Table of contents for No. 227 in AUTO & DESIGN

Every style centre has its own secret stories, proposals for cars that the public will never see, and models that designers create on their own initiative and present to management as additional products not envisaged in the current production plan. “Every now and again, though, a few projects do manage to get through the system and be approved, provided, of course, that the business plan works. This is how the E-Pace came to be.” Ian Callum recalls the story of Jaguar's new compact SUV with particular fondness – a car he describes as “sophisticated in its simplicity and closely tied to our sporty identity”. It all started with a rough polystyrene foam model created by Julian Thompson’s advanced design division, which is one of the Jaguar design functions under Callum’s…

If it were possible for the naked eye to capture the moment a flower blooms, or the fraction of a second when a new shoot breaks through the surface of the soil, you would be carried away by the energy the life force is able to release. For Chen Zheng, Global Design Director Changan Automotive, this unstoppable force is expressed in the concept of "Vitality Motion", the styling philosophy behind the brand's new generation of cars. “The aesthetic features of every form of life are fairly easy to replicate. However, it is very difficult to capture intrinsic dynamism at the time of flowering and birth”, explains Chen Zheng. “The philosophy of Vitality Motion aims to assimilate that fundamental moment of transformation - with all its expressive and emotional power -…

SUVs are big business, especially in China, where the need to accommodate generations of people into one car is an important requirement. The Roewe Vision-E concept offers all of the conventional attributes of a conventional SUV, but it also offers would-be customers something more. The powertrain, to start, is a new all-electric SCUV platform. Electric and technology were the driving force when defining the exterior and interior design of the car, combined with Roewe’s ‘Rhythm Dynamic’ design philosophy and brand keywords: reduced, refined, extension and rhythmic. At the front is a large grille featuring an array of small LED lights around the prominent centre badge. It’s been designed to give the car a distinct front face that is refined, rhythmic and elegant – pillars of the Roewe brand. “When I…

For months they have been picking up invariably wider consensus, to the point of constituting in many respects the feistiest category in the marketplace: small crossovers are now decidedly able to redesign the profile of the motor car, from its formal aspects to certain nuances in how it’s used. How does Volkswagen brand design manager Klaus Bischoff approach this phenomenon? “In effect, this segment is likely to become one of the Group's most expressive segments. This is an area of great appeal, in which loads of personality has to be communicated and a decisive and captivating language invested in, especially for an entrance model such as the latest born. Style, here, becomes even more strategic than elsewhere”. It’s no coincidence, therefore, that the most controversial element of the project is…

Rather than existing, consolidated trends and timid experiments that still fall short of stirring excitement, at the major German show held this Autumn we saw a number of new directions in style that were worthy of closer, more in-depth consideration. Making no distinction between concepts and production models, we picked five trends in particular which seemed to have become recurring themes. Whether destined to influence future forms and details, or merely evidence of the creativity of their designers, all five are significant in their own way. Non tendenze già evidenti e conclamate, né timide sperimentazioni ancora lontane dal destare interesse: dall'importante rassegna tedesca dello scorso autunno sono emersi alcuni orientamenti di stile che meritano un'osservazione più approfondita e ravvicinata. Senza distinguere fra prototipi e proposte destinate alla produzione, abbiamo selezionato…

Its latest iteration comes in the form of the sharply tapered nose of the Proceed concept, spotlighted at the recent Frankfurt Motor Show: the horizontal grille which narrows in the centre, so compressing its surrounds to make them more dynamic and relevant, thus reaches, with incisive discretion, the end of its first decade. “It was in fact at the Frankfurt Show of 2007 that we presented the idea for the first time, on the prototype of a compact coupé called the Kee”, recalls Peter Schreyer, head of Kia brand design. “We had already begun to think about the image of our cars the previous year, after I joined the group: there was no standard approach to the styling of the nose which is fundamental if you want to stand out…

"The Hyundai range had never included a car of this type. So we were able to do something different, really unexpected”. The Kona has just been revealed to the European press in Milan, a few hours after its world debut in Korea, and Peter Schreyer, whom we met on that occasion, looks with some satisfaction at the new model in the spotlight. In its styling contrasts and unconventional solutions befitting a lively, young SUV, with a dynamic life in front of it, you also perceive a hint of the West Coast spirit. Schreyer, in his role as head of design for the entire Hyundai group, explains why: "The project started, as always, with a competition between our three design studios in Korea, Europe and California, and this spawned three models.…

To describe the effect the Suzuki designers were looking for in the new Swift Sport, they use the rather informal but highly effective expression: wow! “Compared to the basic Swift, the design had to be more aggressive and reflect the car's high performance, which had to be immediately obvious”, explains Yuya Yasukazu, the project’s chief designer. “And once on board, we wanted the customer to be really impressed by the strong sense of sportiness, taken by surprise, fired up by the car's energy". For the exterior, the "wow effect" can be seen in a series of expedients that have always been synonymous with lively performance. The sturdy bumper strip makes the front more prominent, an exclusive large-opening honeycomb design was chosen for the grille, while the aerodynamic parts - front…

The future of farms, according to New Holland, might well be an innovative system that is rightfully sustainable. This concept, beneath its stylish outer designed in Turin by CNH Industrial designers, aims to make farmers completely energy independent. The tractor is fuelled by methane and a key element of the project consists of the development of a system for its production on site from energy crops, agricultural waste and waste from the food industry. This is what New Holland calls “a future-proof energy supply”, since the CO2 emission profile is practically zero and a production plant could supply not only tractors but also electricity generators and heating systems. CNH Industrial's has extensive experience in the field gas engines. Over the course of twenty years, FPT Industrial (powertrain brand of CNH…

Once again, passion for design marked every moment of the Autostyle Design Competition. Now in its fourteenth edition, the car design event - organised by Berman and its chairman Roberto Artioli in cooperation with Auto&Design and Wacom – did not delude its aficionados, giving participants opportunities for discussion and learning in a special context where the students of design schools were joined by some of the world's leading designers. The heart of the event was the competition dedicated to the special versions created by the young designers taking part. Among the thirteen finalists chosen by the technical jury, Hsu Ko-Han (Taiwan), a student of the IED in Turin, won first prize in the category "Urban cars/Crossovers" with his special version of the Audi Q8 Concept. Jose Raul Salas Sarabia won…

It tips a wink to the California T, this Portofino that carries on its legacy; but in an even more modern, more efficient, perhaps even more Ferrari way. Maranello's coupé-cabrio is totally renewed, from platform to styling: 80 kilos lighter thanks to the use of aluminium, 40 horsepower more powerful (the V8 engine now packs 600, enough to reach 100 kph in 3.5 seconds), but above all, as Flavio Manzoni points out, "there are no longer three but two boxes". Not, for this type of granturismo, something of little account. Manzoni, who heads up the Ferrari Design Centre, explains that "the California's proportions have remained intact, although the position of the windscreen is pushed slightly back, so the bonnet looks longer and the cockpit is bigger". And then? “The badge”.…

“As soon as you look at it, I believe this car transmits, even from the outside, the idea of comfort that is a feature of the cockpit”, says Jean-Arthur Madelaine, head of interior design at the Double Chevron. This comment is enough for us to realise how much the different levels of aesthetic and functional research were pervaded by the well-being of the occupants of this small French crossover. That is why it is interesting, perhaps here more than elsewhere, to ask ourselves how such an approach can guide decisions in matters of colour schemes and materials. “Of course, we were able to build on the work that had already been done on the C3, but with important differences”, explains Christophe Bouchet, design manager of the project. “The main aim…

560 square metres of Sweden in the heart of the new Milan, just a short walk away from Piazza Gae Aulenti. These words could well be used to sum up the Volvo Design Studio Milano project, a veritable global concept that has been applied for the first time in the Lombard capital. The Swedish manufacturer has conceived it as a space in which to meet both loyal and new customers, a place for telling them about the brand's history and future. The concept design was the work of Tham & Videgård Arkitekter and was developed by the Italian architect Gaspare Inglese starting in the latter part of 2016. As Inglese, who has been working with Volvo Italia for several years now, explained to us: "The basis of the Studio is…

Imagine future technologies in the development of highly innovative concept cars. This was the challenging theme that Seat assigned to thirty IED Turin and five IED Barcelona students for their degree course theses in Transportation Design. After an initial phase during which the concept was developed autonomously, the young designers shared their ideas with the working group before presenting their final proposals as a team. The projects were then discussed with Alejandro Mesonero, chief designer of the Spanish brand, and with some members of the Seat design centre of Martorell. “The specifications were very particular and this gave the students a really hard time. When you are faced with a brief of this nature, there is always a seemingly elusive moment of imagination and vision which, however, with time, it…

"Today's tractors have very similar proportions to those of the 30's and 40's, although they are completely different. Maybe it's time to change something." David Wilkie is convinced he faces great opportunities: "We - he says - do two types of work. We work on production projects where, together with engineering, we find the best design solutions to improve existing products. But with the New Holland concept we wanted to show our second role, that is how much it could change with design. Why not let the tractor object be stylish as well as functional? The desire of our designers is to be able to offer the company our ability to see where there are opportunities to push the envelope." It might be the right time for tractors as well…