Table of contents for 260 - May / June 2023 in AUTO & DESIGN

Not having a past has its advantages. “You can decide who you want to be and work towards it. We want to benefit from not having a history”. Jorge Diez, as its head of design, can only be pleased with how quickly Cupra has grown successful just five years after its launch as an independent brand. Diez reached the head Seat and Cupra design position two-and-ahalf years ago, by which time the Tavascan was well on its way to becoming a serial production, as a matter of fact quite faithful to the namesake concept car unveiled at the Frankfurt motor show in 2019. It is one of the most important projects for Cupra, he explains in the inner courtyard of the Martorell design centre, where we went for a confidential…

The Velar has kick-started the Range Rover brand's styling transformation. Minimalism, sophistication, attention to new sustainable materials, focus on aerodynamics and experiments with colour: “The Velar was the first model in the Range Rover range to emphasise themes that have gone mainstream and from which everyone now takes their cue. “For us it is a styling manifesto, for everyone else one of the most beautiful cars on the road: a travelling showcar”. Massimo Frascella, head of design for the Jaguar Land Rover group, has a clear recollection of the release of the first generation in 2017 and tells us about the mid-career restyling of a key model for Range Rover slotting in between the Evoque and Range Rover Sport. The designers worked on the exteriors with a desire to refine…

The eyes of the automotive world are focused on Gothenburg, where Jim Rowan, CEO with Dyson and Blackberry origins, whom the parent Chinese company Geely appointed just over a year ago to lead Volvo, has opted for a bold and perhaps epoch-making move regarding the design of the Swedish brand. In fact, from 1 May, after ten years in Gothenburg and six years as Volvo design manager, Robin Page has indeed assumed the title of “senior adviser”, but alongside the person who essentially replaced him: Jeremy Offer. The fact is that Offer, 55, like CEO Rowan does not come from the automotive industry chain, but has a thirty-year-old “industrial designer” label. The choice, which some believe is linked to the car's tumultuous transformation in the electrification race, is intriguing because…

R econciling the pressing need for EVs while reassuring users who don't like features that are over the top? Ford design seems to have found the solution to this conundrum with the new Explorer which has a nose panel that is deliberately devoid of a grille, but which has borrowed lines from the tradition of certain US off-roaders. It is no coincidence that the name, initially missing in press releases, appeared appropriate as soon as the car was unveiled: “Explorer, as a symbol of our story. A choice that conditioned the styling from very early on”, explains Liviu Tudoran, exterior designer. “We are a profoundly American company, and basing ourselves on a car that is popular in America means proposing a strong expressive language in Europe too, albeit on a…

It is always something of a challenge to achieve convergence between a concept car and the production model, but when it does happen, the validity of the project is confirmed right from the start. This is what happened to SAIC with the Rising Auto F7, a sleek, high-end saloon, previewed in 2019 by the Aura concept car at the Guangzhou Motor Show. Apart from creating a design that was sensual and attractive, the aim of the project was to achieve the best possible aerodynamics for the segment. A fundamental principle in automotive design that becomes crucial when we speak, as in the case of the F7, of a 100% electric model where every tiny improvement in Cx means a significant gain in range. The design team led by Shao Jingfeng,…

The year 2017 marked the début of one of the most disruptive models in recent years: the Hyundai Kona. Its commercial success – which occurred on the European market at the time of the B-segment SUV explosion – has allowed the second generation to mature, grow in size and offer new content in terms of style and technology. “When you want to improve an already successful model, the right thing to do is to listen to the customers,” says SangYup Lee, Executive Vice President and Head of Hyundai and Genesis Global Design Centre, who we meet in Berlin at the model presentation. “For the new Kona we did just that: we started from the remarks of people who drive it every day, to work, for travel with their family or…

Design story Maserati GranTurismo The Maserati GranTurismo is a time machine where past and future meet. Such an important name could only look back to a glorious model that for Maserati is the A6GCS Berlinetta, whose immortal forms were born from the pencil of Pininfarina and presented in 1954 at the Turin Motor Show. “We are talking about one of the most beautiful cars in the world, a masterpiece that inspires our work every day,” says Klaus Busse, head of Maserati design, whom we meet in Turin at the Trident's style centre. “Our references are clear, but with the new GranTurismo we decided to exclude a retro design and create completely new shapes to take Maserati into the future. We started from the most typical concept of the GTs of the…

T he concept of mobility as a system is taking on ever higher value in multiple fields, from urban area planning to the challenge of sustainability, the everyday management of user needs and the compromise between public and private transport. In such a global scenario, the Central Academy of Fine Arts (CAFA) in China is proposing a new training model. This takes a logicalanalytical approach to design innovative solutions for meeting the needs of this new scenario by exploiting the possibilities offered by the latest robotics and artificial intelligence technologies. CAFA's Department of “Mobility Innovation” is an evolution of the Department of Transportation Design, which was established within the university in 2006. The training model has been subject to constant updating, from “automotive design” to “transport design” and then “mobility…