Table of contents for No. 222 in AUTO & DESIGN

A giant more than six metres in length ranges far and wide in an immense field in the prairies of North America. It is not science fiction, it is our forefront vision for the future of farming. The Case IH Autonomous Concept Tractor accelerates the advent of driverless vehicle technology and, together with the Iveco Z Truck (see p. 16), gives us a preview of the future of innovation soon to be ushered in by CNH Industrial. Original solutions with great technical and aesthetic potential can be experienced first-hand thanks to these two prototypes. They were developed by the styling centres of the respective brands working in coordination with the Innovation Department of CNH Industrial. “Both the truck and the tractor have unique, purely functional requirements, and this is why…

This is a manifesto for the future of wheeled transport, a futuristic, innovative concept that not only redefines the idea of the truck but goes beyond many of the preconceptions linked to working with heavy vehicles. The Iveco Z Truck opens the doors on a new era. Iveco Z Truck, designed by CNH Industrial Design Centre and Innovation Department, takes a step into the future anticipating the way alternative energy, new technologies and automated driving will change the driver’s life. Its pioneering approach has resulted in this concept being protected by 29 patents. “The project was born out of the need to respond to the new European regulations on masses, dimensions and emissions. These state that in the presence of an at least 30 per cent reduction in the aerodynamic…

To be given a clean slate should be the dream of every car designer. “In actual fact this hardly ever happens because you are always influenced by family feeling, the story of the brand or some previous model. In the present case, however, we really are talking about a clean slate”, explains Peter Horbury, Executive Vice President at Geely Design, as he recounts the process that led to the creation of the styling identity of Lynk & Co, the Chinese group’s new brand. The challenge was an exciting one. “The brief we received in 2013”, Horbury continues, “was for a new design-driven range whose identity stood out from the crowd, designed in Europe but aimed at a global public, with a northern European look and a compact Suv as the…

For Amko Leenarts, creating Fiesta’s all-new dashboard was his first complete job since he started as Ford’s director Global Interior Design in 2012. Dutch-born Leenarts, who studied interior architecture in the northern city of Groningen and had worked for Peugeot before he went to Dearborn (USA), said that in a changing world, sharpening the focus to create relevant solutions is his main task. Today, he works with 12 direct colleagues and 36 supporting managing functions, with 9 studios worldwide on 45 vehicle projects. The role of autonomous driving, smartphones, car sharing functions and Ford SYNC connectivity all come together in state of the art dashboards, supported by the Ford Pass app. Ford’s interior design format is based on several building blocks. They are: human factors for feel, in- and output…

The motorbike is back in Turin. In the ‘Twenties there were a hundred and twenty manufacturers here; these fell to twelve in 1950, two in 1970 and zero a few years later. The heaviest of silences broken in 2015 by César Mendoza, former director of the IED of Turin. His idea: to set up a new motorbike firm responding to urban mobility demands while respecting the environment. A blank sheet, a few trusted associates, the support of the Polytechnic and a number of Italian and foreign companies, loads of ideas and one certainty: electric drive guaranteeing sustainability, convenience and enjoyment. So NITO (an acronym for Nuova Industria Torinese) was born. It made its debut at the EICMA in Milan in November with four “ecological” products that will be marketed in…

A previous article in A&D1 already explored how the introduction of alternative powertrain technologies will affect the exterior proportions of cars. The transition from traditional to alternative vehicles concerns not only the driven powertrain, but the whole car packaging system as well. In this regard, the optimisation of electric components integration (Figure 1), autonomous driving (Figure 2), and drive-by-wire technology (Figure 3) are the three main technological trends that are fostering the design evolution of car packaging. Despite the choice of Tesla to invest around 5$ billion through 2020 in a massive battery plant to retain key technical capabilities in the company (Figure 4), there is still a huge uncertainty regarding the future orientation of sustainable passenger mobility. Optimistic scenarios have predicted that the market penetration of electric, hydrogen, and…

The I-Pace sweeps down on to planet Earth from outer space. Here it is as it gets closer, flashing past a surreal desert backdrop from which Ian Callum then materialises to present his new offspring. A few seconds later we are seated on board with a 360 degree view of Venice Beach: all the result of virtual reality that the public - divided into two groups in Los Angeles and London - is subjected to for a debut outside the box. We are in Los Angeles, and when this exciting mental experience comes to a conclusion, the I-Pace is there for real, together with Ian Callum in flesh and blood. “It is the concept car closest to the production model we have ever developed at Jaguar”, says the design chief…

The Chevrolet Bolt in America and Opel Ampera-e in Europe. There are differences: not too many though, and mainly in the interior. But both, in Mark Adams’ opinion, perform the same function: that of “democratising the new technologies, making available to the general public an electric car that breaks down what has so far been the barrier of electric vehicles, their range”. On the market this spring, the Ampera-e can cover 500 kilometres between one charge and another. Opel design chief Adams says: “We have reached that magical moment in which technology and environment come together. Ours is a great step forward”. The Ampera-e was the result of close cooperation between the General Motors plants on both sides of the Atlantic, although it physically saw the light in the United…

A foretaste of Mitsubishi's future challenger for the premium segment, a genre the Japanese brand had yet to break into, which the new design language and philosophy introduced by Tsunehiro Kunimoto has finally brought within reach. The GT-PHEV concept presented at the Paris motor show completes the trilogy of show cars which made its first appearance at Geneva in 2015, with the XR-PHEV II, and continued at the last Tokyo show with the eX concept. It is a trio which, in the words of Kunimoto, “takes on Mitsubishi identity and imbues it with heritage, and uses concepts of functional beauty and sculptural dynamism to create new design values expressing Mitsubishi-ness”. An example of this is the grille design Kunimoto calls “dynamic shield”, a now firmly established styling cue that inspires…

This little known photo of the 1939 New York World’s Fair (above) contains a significant piece of railway history with a window on to the present: on the left we see the celebrated London Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS) Coronation Scot (1937-1964), with the mighty 6229 Duchess Of Hamilton, glorious trains that can be seen at the York National Railway Museum). On the right we have a glimpse of the famous streamlined steam New York Central (NYC) J3a (1937-mid-‘Fifties ca.) designed by Henry Dreyfuss; just a bit further over, out of the shot, complete with a rather inaccurate sign entitled The locomotive of tomorrow, stands a massive prototype: the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) S-1 (1939-1949), another famous streamlined train designed by Raymond Loewy. Finally, in the centre, below the electric contact…

In future years the car will lose the physiognomy we are familiar with and the generalised use of electric motors will be a decisive factor in this transformation. This is the opinion of Giorgetto Giugiaro, whom we met at the National Automobile Museum in Turin, during the opening ceremony of the show “Giugiaro e il suo percorso” dedicated to his life's work as a creative designer. «However», he is quick to point out «it's going to be a gradual transformation, otherwise it would not be accepted. Everything, from food to architecture, has to reckon with people's habits, and the same applies to cars. Tesla is an example of this: externally it looks like an ordinary car, otherwise nobody would have bought it. But it's much better this way: it is…

“We started a long time ago,” Skoda head of design Jozef Kaban says of the new Kodiaq, a project that began four years prior to its unveiling in concept form, the VisionS, in Geneva this year. “The dream was there, but we were waiting for the right moment to do it.” The Kodiaq offers a design that closely follows Skoda’s new design language, initiated in the Superb limousine. “There is similarity between the cars,” says Kaban. “You want that they belong to one family. But the Kodiaq is not giving this typical kind of aggressive SUV look, it is more about being very relaxed, clean and smart.” The Kodiaq’s more robust demeanor is characterized by hexagonal motifs, well-defined, squared off wheelarches and a strong undercut shoulderline. The front grille is…

What social chemistry lies behind the decisions of motorists and how does it contribute to guiding the hand of car designers? In looking for the answer to this you can’t do better than analyse one of the most aggressive commercial phenomena of recent years: the boisterous growth of SUVs and crossovers. From full-size tourers to the small colonisers of urban pavements, these raised, muscular bodies “have quadrupled their sales since 2005”, explains Roelant de Waard, vice-president Marketing, Sales & Service of Ford Europe: “Every time somebody says sales are slumping they are forced to think again because SUVs are popular with men and women, the very young and the more mature”. It is precisely this ramified distibution of customers, according to a survey organised by Blue Oval through 5,000 interviews…

Iconic design, distinctive image and strong character are the hallmarks of Audi, Ducati and Lamborghini, the Volkswagen group brands that were the subjects of the thesis projects presented by the students of the Master in Transportation and Car Design of the Polytechnic School of Milan. Working on three different themes – Audi’s autonomous vehicles for 2030, the new styling frontiers for a Ducati-signed electric tomorrow and the development of a super sports car by vocation in pure Lamborghini style – the young designers engaged with an example of work flow corresponding to the dynamics of the work place where their careers will take them. The Polytechnic School of Milan’s training plan in fact offers a multidisciplinary approach to the teaching of design and encompasses the entire development process required by…