Ask Autoblog: Do manufacturer sketches help or hurt the debut?

You know the sketches; 22 rims, suspension so low speed bumps are a challenge, chopped tops and channeled bodies. Kia released this sketch days ago and other than the taillight shape, it has no visual likeness to the actual minivan. We've learned to dismiss the obvious artistic tweaks but we were hoping the Sedona would at least have the raked side windows that would have made it look more like a crossover than a minivan. So do these renditions help the debut by feeding the need for any information about a new vehicle, or are automakers getting our hopes up and setting themselves up for disappointment when we see the car in the sheet metal? Chime in! And we give you more sketch/reality fodder at the link.



The Montego sketch offered a low, wide sexy sedan. Reality bites.

Here?s a case where the sketch?s proportions are so off, it made the reality look much better.

GM had nothing to hide with the Sky. The sketch and reality were exact.

But the Cobalt was touched with the usual wide/low/big wheeled artistic interpretation.

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