Table of contents for No. 234 in AUTO & DESIGN

At last what its founder Lowie Vermeersch had always dreamed of: Granstudio's new premises meet its requirements as an increasingly important player in the car and mobility design sector: 2,600 square metres and 38 employees in what was once a factory where brakes were made. A building, he says, that is “part of Turin’s car-making history": although it has been completely renovated in an intentionally minimalist style, the main entrance with its marble from another age has been preserved as a reminder of that past. “Granstudio is neither a traditional styling, CAS and modelling company, nor is it limited to only 2D and mathematical modelling, but it combines the best of both: a physical design interaction within a lean digital process", explains Vermeersch, a Flemish Belgian and majority shareholder with…

Now in its third generation with original shooting brake architecture, the Proceed is something special for Kia Europe's design chief Gregory Guillaume and his team. “I arrived at Kia on 1 January 2005, when the first generation of the Ceed was practically reaching the end of its cycle”, he says, referring to what was still written at the time as “C’eed”, the new C-segment saloon designed and produced in Europe. “They were excellent cars, even if I would have preferred to inject a bit more emotion into them and that’s what we set out to do shortly after with the third body variant, the three-door Proceed”. That extra touch of dynamism and passion would influence the whole Ceed family in the future. “When it came to designing the second generation…

The scenario of future urban mobility promises to be one of small, shared electric cars. The role of design is to prevent them from turning into household appliances, in view also of the ever-increasing consumer demand for customisation. This is also a clear trend in the Chinese market, to which GAC has responded with the 2+X project, where the number 2 stands for the platform for an electrically powered two-seater car with a wheelbase of 2 metres. "The X, on the other hand, refers to the various types of users and their different tastes, needs and habits", explains Zhang Fan, design vice president of GAC Motor, whom we met on the stand of the Guagzhou show alongside the three concept cars that have been spawned by the project. These are…

Wrapping a pleasingly sober casing about a project rich in practical qualities: this is the stylistic direction that has always marked Škoda’s visual journey. Something is about to change, however, and very soon at that: "Our next products will reflect a language that presents profound changes", says Oliver Stefani, head of design. "Of course, we have no intention of betraying the principles that have guided us so far, starting with that focus on functionality and comfort that is reflected in the many small attentions paid to the well-being of those on board. There is also no overly elaborate or “premium” approach: we will preserve the frill-free elegance that remains congenial to us. But it’s time to look for a new dynamism, more intense emotions". The first piece of the transformation…

2019 is a very important year for our magazine. Auto&Design saw the light in November 1979 with the idea of writing about cars from a design perspective, addressing an international readership through the bilingual text, Italian and English, adopted since the first issue. A global concept capable of seducing the enquiring spirit of those who wanted to discover what’s behind the birth of a car, at a time when the word "design" certainly had none of the value and significance it has taken on today. So as Auto&Design reaches its 40th birthday, we can proudly say that we continue to work daily to carry forward that ambitious project which, to date, albeit through periods of undeniable difficulty, has given us so much satisfaction. In our work, creativity, design and innovation…

The C5 Aircross, in effect Citroën’s current flagship, is rooted in the Aircross concept presented in Shanghai in 2015 that in its turn was an exercise in translating the Cactus design language into different types of cars, in this case in the world of Suvs. "It was about seeing how that type of car could fit into the Citroën brand", explains Andrew Cowell, project manager who worked in close collaboration with the PSA group's head of design, Jean-Pierre Ploué, and the then head of brand design, Alexandre Malval. Born out of a direct competition between Citroën designers from Vélizy and Shanghai, the Suv is already on the roads of China: the European version, now presented, differs basically in some details, particularly in the interior. A Suv, certainly, but without ever…

Creating a compact luxury vehicle is certainly no novel exercise for the car industry, or for Peugeot-Citroën's most refined and valued brand, committed to this project since 2010. The new crossover, the smallest in the line (although not replacing the original three-door DS3, which will stay in production for another two years or so), does, however, represent an interesting break from some other manufacturers' equivalents and, of course, the French group's own past. Design Director Thierry Metroz proudly confirms, “Although this model is in the B segment, some of its features are certainly from the D segment, two categories higher. The flush-mounted door handles, for instance, that pop out automatically when you approach the car within a 1.5 meter radius: a unique feature that changes the design of a fundamental…

To saturate itself in a variety of cultures, a company has to be present in different geographical and social areas. Fully aware of this, after opening its Advanced Design Centre in Los Angeles last year, Gac has now inaugurated a new style centre in Shanghai. A long journey took us right to the megalopolis that is now the hub of Chinese creativity, and one of the capitals of world design. The new design studio is located in a renovated old factory in the former industrial district of Shanghai, an emerging area now called the Yue Jie Expo Park. The new design centre is managed by David Hilton, an American designer with a background in Ford, Bentley and Nissan who has come to know China in the final years of his…

Two young entrepreneurs and a dream: to rethink the technological architecture of the car as we know it today, simplifying it as much as possible and creating a multitasking environment. This is the aim of Tuc Technology, a startup based in Turin, Italy, founded by Ludovico Campana and Sergio Pininfarina that has invented a new method for connecting in-vehicle equipment to the car. Tuc can be likened to the USB socket on a PC for connecting whichever components the user requires, or a plug like the one for connecting a smartphone charging socket. The structure is extremely simple: a platform with a number of fixing points to which all the elements inside the vehicle can be connected without the need for any additional components. This innovative system makes it possible…

When it first appeared in Geneva in 2017, that strange object with high-tech contours seemed to correspond perfectly to the name Italdesign had in mind for it: Pop.up, like a cut-out from the future, popping up unexpectedly from an urban scene that was still becoming reality. A daring dovetail of types and functions, a marriage of car and plane, consisting of a two-seater cell, a platform with the mechanical units for road driving and an eight-motor drone for flight, all driven electrically and autonomously. Aim: to make the two forms of transport hybrid and modular, on the ground and in the air, to optimize movement in the cities of tomorrow, also taking in the idea of car sharing. Prestige partner in the operation: Airbus. A year and a half later,…

“2019 will be an explosive year for Seat, the moment we finally present the first fruits of our new design strategy”, a keenly enthusiastic Alejandro Mesonero-Romanos, Director of Design at the Spanish company, reveals. “The previous renewal cycle started in 2012, with the launch of today’s Leon, followed by the Ateca, Arona and the latest Ibiza. These were important elements in the construction of our brand identity. But now we are ready to move forward again: we have four new cars with very significant shapes making their debut in the period up to and including 2020”. In this context, the biggest of the sport-utility cars in the range, introduced to the general public at the Paris Motor Show in October, is an interesting trait d’union between two phases destined to…

While in Europe the big motor shows are exhibiting unquestionable signs of decline, the Chinese shows continue to grow and to record full houses in terms of manufacturers present and number of debuts. This was confirmed in November by the Guangzhou international exhibition, the most important in China after those of Shanghai and Beijing, which alternate every year in April. The theme at Guangzhou 2018 was “New technology, new lifes” and of course electrification is the main chapter in this new life of the car. Sales of electric vehicles in China are increasing at such a rate (+80% in 2018, with almost 1 million units sold) that many manufacturers have created new sub-brands totally dedicated to their production. The objective is to ensure China's leadership as the main producer of…

Designing a completely new car can be complex, but putting your hands on a success is even worse. The Toyota Rav4 carved out a new car segment for itself 20 years ago. Over the years this has become a real trend and at this moment in time its success is at its height: we are of course talking about city off-roaders, namely Suvs and crossovers. “We have reached the fourth generation of the Rav4, but there is a common thread that links it to its predecessors. Basically two aspects have remained unchanged despite several years having gone by. The first is what is called Waku-Doki, a Japanese expression meaning the emotion deriving from the freedom to go wherever you want in a fun way. The second is the refined style,…

Renewing the challenge for the future, piecing together visions and strategies in a constantly changing environment, can be difficult for businesses in areas like the automotive industry, traditionally based on the centrality of the product. Creative processes might be constrained by a logic overly focused on the vehicle as an object or, vice versa, blind to the world around them. Italdesign appears to have averted this risk, despite (or perhaps thanks to) a long history of practical innovation: “We invented bodywork without drip rails, but now we regard cars as parts of a more complex ecosystem”, they say, smiling, when they talk about their march towards the future. “Cities are set to explode" explained CEO Jörg Astalosch: “The UN estimates that 70 percent of the world”s population will be living…