Extracting Contour Shape of Passenger Car Form in Rear View Based on Form Similarity Judgement by Young Chinese Consumers

Abstract

It explores how to extract a contour shape to reveal underlying vital parts of passenger car form in rear view based on young Chinese consumers’ form similarity judgement. By defining 21 character lines and their 75 segments for eighty representative forms selected from similarity judgement by young Chinese consumers, the slope values of all segments are calculated as an input for factor analysis and 13 common factors are extracted. The findings show that (1) the passenger car form in rear view can be extracted and presented as a reduced but recognizable contour shape with around forty-four percent loss of information on the form in rear view; and (2) the contour shape is mainly consisted of character lines defining such basic design parts as roof and side windows, the C-type contour of taillights, the U-type edges of sunken license plate area, the U-type boundary and the turning edge between the horizontal and vertical surfaces of trunk lid, the horizontal transitional edge on the upper rear bumper, and the contour of the corner area on rear bumper in rear view.