Índice para No. 250 em AUTO & DESIGN

A V6 petrol engine, hybrid architecture and its own place in the range line-up without having to replace an existing model. If today the criteria of all manufacturers are being redefined by the need to curb emissions, the 296 GTB is a veritable revolution for Ferrari: this is why it is particularly interesting to discover that past design principles have remained unchanged. "One example is the short wheelbase that we opted for right from the start so as to maximise fun to drive", says Flavio Manzoni, who has been running the Ferrari Style Centre since 2010. "So our first step was to review overall proportions. This stage developed in a fairly straightforward manner and soon led to satisfactory results". At the heart of the layout is the bold vertical rear…

The myth of Bulli (a fusion, in German, of the terms for bus and truck) has lasted for seventy years: since, that is, the Wolfsburg engineers welded a van body onto the floor of the Beetle. Refined generation after generation, it has now reached the seventh, with new challenges: the Multivan T7 - to use the official name - according to the designers of Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles throws down the gautlet also to the V-Class of Mercedes and aims to become the benchmark of people carriers. Yet, as Albert Kirzinger, head of commercial vehicle design, says, “it unmistakably shows the genes of the world's most famous van design.” "We wanted a timeless, quiet and relaxed design,” explains Max Gutbier, the senior exterior designer who took care of the shape: "Large…

The idea had been brewing since the very first sketches, but few believed it would fly when production time came along: "We all had visions of a version delivering adrenalin-fuelled performance, it was just a pity that the Sport Technologies model was not on offer from the start”, recalls Thomas Morel, exterior design director for the entire Puma project. "Later, one or two of the managers began to realise that, after an initial approach based on the highly dynamic visual message, customers were finding physical confirmation in the driving experience, and were enthusiastic about it: that's why we thought they might appreciate a more extreme variant". The front was already part of the muscular dialogue between the pronounced wings and recessed, Led-animated headlights, inspired by the Ford GT. Such an…

In the automotive world, looking towards the future means focusing on new environmentally sustainable propulsion systems such as electric power. But there are other sectors, where looking towards the future literally means looking further afield, beyond the very boundaries of Earth. This is the mission of Thales Alenia Space, a company deeply rooted in Italy but with an international reach (it operates in 10 countries), which for years has been working on the development and supply of satellites for telecommunications, Earth observation, navigation, defence, human space flight, exploration and scientific research. Its main institutional partners are NASA, ESA (the European Space Agency) and ASI (the Italian Space Agency). Today, this sector is more relevant than ever, brought into the limelight by the many investments made by entrepreneurs and dreamers who…

The change of pace is momentous. Starting from 2030, Volvo will only sell purely electric cars, powered by more efficient batteries and equipped with cutting-edge driver assistance systems to achieve the "zero collision" objective, critical for a brand that has always been committed to safety. For a development of this magnitude, a strong statement was needed from the design side as well, and the team led by Robin Page was eager to indulge: hence the Concept Recharge, unveiled on 30th June at the Tech Moments workshop in which Volvo Cars presented its technological future. “A concept car can have several functions” explains Page, whom we interviewed remotely from Gothenburg with his team. “One of them is a vision of a long-term future, to evaluate what technology would allow us to…

Names from Western movies. The Santa Cruz River touches Tucson, Arizona, before flowing into the Gila. The same communion, at Hyundai, has given birth in the United States to a new market segment, that of compact pickups: from the Tucson SUV, with a skilful technical and stylistic operation, derives what the designers in Irvine, the Californian studio of the Korean maker, define a SAV, Sport Adventure Vehicle. The Santa Cruz is essentially a "reasonably" sized pickup compared to the "monsters" that dominate American roads; with a monocoque frame and no metal struts The acronyms multiply and in this case reflect the desires of those who want to add a touch of functionality to the taste of an SUV, with that rear open bed that is extremely useful in many circumstances.…

The fact that as the car evolves it is increasingly seen as a product of technology, also has direct effects on design methods. So even a design house like Pininfarina, with over ninety years of history, has decided to create an exclusively digital concept car for the first time. The result is the Teorema, an electric, self-drive car that exists only in the world of the imagination, but not for this is it any less detailed. "For this project, we used Mixed Reality technology, which allows us to view the virtual car in a real setting surrounded by the people who really are in its vicinity at that moment", says Kevin Rice, head of Pininfarina design. A styling process that ensures seamless collaboration between Pininfarina's design studios around the world,…

Air, water and land. To what extent will the balance of these environments affect our future mobility? Are we ready to adopt innovative proposals better suited to changing environments, are we ready to adapt our behaviour to climate change? These were the questions that the thirteen students on the Master's course in Transportation and Automobile Design at Milan Polytechnic were called on to answer as part of their thesis projects. They were divided into groups to reflect on the relationship between mobility and the environment. The idea was to picture different future scenarios as a backdrop for three dynamically innovative vehicles capable of switching from standard road use to an alternative mode to negotiate a different environment, without diminishing their efficiency. To complete the stylistic and conceptual research, each project…

At a certain point in the conversation, Simon Humphries, head of Global Design at Toyota and Lexus, suddenly stops talking, reflects for a moment and makes the following remark: "When we started designing, after years dedicated to excellence in hybrids, the critical point was that we were clearly not the first to develop a purely electric car. However, this concern led us to focus more than ever on the needs of the user, starting with the human element. So the initial limitation was turned into an advantage." This explains, frankly and simply, the vision around which the bZ4X is structured: the first proposal in an ambitious zero-emissions plan that will generate seven models named Beyond Zero (bZ) before 2025. The formal framework is, of course, not unrelated to the functional…

At the end of the 1950s, no public courses existed in Italy for the specific study of industrial design (the first private school had opened in Milan in the mid-Fifties); in Germany, the Hochschule für Gestaltung in Ulm - founded in 1955 by Max Bill and Inge and Otl Aicher, and where Tomas Maldonado would later play an important role - represented the cutting edge of teaching and design research and experimentation around the relationship between business culture and design. Seminal experiences there linked the school to Lufthansa, Gardena or Braun under Dieter Rams. It was only natural then that, like other talented youngsters, Pio Manzoni (1939-1969), son of the sculptor Giacomo Manzù, should go to Ulm for product, industrial and car design training. This choice is key for understanding…

On modern cars, the headlights are no longer only for lighting the road or signalling the car’s presence to other vehicles at night. Those functions remain primary, but thanks to technology, lights are taking on more and more importance in terms of style as well. And designers pay a lot of attention to this aspect of things. On today’s cars, very elaborate, distinctive light designs are appearing and it’s expected that they’ll become even more complex on tomorrow’s vehicles. Frank Hallitschke, head of lighting systems developments for the European division of Magna Lightning, explains: “When you talk about the lights on a vehicle, you refer to a number of elements: main light units, end-outline marker lamps, indicators, and daytime running lights – without mentioning luminous grilles, which in just a…

"A clear expression of what the future normal looks like to young designers". With these words Kevin Rice, Pininfarina design chief, summarises the projects submitted by the students who took part in the "New Dreams for a New World" design contest, which began in October 2020 and was organised by Pininfarina to celebrate its 90th anniversary. The more than 150 proposals sent in by designers from 25 different countries explored three themes: Smart Individual Mobility (a new way of getting around that is simple, efficient and economical), Smart Social Mobility (new forms of collective mobility) and Smart Spaces (innovative ideas for sharing spaces). The Vision Zero project by Yonghoon Lee won the Smart Individual Mobility category. This Hochschule München student imagined a vehicle that was in harmony with the environment,…

When we talk about the marine sector, we are usually referring to recreation or cruises, which is of great importance both in terms of design and of the business system and the production and value chain linked to it. In actual fact, as we all know and are aware, the design, production and services sphere has solid links to the sea, and to waterways in general. These require attention and a broad approach ranging from boat design to relations with marinas and the local economy, logistics management and communications and service aspects. This is the logic underlying the new programme being offered by the IUAV of Venice - a university entirely dedicated to design issues, from planning to architecture and design – in the form of a second-level Master's degree…