Table of contents for No. 158 in AUTO & DESIGN

The key to the Geneva motor show each year is the ambience, or as young Americans like to call it, the “vibe.” As it is almost always the most important gathering of industry executives during the year, and as it takes place in a neutral country at the end of winter — a particularly hard winter this time — there is usually a sense of expansive optimism. But this year, for all the promising new products on display, the vibrations seemed to be of particularly low intensity. This despite the presence of a number of ultra-high-powered sports models, including an up-rated Lamborghini Murcielago LP640, the completely re-engineered Porsche 911 Turbo, the twin turbo Mercedes-Benz SL 65 AMG with more than 600 horsepower and the presence of a new V-12 Ferrari,…

This is a cosmopolitan team, with a third of its creative staff from abroad. As in every great design centre, even in the studios of a historical Italian coachbuilder such as Pininfarina, which has been creating Ferraris for over half a century, creativity speaks a multitude of languages. While drawing from different cultures and experiences may be important for a constructor, it is even more so for a design house, where eighty percent of contracts are for foreign clients. These projects are not confined to the automotive world alone. They also touch many other areas of transport and product design. The approach, however, is always the same. “Our work harmonises the culture of the client with ours”, explains design director Ken Okuyama, a Japanese designer with an American passport and…

Bertone’s concept car, based on the Fiat Grande Punto and presented this year at Geneva, addressed the challenge of creating a B segment coupé-cabriolet with the roominess of a C segment – offering four comfortable seats and a respectable boot, in spite of its folding hard roof. The result is the Suagnà which, translated literally from Piedmontese dialect, means a “job well done” as indeed every single detail has been defined with painstaking attention. This ambitious name was chosen personally by CEO Lilli Bertone, for a concept car that is as free thinking and original in its exterior appearance as it is feasible and substantial in its technical content – in fact the true raison d’être for the entire project. “The whole project stemmed from a proposal of ours to…

The word ‘skill’ is synonymous with ability and professional capability. These concepts perfectly sum up the Skill “fun pick-up spider” based on the Grande Punto and presented by Fioravanti with considerable success at the 75th Geneva Motor Show. However, the concept includes a proposal for an interesting coupé-spider, also based on Fiat’s latest compact. These two offerings for different applications share the same philosophy, which is founded on the innovative removable hard top system used for both cars. The system has of course been tailored for each of the two projects, and is an evolution of the direction taken by Fioravanti in this area with the roof of the Alfa Vola in 2001, in its completely flush “Lusso” guise, and the system used last year on the Ferrari Superamerica. In…

After almost sneaking in unnoticed at Geneva, this turned out to be one of the most admired prototypes at the show. Even the name – Diva – didn’t say much; but coachbuilder Franco Sbarro, who runs an acclaimed design school in Pontarlier, very soon found that his stand was almost overwhelmed with visitors. The Geneva show was the world debut of the Sbarro Diva, which is actually much more than a one-off created by a small coachbuilder. It is an attempt, involving the Fiat Group, to interpret the legendary competition Alfa Romeo – the 33 – in a modern key. Alfa is of course behind the Diva, with the chief of its design division Wolfgang Egger supplying a style model for development by Sbarro into something that he himself calls…

Audi continues its exploration of new derivative models with the Roadjet Concept unveiled at Detroit and shown in Europe at Geneva as an all-new proposal for a saloon. “We aimed to explore a new architecture with taller volumes”, explains Audi Brand Group design director Walter de’ Silva, describing the basic concepts behind this 4.7 metre long, 1.55 m tall hatchback. The styling is in keeping with the latest iterations of the four ring marque’s design language: clean lines, coherence between front and rear and a formidable grille dominating the front. There are signs of evolution, however, and of an ongoing quest for modernity, as can be seen in the light clusters: with a neon element passing through the centre of a spiral internal structure supporting the LEDs. A shift from…

Since the debut of its Living series twenty years ago, Bticino has continued to prove how a well designed light switch or wall socket can match any other furnishing element in the home. Continuing in this now established tradition, the company presents Axolute, a highly personalisable technological product integrating a number of different control devices and featuring a design to suit the most refined interior décor. The wall plate may either be rectangular or elliptical, two geometrically precise shapes that are ideally suited for soft yet essential styling, and which are perfectly complemented by a range of different colours and finishes. One aspect of this new product that Bticino particularly wishes to emphasise is a meticulous sensorial characterisation of surfaces – one of the most desirable factors in industrial design…

This exhibition, inaugurated in January last year and due to return to Turin in 2008, when the city will be the ‘World Design Capital’, is a journey of celebration through the traditions which, over the decades, have produced some of the best manifestations of Italian creativity in the Piedmontese capital. The exhibition, entitled “Piemonte Torino Design, the culture of industrial design in the Piedmont area” and first held in 1995, returned ten years later to encompass over 200 designs conceived and created by 150 designers and 170 companies, and touch on the most varied fields imaginable, from sport and furnishings to the kitchen and even bottles of wine. The exhibition is organised by product theme and aims to represent both more traditional areas of work and more recent trends in…

Although I’m forced to put up with it, I don’t like the SUV format, which has now contaminated every aspect of car production with the swiftness of a virus (from which, however, one can at least recover). Nonetheless, some of these hybrid offspring have managed to pleasantly surprise me by retaining some of the classic features of their parent. Take the Audi Q7, for instance, which is more emotive, sportier and, most importantly, less utilitarian than the SUVs that have preceded it. This was just what Audi wanted and, on a more personal level, what Walter de’ Silva was aiming for, as he explained in our article describing the development of the Q7 in an earlier issue of Auto & Design (No. 154). The Audi Q7 gives off two distinctly…

Above all, the 159 SW had to be recognisable. While this is an all new Sportwagon, it clearly declaims its Alfa Romeo lineage from every angle and in its every line. It is bigger than the outgoing 156, yet without losing that sports essence and brand character. The goals of Giorgetto Giugiaro, who penned the exterior, and Alfa chief of design Wolfgang Egger were in perfect accord, right down to the same desire – and indeed industrial commitment – to repeat the same results achieved with the 156, namely, not only to use the same platform as the saloon, but also to cut down the extent of modification to the bodyshell to a bare minimum (the upper half of the rear doors, the roof, the hatch and the arches). Even…

Despite the fact that they are now two completely separate entities (the former part of the General Motors group and the latter remaining a Swedish-owned concern), the decades-old connection between the automotive and aeronautical divisions of the Swedish company Saab lives on in the imagination and cultural legacy of the designers shaping the future for the marque. We can see this in its production cars, which always bear some reference to jet technology – most obviously in the instrumentation – and we can see this again in the much more tangible forms of the manufacturer’s latest prototype unveiled at Geneva. The Aero-X is a pure concept car, a genuine running prototype and, above all, a research project that has nothing in common with the current range and its immediate developments,…

“Ugliness doesn’t sell!” says the title of a book by Raymond Loewy, expressing the essence of every single project by this designer, who was as elegant in his work as he was in his appearance. On July 16 1988, the death of Raymond Loewy made the front pages of the major newspapers. This was an extraordinary reaction from the press, which is not usually known for caring much about the life and death of designers, but this stylist was of a stature that went well beyond the sphere of his own microcosm. His career started in the frenzied early decades of the century that discovered speed and consumerism, and accompanied every change in American society from the 1930s to the ‘80s. “Every time I see a photo of Freud, I…

For years, Renault has been building courageous production cars and concept cars that do not stray too far from reality. In doing so, the popular French manufacturer has proven that it is possible – although not necessarily easy – to strike some form of compromise between high production volumes and originality. While we can’t say for sure in which direction Renault – now under the watchful eye of Carlos Ghosn – will be going, the prototype unveiled at Geneva is another refreshing affirmation of the importance of pure experimentation and of the evolution of style and technology for the mass produced automobile. As is often the case, this evolution is a result of delving into the past and the Altica is a study of how a segment widely believed…

After the undisputed success of the interestingly aggressive X1/99, developed in conjunction with Fiat and exhibited on the European Design Institute of Turin stand at last year’s Geneva Motor Show, the school did more than simply live up to its reputation with the astonishing Haizea presented this year at Geneva, a full scale static clay model developed by the students of the Master’s course in Transportation Design as a tribute to the Lancia brand. This pure concept, in terms of both form and dimension, is a veritable exercise in experimental styling and volume with nothing in common with the content and feasibility of the 2005 proposal. This is perhaps precisely because, as Cesar Mendoza, director of the IED in Turin, maintains, “The role of the school is research and to…

To compete with the giants, small-car companies have to resort to intelligence and in the US, where oversized cars are the norm and city cars are a rarity rather than a symptom of limited spending power, this is truer than anywhere else. The equation ‘small = cheap’ has already been challenged by the arrival and success of the new Mini, and American design centres are now waking up to these changes and are beginning to develop real applications of the compact car for the near future. The CT Miev (Mitsubishi in-wheel motor electronic vehicle) concept car presented by the Japanese manufacturer at this year’s Detroit show was therefore a perfect interpretation of how the concept of the small car – so dear to the Europeans and Japanese – can evolve…

By creating a fountain pen for children Caran d’Ache hopes to help keep the practice of proper handwriting alive or, perhaps, to dispel fears that in this era of the internet, even a child’s first faltering steps in writing will soon be made on a computer keyboard. The historical Swiss company, whose name is inexorably associated with the renowned colouring pencils, has chosen fresh, vibrant colours for these two pens – available in fountain or roller guise – to evoke the colourful, playful world of infancy. The pen has been designed specifically for its intended users, and so ergonomics played a major part, resulting in a shaft specially sized for small fingers, a triangular shaped grip pad and softtouch plastic anti-slip coating. The appropriately named Primo pen is designed to…

Especially at the beginning of their careers, emerging young designers need their work to be promoted and supported. To do just this and to encourage them to develop original, innovative ideas for the multitude of areas of creative design, in 2000, the Design Forum Finland – the centre for the information and promotion of Finnish design supported by the “Finnish Society for Crafts and Design”, founded in 1875 – established the annual “Young Designers of the Year” award. The fifth edition concluded on March 9, rewarding two emerging names in the world of Finnish design. Mikko Paakkanen, the designer of a commercially available range of modern furniture and furnishings that expresses a sense of classic beauty and harmony, and Jukka Korphiete, a specialist lamp designer who uses light and forms…

Since the concept car unveiled at Detroit in 1999 followed by Hyundai’s debut in the SUV segment with a production model of the same name, the Santa Fe has been an outstanding success, and has met with considerable public approval. In addition to performance and value for money, this success has in part been due to the car’s non-conventional, individualistic styling, with much more curved surfacing than its contemporary rivals. Five years later, the second generation Santa Fe breaks away slightly from the original design, with a less distinctive volume treatment. Nonetheless, it has not lost its character, with efficient looking lines and a pleasing cleanliness of form in an era when so many marques are steering towards fussy graphics. This car is more akin in spirit to rivals such…

Five hundred and ninetynine, multiplied by ten, to let you know that the latest arrival from Ferrari boasts the 5999 cc engine from the Enzo, albeit with a bit less horsepower (620 rather than 660), GTB to evoke former road and track glories associated with the three words Gran Turismo Berlinetta and Fiorano to give the car a name – now a Maranello tradition – which, in this case, is that of the marque’s own test track. This was how Ferrari christened its “highest performance production 12 cylinder engine ever”, to use their own words, at Geneva. This successor to the 575M Maranello completes the new Ferrari family but also sets a new milestone in terms of sports capability and driving experience, as electrifying figures such as 0 to 100…

Comparing the new Volvo S80 to a Scandinavian kitchen may seem a bit cheeky if it wasn’t for the deep and proudly flaunted Swedish roots of the new flagship from Göteborg. “A car designed by nature”, is how Stefan Jansson, chief of exterior design, describes it. Or, as Volvo design director Steve Mattin puts it, “clean forms and surfaces, typical of Scandinavian style”. The kitchen-like evocation is the work of Justin Scully, who designed the instrumentation for the new cars and whose sketch for the interior was picked up and developed by Jonathan Disley in a key of “simplicity of form” and in “perfect harmony with the exterior”. Jansson and Disley, who are the true creators of the new S80, speak of a Swedish island which, on a sunny summer’s…

Five decades of car design by three great Italian coachbuilders, represented by fifteen prototypes symbolising the continuous quest for new forms and technological evolution in the industrial product. These are concepts dear to Alcantara – the company that manufactures the material of the same name – which has organised the “Alcantara, Style and Italian Car Design” exhibition in Milan to coincide with the Furniture Show, an event that attracts numerous automotive designers from around the world. Bertone, Giugiaro and Pininfarina each exhibited a car for each decade from the 1960s to 2000. The Marzal, Rainbow, Genesis, Bella and Birusa illustrated five major chapters in Bertone’s evolution. The Ghibli, Caimano, Medusa, Nazca C2 and Volta, designed by Giorgetto Giugiaro, described the history of his company Italdesign, whereas Pininfarina was represented by…

At this year’s Detroit Motor Show, which was dominated by gargantuan behemoths, retro styling and engines showing no regard for fuel economy, Ford presented a concept car that went decidedly against the tide: the Reflex, a study prototype for a compact, hybrid power, B segment car. That’s not to say that it was staid or boring, though. The project, conducted in Irvine, California by Ford’s North American Strategic Design centre, directed by Freeman Thomas, has produced an attractive 2+1 coupé with dynamic lines and muscular volumes, with extremely contemporary design for both the exterior and the interior, using new materials and furnishings stretching the traditional boundaries of the motor car. The Reflex is a forward-looking project in many respects. Projections for the North American market predict an annual increase of…

This is a particularly interesting period for lighting design, with new devices where technological innovation takes shape in original solutions in terms of both aesthetics and performance. An example of this is the multifaceted Vertigo floor lamp designed by Marco Acerbis for Fontana Arte. This sculpted object is fashioned from sheet aluminium folded like origami and polished to a high gloss with new, patented technology. Repetition is also the defining feature of the Caboche lamp by Patricia Urquiola and Eliana Gerotto, which multiplies the illuminating effect through myriad transparent plastic beads, transforming the object into a rich, spectacular interplay of refraction. The polyhedral Uto lamp by Lagranja design for Foscarini is made from silicone rubber and is intended for both indoor and outdoor use. Shockproof and indestructible, it may be…

Roland Reitenbach and Andreas Zimolong won a competition for young designers sponsored by Nissan with two designs that were rather futuristic but which showed great potential. Through its London based design studio (Nissan Design Europe), the Japanese marque asked the students of the German University of Pforzheim to design, develop and build a scale model for the 2015 Geneva Motor Show, that clearly expresses a comprehension of global competition, the demands of everyday life and the evolution of style, all with a pinch of courage and good sense. Nine students made it to the final selection. Their work, conducted under the guidance of Professor James Kelly, was finally selected by the top executives of Nissan design: Shiro Nakamura, Chief Creative Officer in Tokyo, Satoru Tai, director of the London centre…

The Espace is more than twenty years old and is now in its fourth generation. In spite of an ever increasing list of rivals, it continues to be the undisputed benchmark for large, luxury MPVs. Four years after the launch of the latest iteration of the model, Renault’s people carrier gets a fresher look and new engines, with the introduction of the 2.0 dCi unit in 150 and 175 bhp guises. The most significant styling changes, generally intended to soften the lines, concern the front and the lights, which are now more coherent with the rest of the range, confirming the French marque’s new move towards full, rounded volumes after years of angles and edges. Changing and evolving styling aside, the greatest strengths of the Espace have always been functionality,…

Michel Zumbrunn, Robert Cumberford AUTO LEGENDS - Classics of Style and Design Editions Racine A collection in paper form of sixty of the most significant models in the history of the automobile. Presented in chronological order in photos by Michel Zumbrunn, these legendary cars are described by the American journalist and authority on design, Robert Cumberford. The author also dedicates much of the introductory pages to the very concept of motorised mobility, the cult of coachbuilding and the various influences that have swayed design, up to the changes imposed by mass consumption and the geographical idiosyncrasies of automotive style. From the Oldsmobile Curved Dash Runabout – practically still a horseless carriage – to the 2002 Ferrari Enzo, the book pans across different automotive genres and segments, providing an interesting panorama…