2022 Mercedes C-Class (W206)

I assume they do that for pedestrian crash standards. You don't want a sharp piece of metal being the first part to contact anything.
 
Keef
I assume they do that for pedestrian crash standards. You don't want a sharp piece of metal being the first part to contact anything.
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I think that's part of it, but if Hyundai can figure out how to make it work, I don't know why MB cannot. It's probably doable, but expensive on a per-unit basis (probably have to build in a fatigue point in the hood so that it bends accommodatingly of knees) to pull off. The Germans seem to be cutting costs as much as possible to add tech features. I think BMW was the first to start obviously cutting aesthetic exterior quality with the F30 3 series, but it's pretty widespread now. It's annoying to me as a "driving" enthusiast that all these brands known traditionally for mechanical engineering prowess and design have seemingly started to cut those costs to bring in more tech features.

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Keef
I assume they do that for pedestrian crash standards. You don't want a sharp piece of metal being the first part to contact anything.
Click to expand...

follow up: Actually, I think you are right. Found this in some NCAP document and I'm pretty sure it is dictating this trend, unfortunately. The Sonata I posted is not available in Europe, so it's not subject to their more stringent pedestrian safety standards.

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Eunos_Cosmo
follow up: Actually, I think you are right. Found this in some NCAP document and I'm pretty sure it is dictating this trend, unfortunately. The Sonata I posted is not available in Europe, so it's not subject to their more stringent pedestrian safety standards.

5RKWyPw.jpg
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I like your point about the Sonata still though. I also assumed it was a European thing so I looked at some American-market cars with sharky noses. The Mustang does what Mercedes did, as well as the Camaro and Challenger. But the Kia Stinger does as well, while the K5 doesn't.

That got me thinking about the RWD vs FWD thing and the size of the hoods. The Mustang, Camaro, Stinger, Mercedes, all have longer and flatter hoods than the FWD cars so perhaps the bumper design is related to that. In order to make the hood pass both rigidity needs and crash tests it can only be a certain size, otherwise the rigidity needed would make it fail crash tests. The FWD cars don't have this size problem so the hood goes all the way to the front because of its naturally more curved and rigid design.
 
Here's a rendering for the upcoming C63. I don't hate it, but it looks much too similar to the outgoing model for me to be interested.

 

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