Table of contents for No. 233 in AUTO & DESIGN

Design explained by the big names, with an audience of young people from the design schools, and a competition reserved just for them: this is Autostyle, an event founded by Roberto Artioli of Berman, the car parts company of San Benedetto Po, now in its fifteenth edition. In Porto Mantovano park, where the cars presented in the workshop were exhibited, together with a selection of the most interesting production models - the day of 19 October began with as many as six lectures, but not before a heartfelt tribute to Fulvio Cinti, who with Auto & Design had always supported this initiative. First theme, Lamborghini: Mitja Borkert went over the history of the brand up to the production Suv Urus, speaking also about the futuristic electric concept Terzo Millennio, exhibited…

A car in the image and likeness of a city? It's not impossible, as the designers from Changan show in presenting their latest creation: the CS85 crossover which, automotively speaking, is part Suv and part coupé. Its inspiration, as Chen Zheng explains, is the city of Chongqing, which happens to be the company's headquarters but is above all one of the most "in" cities in the new China. "Like Manhattan in the 1950s", says Chen Zheng to underline the creative and youthful ferment, the eagerness to grow, the taste for fun that animates the city. It's in Chongqing, where "the virtual world and reality meet in harmony", and which is reflected in the CS85. Chen Zheng is global design chief of Changan. The two spirits of Chongqing, tradition and modernity…

How to create a mobility space able to influence the emotions of those on board, through the use of the almost infinite possibilities enabled by four cornerstones of the future - a clear strategic goal - which are electricity, intelligence, connectivity and sharing. The answer comes from Enspire, a concept presented under the Buick brand but actually designed by the PATAC (which stands for Pan Asia Technical Automotive Center) design center which is a joint venture of the Chinese SAIC and the American General Motors. A Chinese Buick, someone observed after the recent presentation in Wuzhen: it is actually a joint response to the expectations of an electric and, it is assumed, self-drive future. But also, for Buick, the introduction of a new formal language that will be reflected in…

SAIC, parent company of the MG and Roewe brands, opened a new advanced design studio in central London on September 19. The inauguration ceremony took place in Marylebone, London, and was attended by many of the world’s global media including Auto&Design magazine. The London advanced design studio – led by new head of design Robert Lemmens and overseen by Birmingham-based European design director Carl Gotham – was created in part to draw on London’s culture, but also harness the avant-garde creativity, technologies and talent within the city. Shao Jingfeng, SAIC design director and global VP of design, spoke of the appeal of cultural diversity found in the UK capital. “We need a global vision to flatten the cultural cognitive gap [between China and Europe],” he said. “We need to show…

Mobility as a service will help democratize luxury, Renault says. Proof of that is the EZ-Ultimo concept, the third in a trilogy of electrified, autonomous and shared concepts this year. “You can ask yourself, is this really an area where Renault should be, because we are a popular brand?” Laurens van den Acker, Group Renault corporate design director said. The EZ-Ultimo’s target users are hotels or airlines who want to give their clients a special experience, or perhaps ordinary people who want to attend an event in style. With the EZ-Ultimo, “anybody can attain an exclusive luxury experience,” he said. “You can buy a trip in this car for five or 10 km — this is why it made sense for us as a brand.” Earlier concept vehicles under Van…

The central V of the logo, flanked by Led daytime running lights that form an F in italics: this is the new face of VinFast, a Vietnamese brand that debuted in Paris with the Lux A2.0 saloon and the Suv Lux SA2.0. "We don't intend to tie ourselves down too much to a grille that could soon become irrelevant. Since we're also going to make electric vehicles, it's better for our identity to be based on lights”, specifies Dave Lyon, VinFast's design director, as he tells us how the first two models of the Vietnamese company were turned out in record time. His assignment began on 1 October 2017, when the newly formed VinFast had just launched a competition among four Italian consultants: Italdesign, Pininfarina, Torino Design and Zagato. "They…

When celebrated car designer Chris Bangle, invited by the company to take part in a series of workshops, issued the provocation of "reversing the perspective" by suggesting the two sides of the boat should be treated differently, it was hardly imaginable that the concept would become reality. The design for the SL102 Asimmetrico thirty-metre boat was therefore a product of the skill of the technicians and designers within the Sanlorenzo shipyards and of the expertise of architect Bernardo Zuccon of nautical design specialists Zuccon International Project studio, who was also responsible for the interiors. Rewarded at the last Cannes Yachting Festival with the coveted "Innovative Trophy", as the drawings show, the SL102 masks the fact that its sides are not specular while still remaining faithful to its Sanlorenzo identity, as…

If it's true that your recollection of a person consists not of long tracking shots but rather of a collection of snapshots, the one that springs to my mind more than any other when I remember my friend Fulvio dates back to a pale autumn dawn in 1979. Leaving the printers where we had worked all night on the iron benches (in those days we worked with linotypes and lead, PCs did not exist), he correcting the Italian proofs and I the English, he adjusted his tie, looked at the sky and then, as if to alleviate the anxieties of recent weeks, smiled and said: "And now let's go and look for hot croissants”. That night the first number of Auto&Design, "his" creature, was born. It was not his first…

If the strength of the Škoda brand has until now lain above all in its stellar quality-price ratio, the arrival of the next generation of models will announce a turning point: without betraying its functional vocation, the brand’s appeal will be determined by decidedly more emotional factors. This was promised by design director Oliver Stefani and his team that we met up with at the Mladá Boleslav style centre for a visit reserved for Auto&Design. They welcomed us for an exclusive preview of the Vision RS concept car a few weeks before its debut in Paris, as well as to tell us about the future design direction of the oldest brand in the Volkswagen group - Škoda was founded in 1895 and is the second oldest car manufacturer in the…

An evolution that does not repudiate the past, but on the contrary takes the value of the Pininfarina brand to a new dimension as a provider of all-round design services, from mobility to product design and architecture. A dynamically varied portrait emerges from a conversation with Silvio Angori, the company’s CEO, and Carlo Bonzanigo, design chief, who explain how Pininfarina's wealth of expertise, with almost 90 years of history, continues to renew itself as it looks to the future. "Pininfarina has always had a dual soul, stylistic and technological", observes Angori. “What we offer today is an approach that transcends the traditional subdivisions between sectors, not only due to the competencies we can deploy, but also thanks to the reorganisation of the company". From 1 January 2019, in fact, Pininfarina…

When is a neo-retro design not retro? When the styling serves as a gateway to future technologies, a philosophy that Peugeot designers followed when they created the E-Legend concept. The E-Legend, unveiled to the public at the Paris motor show in October, recalls Pininfarina’s 504 Coupe from 1969, but it is not a homage. Rather, the E-Legend is meant to signify that motoring excitement and passion can coexist with autonomous and electric mobility. “We didn’t mean to do a remake of the 504 Coupe,” said Gilles Vidal, design director at Peugeot. “We wanted to make the point that the future can be exciting.” “There are some aspects and details that connect it to the 504 Coupe – but it’s not neo-retro,” Vidal said. “There’s nothing vintage anywhere.” The E-Legend’s exterior…

A solidly plastic expressiveness. That’s the impression you have when first looking at the UX, the eagerly-awaited Lexus compact crossover, in its final form. This is due to the surfaces that develop fluidly around the contours of the body, but are also strategically charged with tension in some areas: for example, above the front wheel arches, where the surface takes an unexpected but very modern jump. On the market since October, the UX thus tends to be faithful to the prototype of the same name presented at the Paris Motor Show of 2016, especially as regards its general volumes and the visual masses around the front. The mix of solidity and dynamism here, on the other hand, is dampened down to just the right point. "The two ingredients are common…