Forget nostalgia. After spending much of the past few decades trying to tap into a wellspring of affection for the cars of Baby Boomers' youths, automakers are about to focus on their kids instead.

That could mean a sharp departure in the looks of cars such as the Ford Mustang, Volkswagen Beetle, Dodge Challenger, Chevrolet Camaro and BMW's Mini Cooper.

Mustang could get one of the first and most dramatic styling changes, reports Mike Ramsey of The Wall Street Journal. Ford is pulling away from successive styling changes that always served as a throwback to the original 1965 model and its late 1960s successors.

The next Mustang is expected for the car's 50th anniversary in 2014 or 2015, depending on how you count it, and the looks could leave diehard Mustang oldsters wondering what happened to their car.

Ramsey says Ford will retain the round headlights and some of the look of the Mustang from the front, but that the overall car could look more like the mid-size Fusion sedan -- which, in turn, is the first new model reflecting the new Ford design language unveiled in the Ford Evos Concept coupe, below. In fact, the Evos even might be the shape of the Mustang to come.

But remember, Ford played with fire before when it came to switching up the look of Mustang. In the 1970s, it created a disaster called the Mustang II after years of heart-pounding pony cars. Fans considered the Mustang II a weakling unworthy of the brand's name.

Likewise, officials at BMW's Mini unit tell Drive On a redesign is in the works -- although they didn't say how far the new look would stray from the current retro look.