經典車款的更新設計與推出，是近年來汽車設計中重要的話題之一，例如，眾所皆知VW（福斯）車廠的New Beetle（新金龜車）和BMW（寶馬）車廠的Mini Cooper（迷你柯柏）。它們造型的背後雖然牽涉極廣，令人津津樂道的仍是其外觀的重新表現。本篇套用生物演化的觀點，視經典汽車的「特徵」為造型基因，而設計師在新設計方面選擇性地承襲了先代的部分特徵，再加入個人的詮釋，予以變化，賦與新生命，來適應新時代。本研究以6 組具代表性的復古汽車設計案，分別針對專家、設計相關 與一般人士，進行兩階段的問卷訪談與調查，歸納出22 項設計特徵。整體而言，比較一般性的原則是在車燈組、水箱護罩方面進行特徵的延續，而不同車款在設計方面承襲的重點不同，各車款有各自特定的局部造型特徵。就設計詮釋而言，特徵的簡化是較常見的手法，即去除繁瑣的細節，強調恰當的比例，並表現車身的曲面張力。研究中並排序出各復古設計車款關聯性較高的特徵，評比出延續性較佳的車款，依序為：BMW 車廠Mini Cooper、VW 車廠 New Beetle 、BMW 車廠 Z8、Ford 車廠Thunderbird、Lincoln 車廠Continental，以及Mercedes 車廠 Maybach 。另外，判斷特徵關聯性時，具有設計專業背景之受測者，通常給予較高的評量值，顯示出具設計專業背景之受測者，對於造形特徵關係差異，具有較高的敏銳度。

The revivals of the classic cars have become one of the main issues in car industries recently, for instance, New Beetle (VW) and Mini Cooper (BMW). The retro-expression of car styling involves many issues, and people are delighted to talk about their appearances. This paper borrows concepts from philosophy of biology and sees the certain features in car design as design gene. Designers select some hereditary features of the earlier models of cars and integrate personal creativity to fit the needs and contexts of the new world. This research takes six pairs of retro car designs as the stimuli and different design background people as samples to carry on two steps of investigations. It illustrates 22 features from the study, and also concludes that, to the whole, different items of car have different inherited emphases; to the partial area, the retro-expression is focused on the headlight and radiator cover, and each item has its own partial feature. The result displays that the most popular design treatment is ‘to simplify’, i.e. to dislodge unnecessary details, chase appropriate proportion, and expresses visual stretching force. Typical examples of classic cars are, in terms of the descending order of the degree of their continuity in retro expressions, Mini Cooper of BMW, New Beetle of VW, Z8 of BMW, Thunderbird of Ford, Continental of Lincoln, and Maybach of Mercedes. It also lists higher significant feature for each item and assesses better items from retro viewpoint, and compares the cognitive difference between the people with and without the design background.