Table of contents for No. 159 in AUTO & DESIGN

A strong retro impression is obvious when you are confronted with BMW’s Concept Coupe Mille Miglia 2006. And BMW actually says that it recalls the -touring built historic 1940 aerodynamic BMW 328 coupe, which won the Mille Miglia that year. But this 2006 concept does not serve any retro function. “Certainly not,” Thomas Plath, head of BMW group’s advanced design studio, says. “Retro wasn’t in the project briefing. But the car’s rich heritage was a clear focal point in an advanced process which targeted creative freedom, just like it used to 60 or 70 years ago. In those days, designers were able to create pure car concepts without any superfluous extras. They had to work from and around the available technologies which they applied to their own feeling. In contrast,…

Filling the gap between the C-Max compact MPV and the Galaxy minivan and introducing a new crossover format into the Ford range, but most importantly, this is the production debut of the “Kinetic Design” concept presented by the American brand at Frankfurt in 2005 with the Iosis prototype. With the S-Max presented at Geneva in March and now available in the showrooms, Ford inaugurates a car that strikes a compromise and finds the middle ground between the ever more sophisticated and multifaceted demands of the MPV market. Developed in parallel with the new generation Galaxy, technically the S-Max has much in common with Ford’s minivan, and as a result, as Claudio Messale, chief of exterior design at the European design centre in Cologne, Germany explains, many aspects of the two…

Twenty five years of design in a European key, dating back to the MX-81 created in 1981 by Bertone and presented at the TokyoShow, and a new man in charge. Mazda has taken the opportunity of this changing of the guard, from Moray Callum to Laurens van den Acker, to show off its three most recent concept cars – Sassou, Shenku and Kabura – against the incredible backdrop of Majorca, while also presenting its new design team and embarking on a challenging international endeavour built, in the words of Van den Acker, on “a creative spirit spread over three continents”. “We are ready for this big step”, adds the new general manager of design for the Japanese marque, who is responsible for all products on a global scale. “The future…

Complete freedom, the fleeting dream of every designer to be given the chance of shaping a car for the future without being bound by the constraints of today. The Mitsubishi EZ-Miev presented at the recent Geneva Motor Show is an exercise in space and a study of the possibilities that new drive systems, with different mechanical space requirements, will open up for the automobile in future. As with the previous CT Concept presented at Detroit (A&D 158), the project was built around the Miev (Mitsubishi In wheel Electric Vehicle) propulsion system. While in the CT Concept, the study considered a hybrid powertrain, the EZ is all-electric, with four motors – one in each of the wheels – powered by a battery array built into the floorpan. From here on, the…

A surprisingly large number of car manufacturers took part in the most recent edition of the furniture show, with all kinds of initiatives and presentations, bringing the motor car as object and the world of furniture together tastefully yet visibly, apparently inaugurating a trend that is likely to last into the foreseeable future. Lancia, for example, presented an itinerant exhibition linking the marque’s centennial with the phenomenon of Italian design, in a dialogue between the icons of industrial design and its own history. The Japanese designer Tokujin Yoshioka created an installation for Lexus consisting of an impressive array of luminous transparent fibres drawing the eye toward a sculpted model of the new Lexus LS flagship. Volvo, on the other hand, brought the future C30 to Milan. Choosing the Furniture Show…

Presented at last year’s Frankfurt Motor Show and the offspring of a felicitous joint venture between Volvo (who designed the car) and Pininfarina (who engineered the clever three-piece roof and manufactures it at the new Uddevalla plant), the C70 is setting new standards in the coupé-cabriolet sector. The ingenious technical solutions employed have made this a true four-seater, without sacrificing rear occupant space. There is even a respectably sized boot, which is also accessible with the roof stowed. Based on the S40 and V50 platform, the C70 has the Audi A4 Cabrio and BMW 3 Cabrio in its sights. These rivals, however, have no hard top, and the difference that this makes becomes clear once the roof is deployed (an operation taking less than 20 seconds). With the roof up,…

While not being one of the first means that some of the novelty may have worn off, it does let you pick the best solutions and even introduce something of your own. This is the case with the Volkswagen Eos, which has just been launched into the increasingly populous coupécabriolet sector. This is of course a good-time car, but it is also a practical and functional one. There again, the German marque has a long history of drop-tops, and has made a million of them, with the Beetle Cabriolet, Karmann Ghia, Golf and New Beetle. The first surprise upon seeing and driving the car during road tests around Athens is that the Eos is so well proportioned that it looks smaller than it really is. This agile and manoeuvrable 4.41…

Class, comfort, quality and performance are the parameters by which a prestige car is measured. In 1985, Hyundai launched an offensive into the prestige car market with the first generation Sonica, a saloon offering advanced content and a bold (although not universally appreciated) character. The Sonica is now in its fifth generation, and the most significant aspect of the new car is how it has radically changed in shape to something more akin to a European style, with a sleekness in the lines and dynamism in the flanks that give the car a sporty note. The bold, geometric front view is accentuated by two crease lines along the bonnet and the decisive shape of the light clusters. Analogously, the design of the rear is pleasingly elegant. The new Sonica has…

Three years after the Picchio Daytona Prototype supercar, Huntsman, an American synthetic materials supplier to the automotive industry, once again joined forces with the Italian competition car constructor based in Ancarano, in the province of Teramo. The CN2 Light prototype is a study for a two-seater open top, closed wheel racer created specifically, like the Daytona Prototype, for the track. The designers and engineers at Picchio sought optimum efficiency in terms of aerodynamics, performance, weight and feasibility. After testing a series of materials, they eventually chose to use SMP RenPaste epoxy paste, produced by Huntsman Advanced Materials. This synthetic material is applied by machine in layers up to 40 mm in thickness onto preformed moulds to create the individual modules composing the bodywork. In this case, SMP RenPaste has been…

“An Alfa Romeo Spider is never a derivative, but a car with its own distinct character.” Wolfgang Egger, director of the Arese based marque’s design centre speaks of the new two-seater Alfa with evident affection. “The Spider is the jewel in the crown of our range of sports oriented cars. It is a symbol, because it expresses the ideas of freedom and open air motoring – concepts that will never go out of fashion – more than any other category of car.”For these reasons, and to maintain styling coherence with the other three cars in the family sharing the Premium platform – the 159 saloon, the 159 Sportwagon and the Brera coupé – the Spider is a true cabriolet, with a canvas soft top. “The coupé-cabriolet solution, which is so…

Ford calls its new S-Max a ‘Multi Activity Crossover’, a multifunctional car that reconciles the space of a people carrier, the sleekness of a coupé, the elegance of an estate and the dynamism of a sports car. This, the first iteration of Ford’s ‘kinetic design’ language, is an expression of dynamism and energy in motion and has been conceived for the user who demands the flexibility of an MPV, lots of interior space and functional modern styling in a vehicle that combines the functionality of a prestige family car with the advanced technology of something a little more upmarket. As with the C-Max, the car is available in a single all-inclusive spec level, S-Max+, which offers ABS with EBD, the innovative corner brake system, EPS+CPS and EBA, nine airbags, including…

Lotus Engineering presents the APX – the Aluminium Performance Crossover. For Lotus, however, which created this intriguing concept car to win over Geneva and, more importantly, to remind potential clients that it also boasts a vehicle engineering branch alongside its production sports cars division, this is something of a “Jekyll and Hyde” car. There is no badging whatsoever to identify the car as a Lotus because, as Russell Carr, chief of design at Hethel, explains “it is not a concept indicating a strategic direction for Lotus Cars”. However, as the majority of feasibility studies have already been done for this concept: “if another manufacturer wanted to sell the APX, it could be on the road as it’s seen here”. In true Jekyll and Hyde fashion, the project truly takes the…

“T he future needs the past.” These were the words of DaimlerChrysler boss Dieter Zetsche, summing up the significance of the new Mercedes-Benz museum which, after five years of design and construction work, now gives the city of Stuttgart a truly unique attraction, appealing to more than just the motor-car enthusiast. Stuttgart is synonymous with the names Mercedes, Carl Benz and Gottlieb Daimler – in other words, the history of the car from its dawn to the present day. Mercedes already had a museum, housed in the historical Untertürkheim engine factory, which was inaugurated in 1923 and renovated in 1961. The new museum building was the creation of the Dutch architect Ben van Merkel and his associate, Caroline Bos. The pair won a competition in which ten international architecture studios…

This was one of the best known names of the dawn of the automobile age in Russia. After the October Revolution, the marque vanished and was completely forgotten for decades until, a few years ago, a post-Soviet Russian entrepreneur decided to buy the rights to the name and revive the old company. In its heyday Russo-Baltique, an automobile constructor established in 1907 that was granted permission by Tsar Nicholas II himself to use the Romanoff crest, operated in three distinct areas: building cars for the Imperial family, for the general public and for the military. In 1910 a Russo-Baltique, driven under its own power from Saint Petersburg to Monaco, won the Monte Carlo Rally. However, Russo-Baltique was erased from existence together with the Tsars in 1917, never to rise up…

Cars are getting bigger and as each new generation comes along, length, width, cabin space and load capacity gain a few millimetres or even centimetres, offering increasingly more comfort and versatility. This phenomenon has even spread to the SUV, SAV and off-roader segments, as proven by the new Daihatsu Terios, introduced in Japan at the beginning of the year and in Europe in May. In its previous guise in 1997, this was one of the most compact 4x4s available in Europe, measuring just 3845 mm in length and 1555 in width, making it slightly longer but narrower than the Suzuki Jimny, which is now the sole occupant of the category. The vital statistics of the new Terios are now those of a proper car, measuring 4055 mm in length, 1695…

Attractive, gutsy and remarkable are the words used to describe the Minis as seen through the eyes of first year graphics students of the IED (Istituto Europeo di Design) of Turin in the context of the “Mini in Turin” project. The initiative aimed to direct attention to a lively, creative, constantly evolving city like Turin and got underway last December as a result of cooperation between the Institute, Mini Italia and the biAuto dealer. The students were asked to express their personality on an exceptional canvas, the roof of a car whose characteristics of laid-back friendliness with just a hint of rebellion make it one of the most sought after vehicles on the road. The jury called on to judge the proposals was made up of Annalisa Utili (Marketing manager…

Picture a youthful, dynamic car riding the waves like a surfboard. This was the image conjured up by GM Europe public relations for the launch of the Astra Twin Top, the fourth model in the range (after the three and five door hatchbacks and the Caravan estate), which goes to replace two cars – the Astra Coupé and Cabriolet – from the previous generation. With this new model Opel/Vauxhall hopes to carve out a large slice of the market for hard-topped coupé-cabrios, probably the most commercially successful solution today for small to medium sized convertibles. With a wheelbase of 2614 mm and a length of 4476 mm, the Astra Twin Top (which measure 1831 mm in width and 1414 in height) is relatively compact yet very spacious inside, where it…

The world was already given a hint of how a convertible version of the new Colt would look in the form of the CZ2 Cabriolet Concept prototype presented at Geneva in 2003. A year later, the design of the production car was signed off at the Mitsubishi design centre in Trebur, Germany, and another partner joined the project: Pininfarina, which builds the car launched this April and played a key part in engineering the roof system. A second preview, in the guise of what was a concept in name only, as it was practically the definitive car (see Design story in A&D No. 153), showcased the shape of the Colt CZC. Unlike the 2003 show car, the production model is a 2+2 based on the fivedoor Colt. The original prototype…

While advanced styling often conceals conventional mechanicals, with the Honda Civic Hybrid the exact opposite is true, with classic lines clothing a state of the art petrol/electric hybrid powertrain designed to reconcile performance, economy and low emissions. The car was developed on the basis of the four door saloon version (4.5 m in length). This version was chosen as it offered more room to accommodate the battery pack and electric motor behind the rear seats, without intruding on cabin space and stealing very little luggage capacity. As a result, however, this solution would not be feasible on the latest generation hatchback. Both the electric and petrol power plants have been improved over the previous Civic Hybrid in terms of overall performance. At the wheel everything seems normal, with only the…

Everything about this car is new, from its architecture to its performance and driveability, and yet it is still unmistakably a TT. This is the second generation of Audi’s small coupé which, when it was presented in 1998, was groundbreaking in both shape and in its very concept of a compact sports car that was youthful, contemporary, minimalist yet also highly expressive. This was a tough act to follow, then, as is always the case with a successful car. “The TT has always been nonconformist, a model standing apart in the range”, asserts Walter de’ Silva, as he describes the creation of this new iteration. “We spent months brainstorming with the management to identify the best direction to take. We considered every possibility imaginable from creating a completely different model…

Ahistorical name in bespoke Italian coachbuilding, the world’s most famous sports car manufacturer and a collector, who probably just needed a Ferrari built especially for him to complete his collection. These are the players in the creation of Zagato’s latest offering. The collector Yoshiyuki Hayashi went to Zagato in Milan just as if he was visiting a tailor and explained what he wanted. As he is the most important Ferrari collector in Japan, there clearly had to be a Prancing Horse on the bonnet to cap the finished masterpiece. Zagato Atelier, the Zagato division dedicated to building specials (the other is SZ Design, offering design, engineering and modelling services to client manufacturers), where they really understand these things, replied that they would get to work right away but, as is…

“A spotlight on the conceptual work of Mazda’s design studios in Frankfurt, Yokohama and Irvine, to showcase what is going on in the creative machinery of this very dynamic Japanese marque.” This is how design director Moray Callum sums up his last year at the helm of Mazda design. Callum recently left the Japanese marque to go to Ford design in the US, and was replaced by Laurens Van Den Acker. Wishing both men the best of luck in their new jobs, let’s now take a look at Callum’s recent work and the possible near future for the marque. We met Callum at Geneva, where the star of the Mazda stand was the Kabura, the third concept car presented by the marque in just a few months, developed by the…

As of June this year, the ex-Opel design centre at Rüsselsheim will cover an impressive twenty thousand square metres of floorspace, all dedicated to design, after gaining a second building. This move has created a new European design centre for GM Europe brands. “This is the first time that design activities for Opel, Vauxhall, Saab and Advanced Design have all been brought together under one roof”, said a pleased Ed Welburn, design vice president of General Motors, during the inauguration ceremony in May. The ultra modern architecture of the new facility, built a few years ago to house the huge Opel Live showroom (which has now been transferred to an expo area in the centre of Frankfurt), proved to be ideal for the needs of the designers. “Great open spaces…

Essentially, the design for a new D-segment car for the European market can follow one of two directions: the path of the conventional three box saloon, which perhaps may also be offered as an estate variant, or a path that views hybridising different types to create a crossover as the most effective means to respond to the demands of the consumer. The former of these approaches is now almost solely the preserve of premium brands, where the history of the marque often plays a decisive role. For everyone else, innovation and the exploration of new possibilities are the directions of choice. This was the path taken – with interesting results – by the Hyundai Motor Europe design team, which created the Genus concept car otherwise known as the HED-2, as…

Twenty students of the Royal College of Art in London (seventeen from the department of vehicle design and three from textiles), split into six teams, were given three months to develop a vision of the future of automotive design in the plastics industry. The PLASTicon competition, sponsored by Ge Plastics and devised to create possible new applications for plastics in the automobile, ended in a tie between two teams. The first team, Material Icons, with Ana Zadnik, Flavien Dachet, Daniel Sjöholm and Yuko Kanemura, focused on the unique properties of plastics, exploring a variety of different processes to create alternative textures and new light effects applied to a number of vehicles. Their proposals included a car with sheets of copper laminated in thermochromatic plastic that changes colour as the car…

More car, less truck, but without compromising function or image. This is the formula chosen by Mitsubishi for the new generation of its L200 pickup, launched at the last Bologna Motor Show and now available all over Europe, where it aims to win back the leadership that the previous L200 had held from 1996 to 2004. Built on a new chassis, the car places great emphasis on design, an area in which it differs substantially from its rivals. Its originality is particularly notable in the twin cab version, with the cab and load bay joined by a curve rather than the usual vertical break. The aggressive front is derived from the rally inspired Pajero Evo prototype created by Mitsubishi in 2001 (and also used on the 2002 Evo 2+2), with…

The Iveco Daily has evolved yet again, emphasising all those attributes that have earned it the leadership of the market for light commercial vehicles over 3.5 tonnes, with 1,700,000 units built since 1978 (and over 500,000 on the roads in Italy). The Daily also gets new styling by Giorgetto Giugiaro, who penned both the exterior and the interior, with an accent on dynamism, comfort and quality. As Giugiaro himself affirmed, this has been a challenging job, as is always the case with highly specialised products. The Daily targets a broad spectrum of road going professionals, as proven by a range of hundreds of variants, all based on the chassis cab, van and minibus versions and powered by a family of five 2.3 and 3.0 litre Euro 4 turbodiesels, which is…