Aston Martin Rapide rear quarter panels

📸: Photo courtesy AutomobileMag.com

If it is difficult to make a proper sporting four-door (and it is), it is at least twice as hard to make it as appealing to the eye as a coupe or roadster. Which is probably a large part of the rationale sports car and supercar manufacturers use to avoid building them in the first place. That, and the fact that the market for such vehicles is comparatively tiny. Aston Martin deserves praise for braving these waters with their beautiful Rapide fastback, a truly eye-catching design that hits all the coveted Aston design points while somehow creating enough room for two additional doors (and adults) in a car that will top 200 mph.

For our "Cool Designs" series, we want to show appreciation for the lines that define the rear doors as they sweep into the muscular rear quarter panel.

📸: Photo courtesy Autocar.co.uk

Somehow Aston Martin designer Marek Reichman and his team were able to create a form that almost makes the rear doors invisible. The rake of the fastback appears to be the same as any Aston coupe, yet the Rapide looks less like a stretched Vantage than something altogether different: a true, four-door Aston Martin.

📸: Photo courtesy BentleyTysons.com

The shoulder line is smooth and strong, flaring wide to provide cover for the huge rear tires and adding to the car's sporting presence. The rear doors curve gracefully up to the roofline. Overall, it is a gorgeous execution of a challenging design concept.