Table of contents for 277 in AUTO & DESIGN

“I t's a capable all-rounder that takes you out of your comfort zone. A compact, nimble SUV that expresses the character of new adventures and unlocks the possibilities for an active urban lifestyle”. That’s how Karim Habib introduced the EV2 Concept, unveiled last year in Spain. And the head of Kia Global Design confirms this description now that the model has gone into production: “The initial briefing was to create an affordable EV for those wanting an everyday companion for the city and beyond. The goal was to create an unapologetically desirable entry EV”. The EV2 plays a key role in Kia's full-electric range. Which is why the project launch involved the brand's entire international team, namely the design centres in South Korea, California, China and Europe. Everyone came up…

Twelve generations of the Corolla, of which 55 million units have been sold in every imaginable version since 1966, testify to a success - and a record of which Toyota is proud. “We asked ourselves,” says Lance Scott, “how to bring it into the future. It has always been a functional, practical, even attractive car, but it's never stood out for its design. That’s why we wanted to design something that would make people say: ‘It’s incredible that it’s a Corolla.’ Something unexpected was needed.” Head of ED2, Toyota Europe Design Development, the advanced design studio that the Japanese manufacturer has developed in France, on the Côte d'Azur, Scott thus explains the concept presented at the end of October in Tokyo at the Japan Mobility Show and hailed, for its…

The study of mobility is much more than planning journeys: it means analysing the way we live and interact with systems. At the Intelligent Mobility Design Centre (IMDC) of the Royal College of Art, mobility is a territory of exploration where people, technology and the environment come together to shape new scenarios. This complex system is hence observed, as it reflects the needs, behaviours and aspirations of contemporary society. Born within one of the most prestigious centres of excellence in automotive design education, the IMDC with its Master in Intelligent Mobility uses design and research as tools to imagine a more sustainable, inclusive and mindful future, capable of generating not only economic value, but also social and environmental benefit. Three broad perspectives - People and Places, Humanising Technology and Automotive…

From Software to intelligent hardware, from language models to robots. On display in early January at CES in Las Vegas was the dawn of a new technological era, of Physical AI, where artificial intelligence takes physical form, exits computer and smartphone screens, and enters machines, embedding itself in the real world to become the nervous system of domestic robots with unprecedented capabilities. And it is precisely these robots, the mythical main characters of the science fiction imagined by Isaac Asimov and Gene Roddenberry and embodied by electronic icons such as Robby from Forbidden Planet, the android Data from Star Trek, or the Cylons from Battlestar Galactica, which are now reality and could potentially become the next big thing. After years of smartphone dominance in high-tech, something new is emerging, something…

Fifteen years on from its founding and following recent years of growth, the Turin-based studio led by Lowie Vermeersch looks to the future of mobility and design as a system of experiences, contexts and meanings. A user-driven and context-aware approach that transcends the object to embrace the complexity of the real world. Fifteen years not as a destination, but as a launch platform. This is how GranStudio chooses to interpret its anniversary, by turning it into a moment of reflection projected onward. “For us, this isn’t so much our fifteenth birthday but rather the starting point from which to think about the next fifteen years,” explains Lowie Vermeersch, CEO and Creative Director of the studio. Over time, the studio that was founded in Turin in March 2011, has built an…

In un mercato estremamente competitivo come quello automobilistico, è raro che il successo di un singolo modello sfoci nella notorietà stabile di un brand nel lungo termine. La vera sfida consiste nel lavorare per un'evoluzione continua del design. Negli ultimi tre anni, l’attività di design di Geely Galaxy ha dimostrato che il suo team dedicato sta sviluppando un approccio al design in grado di evolversi costantemente nell'ambito di prodotti diversificati, traendo origine dalla cultura. Le radici culturali di Geely si rifanno al Lago dell'Ovest di Hangzhou e alla filosofia orientale della natura e dell'umanesimo che essa incarna. I primi modelli (Borui e Boyue) hanno felicemente consolidato a suo tempo la notorietà del marchio, trasformando le increspature naturali sulla superficie del Lago dell'Ovest in un simbolo visivo riconoscibile grazie alla griglia “water ripple”,…

A one-off that reinterprets Ferrari's heritage without nostalgia. Flavio Manzoni and his team describe a project that mixes up sculpture, graphics and technical discipline Apotential ambiguity under-lay the SC40: evoking the F40 without becoming a replica of it. “There was no way we could pay tribute to an icon like the F40 for just one client”, Flavio Manzoni says. “It would have looked like an exercise in nostalgia. Instead, we chose to work on a few evocative elements – the fixed wing, the embossed lettering, the kevlar – while building a totally new language”. According to Ferrari's Chief Design Officer, the project does not consolidate a style, but challenges it. “I am interested in creating a fusion between sculptural form and graphic elements. This contrast generates something fresh, almost disruptive”.…

An essential complement to the design brief since time memorial, and at times the defining feature of a model, wheels are today enjoying an extraordinary proliferation of variations: thanks to advances in production technology and, perhaps even more so, to the creative ambitions of designers. Aerodynamics runs like a watermark through everything, reinterpreting and surpassing the fairings of yesteryear, yet when one traces the cross-cutting trends emerging from the latest concept cars, a decidedly multifaceted picture comes into focus: one in perpetual pursuit of dramatic visual effect. As seen with the Opel Corsa GSe, the Peugeot Polygon and the Toyota FT-Me, which introduce unprecedented focal points through colour, breaking up the traditional visual layout around graphic “blotches” or strakes capable of exuding freshness and dynamism (sometimes with further differences between…

Restrained, rational, utilitarian in the noblest sense of the term. At the same time playfully appealing, you might even say visionary. A design oxymoron that brings together the many different souls of the Double Chevron, drawing inspiration from a deeply authentic creative process. With a nod to the smart simplicity of the 2CV and plenty of carefree spirit perhaps borrowed from the Méhari, solutions worthy of a 1990s minivan and, of course, an ultra-modern emphasis on sustainability and the brand's role in the Stellantis line-up. “The starting point was a meeting called to discuss how to reinvent the cabin within a very cramped footprint”, says design chief Pierre Leclercq. “Lengthwise, even when a dedicated electric platform is adopted, the comparison is with the 4.01 m of the C3. The exact…

The Suzuki line-up includes two exceptional models that do not go unnoticed. These are the GSX-8T and GSX-8TT: built on the same platform as the GSX-8S, but given a retro look inspired directly by the street bikes of the ‘70s and ‘80s. As Kota Kezuka, Motorcycle Team Leader at Suzuki Italia Design Centre, explains: "We set out from the very best of starting points and we thought we might use it to create a two-wheeler that would appeal to a different audience". It was through work on the design that another model was created, starting from tried and tested mechanicals. “We followed a Waku Waku approach”, Kezuka adds, using the Japanese term for enthusiasm, passion, and emotion. “Initially, we weighed up numerous alternatives and for a while we even thought…