Electric vehicle designers have a new canvas on which to mark their brand image: the front end.
Since EVs don't contain hot combustion engines, they don't need the grilles that have shaped the look of autos for decades, with large air vents to cool what's behind them.
EVs present the industry with a fundamental change in design because electric motors require far less space, and batteries are placed low on a skateboard platform, leaving room for more flexible interior and exterior designs. Some of the key "hard points" that define internal combustion cars, particularly the engine compartment, are now fair game for experimentation on EVs.
The question facing automakers now is what to do with all the new design space.
Not surprisingly, they disagree.