Car Design News charts the rise, fall and renaissance of end-to-end symmetry in car design
In the classic children’s book, Dr Dolittle, the ‘Pushmi-Pullyu’, a llama-like creature with a head at both ends of its body, is described as “the rarest animal of all.” Similarly, cars that are symmetrical in profile are particularly uncommon, though every so often designers like returning to them.
This may be because back-to-front vehicles make good testbeds for OEMs and consultancies to trial radical ideas, some of which go on to become commonplace in less peculiar cars. Usually, these strange contraptions are consigned to dusty corners of the internet, but right now, against all odds, end-to-end symmetry is undergoing a renaissance.
Front-to-back design can be traced to the late 1940s when French engineer Marcel Alamagny built a prototype consisting of two mirrored cabins separated by a centrally-mounted engine compartment. Two decades later, the 1967 Unipower City Car showcased an entirely different form of user experience: its replicated transparent body panels turned occupants into exhibits, transforming how they interact with pedestrians.
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