The first production car conceived by an industrial designer was Walter Dorwin Teague's Marmon 16 designed by Walter Dorwin Jnr. With the 1932 Marmon 16 came a new approach to design. Strong geometric forms were smoothed out and the new structures also lended themselves better to new construction methods.

As industry in general competed to be modern, sleek and efficient, cars in particular were affected. Of greatest influence upon industrial design were the airlines. This rapidly expanding industry affected an ever increasing number of people; the heavy competition leading to rapid developments in materials and engineering. Principally it was the smooth forms of aircraft that began to influence a wide selection of products.
"Just as the great ocean liners of the last two decades...had influenced the international style of white surfaces, furniture and furnishings",the sleek, efficient forms of airliners were guiding the design of modern products. The aerodynamic form became the new aesthetic direction.

With aircraft and fish as inspiration, the form adopted as perfect aerodynamicism was that of the teardrop; with the round end being the front.

Aerodynamics had been considered by designers for use with automobiles since the turn of the century but it wasn't until the 1930s that the materials and processes were available for cost effective production. Soon both American and European designers and engineers were producing experimental 'teardrop' based concepts. Although none of these reached production, they had the effect of broadening the minds of the consumer and pointing future design in a new direction. The Society of Automobile Engineers concluded in 1931 that the 'ultimate form' for the automobile was the teardrop.

Norman Bel Geddes, Raymond Loewy and Walter Dorwin Teague were all designers set the task of exploring the aesthetic aspects of aerodynamics for various car companies. Bel Geddes patented designs for a teardrop car, bus, yacht, liner and plane; Loewy obtained patents for a heavily streamlined car. It was Loewy that was responsible for the famously streamlined forms of the Greyhound buses.

The only automobile of the time that was based on true aerodynamics that made production was the Chrysler Airflow. After several years of tests and development led by engineer Carl Breer, the revolutionary Airflow was made. However, it was not a popular design and production ceased in 1937. Despite this, the effects of the Airflow were felt in all other cars that followed. Mixing the old with the old with the new, the models produced by a variety of companies became almost undistinguishable (see base of page).

A later car, heavily reminiscent of the chrysler Airflow was the Lincoln Zephyr. With the teardrop form, the Museum of Modern Art described it as the "first successfully designed streamlined car in America".

The ultimate result of streamlining was perhaps the Volkswagen (later known as the Beetle) designed by Ferdinand Porshe. It's origins in streamlining are apparent and it went on to become the most popular and longest produced automobile ever.

Streamlining has often since been criticised by many for being undescriptive and bland as vehicles and products alike have been smoothed out. However, Henry Dreyfuss said of streamlining:
"The designer learned a great deal about clean, graceful design. He learned to junk useless protuberances and corners."
The style he said should be renamed "cleanlining instead of streamlining".