line?
A type of engine
A kind of gearbox
The line across the trunk lid
The line from the C pillar, down around the rear wheel well
The six line extends from the C pillar down and around the rear wheel well. It is a styling element.
What does wedge-positive mean?
The front end of a car is lower than the rear
Wedge shape can be positive, negative, or neutral. A wedge positive shape means the front end is lower than the back end.
The rear of the car is lower than the front
The shape of the car is definitely a wedge
It's a kind of handbrake turn
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What is a swage line?
The line that follows the roof of the car
The line that follows the rear lip under the bumper. Could include a diffuser.
The line of the side skirt
Decorative lines on the sides of the car that lend it visual distinction.
The swage line is a line in the side of the car that is there for visual appeal, though they can occasionally help with rigidity and or aerodynamics.
What is Ponton styling?
Sleek, aerodynamic styling that evokes airplanes
Bulbus old fashioned styling
Ponton styling means the old fashioned styling that included huge separate fenders, running boards, and wood accents on the outside of cars.
Styling that evokes watercraft
The style languages of BMW
Which of these is the name of a BMW design language?
Flame surfacing
Flame surfacing is an older BMW design language that styled the edges of things like headlights so they looked like flames.
Lightning reveal
Design DNA
iLanguage
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Where did Chris Bangle start his career?
Fiat
BMW
Opel
Chris Bangle started his career designing for Opel in 1981
Chris Bangle Associates
What line of cars did Marcello Gandini contribute to for BMW?
The 3 series
The 5 series
Gandini's contribution to Bavarian Motor Works was the E12 5 series, made mostly in the 1970s.
The 6 series
The X series
What "piece of art" is Leonardo Fioravanti known for designing around 1980?
The Ferrari 520 BBi
The Ferrari 520 BBi was comfortable, gorgeous to look at, it performed well, and it retains its value well.
The Ferrari F40
The Lamborghini Countach
The Ferrari Testarossa
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What is the name of the city after which Marcello Gandini's contribution to Alfa Romeo is named?
Montreal
Gandini's Alfa Romeo Montreal was produced from 1970 to 1977 and was from the time when Alfas were unreliable things of beauty.
Quebec
Toronto
Vancouver
What Audi did Giorgetto Giugiaro design?
80
Giorgetto Giugiaro designed only one Audi, the 80. In 1999 he was named Car Designer of The Century, and in 2004 he was inducted into the Automobile Hall of Fame.
TT
A7
A4
What was Harley Earl the first to build?
A concept car
Earl's brainchild, the Buick Y-Job, was the world's first concept car.
A flying car
A self-driving car
A car with key-start
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For which company does Chris Bangle Associates now work?
Samsung
Sumsung hired Chris Bangle Associates to do design work for them, putting their expertise to work building electronics.
Nissan
Mercedes
Aston Martin
Who is the head of design at Ford?
Moray Callum
Callum became the new head of design in 2013, initiating an overhaul of the look of Ford vehicles, so their new tech innovations would be clear to the naked eye.
Jacques Nasser
Jim Mays
Joe Hinrichs
What is the flagship vehicle of the brand Ralph Gilles runs?
The Viper
The SRT Viper became the flagship vehicle of SRT when the Viper stopped being a Dodge product.
The DB11
The 7-Series
The S-Class
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What was Chris Bangle's unique distinction at BMW?
He was the first American Chief of Design
In 1992 Chris Bangle became the first American Chief of Design at BMW.
He was the first to design an all wheel drive BMW
He was the first to design a BMW art car
He designed the BMW M2
You Got:
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