Table of contents for No. 186 in AUTO & DESIGN

Americans used to have a thriving marginal automobile industry, plus what we were pleased to call The Big Three — General Motors, Ford and Chrysler. Marginal makers included Packard, Willys, Hudson, Nash, and Kaiser-Fraser, and there were others at the margin of the margin, like Crosley, King Midget and the infamous Tucker. That’s all gone now, leaving us with the Big Two-and-a-Fraction, Fiat-directed Chrysler not even strong enough to be considered a Half. If Ford is managing pretty well in the US, not having taken a government hand-out nor having gone bankrupt, the other Big One-and-a-Bit companies did take taxpayer bail-out money, and did go bankrupt. There’s a lot of noise about how well the industry is doing, but it’s mostly just hot air generated by publicists. General Motors did…

Charles Jordan, known as “Chuck” throughout the design world for his long and brilliant career at General Motors, died on December 9, aged 83. He had dedicated his entire working life to the company: he joined it in 1949 immediately after taking his degree in Engineering from MIT in Boston, with a creative enthusiasm that earned him the appointment as Chief Designer at the age of just 26. It was the golden age of advanced design and dream cars, and young Chuck worked on projects like the Buick Centurion and the XP-700 “Phantom” Corvette of 1956, also contributing to the standard production Corvette of 1958. He was involved in a very long list of projects, in roles of growing responsibility – in the United States, but also at Opel in…

Since November, Autostudi has been fully owned by Carlo and Roberto Angiono, already Chairman and General Manager of the company. The Angiono brothers bought out the investment of the Swiss Rieter Group (the group that sold IDEA Institute to Quantum Capital in July, see page 62). “After fruitful years as part of the Rieter Group, Autostudi now enters the international market with a new makeover and strategies. The declared corporate goal is to continue to grow,” declared Carlo Angiono. Autostudi operates in the automotive and industrial design sectors with services that extend from styling to engineering and even product industrialisation; in 2009 it recorded sales of Euro 2.6 million. Dallo scorso novembre, Autostudi è al cento per cento di proprietà di Carlo e Roberto Angiono, già rispettivamente presidente e direttore…

A journey from Germany to California and from Italy to Japan, with an eye on China. A journey through Mercedes-Benz’s global advanced design centres to discover the future of the car as seen by the three-pointed star. Previously unexplored forms, new concepts of mobility, cutting edge technology and all-new materials from the perspective of the pioneers of a continuously evolving research into the future. Dalla Germania alla California, passando per l’Italia e il Giappone, con un occhio alla Cina. Un viaggio attraverso i centri di advanced design Mercedes-Benz nel mondo, per scoprire quale sarà il futuro dell’auto secondo il gruppo della Stella. Morfologie inesplorate, nuove forme di mobilità, tecnologie d’avanguardia e materiali inediti raccontati dai protagonisti di una ricerca in continua evoluzione.…

It’s impossible to talk about the Jaguar C-X75 in terms of style only, as you usually would with a show car. And it is equally impossible to discuss its proportions, volumes and surfaces without understanding the revolutionary technology encased within these elements. Put simply, this is the epitome of design – in other terms, the perfect fusion of style and architecture – and it was received as such at the Paris motor show, where it was hailed as one of the most extraordinary proposals at the event. “Performance through innovation has always been a Jaguar trademark” says Jaguar Land Rover CEO Ralf Speth. From the beginning, cars such as the C-Type and D-Type pioneered aluminium construction, aerodynamic design, racing monocoques and disc brakes. The C-X75 demonstrates that Jaguar is still…

The Volkswagen Passat gets a new face, becoming the last of the brand’s staple models to step into line with Wolfsburg’s new design direction. Of all the models in the range, the previous Passat was perhaps the most excessive expression of an image in which graphics and chrome prevailed over coherence. As a result, the stylistic transformation has been significant, despite the fact than none of the car’s basic structural elements have been touched. In addition to the floorpan, the roof, windscreen, rear window and door frames have been kept from the previous edition. So much has been carried over, in fact, that this can hardly be called a ‘new generation’, but by the same token, it would be unfair to call the significant modifications made a mere ‘restyling’. The…

Porsche - the name of a dynasty with origins dating back to the birth of Ferdinand Porsche in distant 1875, but with an officially recognised history beginning with the foundation of the company in 1931. Through the pages of this compact but comprehensive book, all the key events in the growth of this famous carmaker are retraced, such as its first design for an electric car with motors incorporated in the front wheel hubs, the creation of the Volkswagen – the affordable “people’s car” commissioned personally by Adolph Hitler – and its involvement in the development of agricultural machinery. The Zuffenhausen based marque has produced numerous iconic road cars, such as the 356, 911 and 928, to mention but a few, and many successful race cars, such as the 904,…

Turin’s National Car Museum reopens, enlarged and totally rebuilt over the last four years to a design by architect Cino Zucchi and set designer François Confino. The inauguration ceremony will be held on March 18, as part of the festivities to mark the 150th anniversary of the Unification of Italy. This coincidence is in keeping with the museum’s new character: as well as automotive history, the 11,000 square metres of exhibition space will also focus on cultural and social history, with installations and thematic itineraries. In addition to exhibition areas, the museum will include an event venue, a convention centre, a documentation centre with a library, a bookshop, a cafeteria and a restaurant. ERRATA CORRIGE - In the last issue of Auto&Design, no. 185, two mistakes were unfortunately made in the…

The leading player in a segment it actually invented back in 2003, when the original concept was revealed a year before production started in 2004, the Mercedes CLS has, to quote Gorden Wagener, “chosen the path of revolution rather than evolution”. The result is a second generation that rises to the challenge set by its fierce rivals and aims straight for the leadership of the four door coupé segment – a segment created to offer the excitement of an elegant, dynamic sports car to the user who is unwilling to sacrifice the space, luxury and practicality of an upscale saloon. Since he took over from Peter Pfeiffer, this is the second car (the first was the SLS AMG) to bear the personal mark of Mercedes design chief Wagener, who talks of…

Thirty years of Quattro. To celebrate the anniversary of this legend, originally presented at Geneva in 1980 and now rechristened ‘Urquattro’ by its fans, Wolfgang Egger and his team presented the Quattro Concept at Paris. The new car reinterprets and further evolves the genius of the original in a futuristic key, “rekindling – says Audi Group design chief Egger – that old dream, with the same compactness, lightness, a turbo and four wheel drive, while remaining faithful to the historic sports Dna of the brand”. “That concept – he says – is still valid today. It is future-proof fun.” Just how “fun” the concept unveiled at Paris is, and whether or not it is destined to make its mark in the future history of Audi sports models, remain to be seen.…

What has happened to the I.DE.A. Institute? It is a question that had been circulating for some time in the car design world, a question about the future of the company – which changed hands last Summer after a difficult period – that is now answered by Steffen Görig, the new chairman. “We are currently reorganising our activities at I.DE.A. to bring it back to the position it enjoyed in the past, boosting business and adopting a more international approach.” Görig is German, born 41 years ago in Stuttgart, where he took a degree in Mechanical Engineering before studying for a Master in Business Administration at New York University. He has great experience in the recovery and rebirth of unprofitable businesses, built up first in the London office of Bankers…

Believing that in future even one small element of one’s ideas might be brought to life helps to open one’s creative horizons, introducing to the design an extra something that makes the difference. If, as in this case, the protagonist of the project is a cult brand like Ducati, then motivation and passion inevitably guide students’ hands. The topic of the thesis project for the first edition of the Transportation Design - BYT (Bike, Yacht, Train) Course at IED in Turin (a new training course dedicated to non-automotive transport) focused on defining an entry-level motorcycle (400 or 600 cc package) to join the Monster, today’s popular entry level bike, on the market. Having put themselves in the shoes of potential customers, the students realistically analysed the dynamics that lead people…

Changes have taken place in the management of the Mini creative team: from January 1, Anders Warming takes over as design director from Gert Hildebrand (German, 57 years old), who leaves the company after a decade of fruitful activity, which has produced a broad range of great stylistic consistency, from the Clubman to the Countryman, right down to the Coupé and Roadster which will be launched soon. Anders Warming is Danish, aged 38, and he has been with BMW since 1997, when he joined DesignworksUSA in California. In 2005 he transferred to Munich as team leader for Advanced Design, and in 2007 took charge of Exterior Design for the BMW brand. His management produced the Z4, the Series 5 and the Concept 6 Series Coupé unveiled in Paris in October,…

Shortly after former Ferrari brand director Dany Bahar moved from the Italian heartland of Maranello to the eastern plains of England’s Norfolk, Donato Coco, Ferrari’s head of design for the last four years, followed suit. That was because Bahar had been given a new task as CEO at Lotus with a mission to revive the brand. When Bahar told him that Lotus wanted a range of 5 cars to be designed from scratch, Donato Coco - born in Foggia, southern Italy and a sculptor and illustrator before he turned car designer - did not think twice about immediately accepting the challenge. “That was in September 2009, when Dany [Bahar] asked me to develop a new feel for the brand…from then on, I began to analyse Lotus’s design past: The great…

Two wheels, an engine, a chassis and a handful of other elements. This description has been true ever since the motorcycle was born, and yet in terms of pure performance, the evolution of the motorcycle has been much more emphatic than it has been for the automobile. The reason is simple: in the sphere of fine dynamic balance that this vehicle inhabits, altering even the tiniest detail can bring substantial changes. Then there is the fact that the rider and passenger are integral parts of the machine itself, which complicates matters even further. Over the years, the motorcycle has evolved into a number of specific genres, each with its own precise characteristics: naked street bikes, fully faired hyper sports bikes, supertourers, customs, enduros, motocross, trial, scooters and maxiscooters. These different…