How new lighting systems are changing designs and improving fuel economy

My understanding is that the alleged fuel economy gains from headlight design is miniscule. Lowering your CofD in a wind-tunnel does much more for you. Lights are, for the most part, a fashion statement.

Speaking only for myself, I'm not liking that BMW and MB cars are pretty Asian today because of the swoopy headlights the Asian brands have been using for ages, and which BMW and MB have adopted. I miss the quad round lights MB used to have. Very stately and distinct.

If I had an Edit button, I would have corrected "pretty Asian today" to "pretty Asian-looking today".

everybody copies everybody.

Audi has probably been at the forefront of adopting this technology. They way they have the lighting system integrated and distinctive is better most other implementations I have seen. Sometimes I think the MB LEDs look like afterthoughts.

Really? Getting de-boosted for thinking that MB LEDs look like an afterthought? C'mon, people - it's kinda true (citing regular E-Class), except with the latest batch of re-freshes (C63 comes to mind).

I believe it was the Lincoln Mark VIII that first utilized HID tech, and the Cadillac Deville was the first to have an full LED taillamp back in the early 2000's.

Caddy also developed the whole night-vision thing which has now gone infra-red for better visibility.

As for the miniscule gains posted above. I would have to disagree. LED's are slimmer and can be integrated into a car more easily, thus reducing drag and saving on fuel economy. Even if it is 1 mpg per tank that is save, it is still considered saving. With your mentality on little gains, all trucks would be boxes and not have aerodynamic shapes or roof defelctors.

LED's also use A LOT less power than a standard 55W halogen or even an HID setup (I believe 30W, as it is rated in volts more than wattage). Either way the power savings means less draw from the battery/alternator (granted there are loads of computers in today's cars), but that savings can mean longer life of those parts in a car and better performance.

P.S. - if you don't like technology, go pickup a set of JC Whitney sealed beam lamps with all those angled glass pieces to disperse light and slap them on the bumper of your car.

I like the LED head lamps and I definitely think it's the future, but honestly, there's a certain beauty to the mirror polished curves of the reflectors of regular head lamps. If they disappear it would be kind of sad.

I hate the squiggly line LEDs on the new Audis they look like droopy/tired eyes.

Bingo. Amazing technology but terrible design execution.

World's first Full production LED cluster full headlamps were first introduced by Lexus in it's LS600h, Audi only has LED runinglights which are easier to do and manage heat.
Unless someone corrects me lexus is still the only company doing full LED headlights.. rather than daytime running light strips that many do..

Audi now has full-LEDs (incl. low beam) on A8, R8, and the upcoming A7/A6. Someone stated (correctly, I think) that Infiniti had full LED headlights in the Q45 but the technology never caught on until recently.