Table of contents for No. 239 in AUTO & DESIGN

When Giorgetto Giugiaro designed the Hyundai Pony Coupé, presented by his Italdesign at the Turin Motor Show in 1974, he certainly could never have imagined that forty-five years on his styling research would be the inspiration for a concept car, the 45, with which the Korean manufacturer aims to open a new chapter in its history, a chapter dedicated to electric propulsion. “Maestro Giugiaro was able to craft that concept in total freedom, the same freedom we enjoyed in taking our Dna into a new dimension. A heritage transported into the future on an EV platform”, says SangYup Lee, Senior Vice President heading up Hyundai design. We met him in Frankfurt on the eve of the Show, together with his project team, to sneak a preview of what proved to…

“A clean break with the past, a total transformation”. The conversation with Klaus Bischoff, head of Volkswagen brand design, at the style centre in Wolfsburg, began with an explicit concept: the task of the ID.3, the first electric car from the German manufacturer built on the Meb platform, is to revolutionise Volkswagen’s image and perception. "From now on, we will be presenting products that make a clean break with the past. Everything changes, we will no longer be offering just cars, but mobility services”, says the German designer. A U-turn that has direct and evident effects on the design of the manufacturer's electric cars, which Bischoff calls the "ID family" and of which the compact ID.3 is the founder member. "The ID.3 inaugurates our new styling principles. The first, friendliness,…

A surface area of more than 12,000m2, double compared to the previous studio located in Whitley; 906m2 of windows to ensure natural light reaches the warm and welcoming environment; a 4K digital LED wall of some 11 metres; 10 modelling platforms that enable designers to create up to 20 clay models at the same time: these are just some of the new Jaguar Design Studio’s numbers. The studio was inaugurated last 26 September in Gaydon, in the renewed Design and Engineering Centre of Jaguar Land Rover. The structure, which those at the head of the British manufacturer don’t hesitate to define the “most technologically advanced Design Studio in the world”, is organised around the Heart Space: a cooperation hub characterised by six main environments in which 280 people interact. These…

Opel changes its skin Since the German manufacturer was bought by Groupe PSA, a revolution has begun in terms of the style of the products and the models in the range, thanks to the use of the French group’s new platforms and the arrival of new economic resources. “This has been a huge opportunity for us, that has enabled us to focus more on our clients’ wishes, renewing ourselves without transforming ourselves, heading off the risk of losing our own identity”, recounts Mark Adams, head of design for Opel, whom we met at the International Motor Show Germany. Belonging to the same group does not mean making the same choices, rather: “I meet my French brand colleagues when we deem it necessary and not on a fixed and regular schedule.…

A completely new space for a tried and tested formula: the 16th edition of Autostyle was held on 3 and 4 October at Villa Corte Peron in Marmirolo, near Mantua, the ideal setting for an event that is eagerly awaited by the international design community. It also provided an opportunity to remember the 40th anniversary of Auto & Design, with the celebratory exhibition taking place at the Museo dell'Automobile in Turin and the commitment of Fulvio Cinti and his team to work with Autostyle from the very beginning. An important new development was also the international representation, starting with the managers of large companies, such as Kevin Gilboe from 3M Design and Faik Karaoglu of Wacom. Dialma Zinelli of Dallara gave the go-ahead to the design conferences, pointing out that…

How can a car bring ethics to everyday mobility and still combine, harmoniously, the needs of today's society with respect for nature? “Through an approach that takes into account user needs, packaging, style, aerodynamics and feasibility”, says Lowie Vermeersch, founder and Creative Director of Granstudio, who worked with his team to develop the Lightyear One, the first solar-powered car to reach the market. “We came into contact with the world of solar-powered vehicles a few years ago, when we gave our styling support to a team of students from the University of Eindhoven that had won the World Solar Challenge. It was the initiative of some of those students that led to the Dutch Lightyear start-up and the concept of this car”, he says. “Working on this project has been…

Between design and industry, creativity and feasibility, there is a shadowy zone in which small but expert enterprises - known to those in the field, but not to the wider public - move, like Superstile. Superstile rises up in the Moncalieri industrial zone not far from Turin - a zone that boasts quite a number of these kinds of businesses. It is a business “4.0”, flexible and connected, in which tradition and technological development evolve. The structure is its secret: Superstile employs between 15 and 20 people, 25 in the lead-up of the motor shows, equally divided between designers, milling-machine operators, and model makers. In fact, 90% of their work is done in house, even mould patterns. This includes the mould patterns used in rolling, which, together with the structural…

Some car brands have never stopped making their fans dream. Bugatti is one of them. For Ettore Bugatti, founder of the company, making traditional cars was never an option: his aim was always to roll out real thoroughbreds, to use an equestrian metaphor he was particularly fond of. "In the same way, today we design cars that are unique in the world. Our focus is always to walk in the steps of our styling tradition, referring constantly to our past and using citations from it. At the same time we look to the future with functional forms and highly innovative elements, supported by new technologies", says Frank Heyl, Deputy Design Director of Bugatti, whom we met on the sidelines of the Frankfurt Motor Show. The methodology adopted by the designers…

Changan Automobile has established the Innovation Laboratory inside the Changan European Designing Center. Outstanding designers from all around the world work here to explore new possibilities of Changan Design. Their common goal is to vitalise users’ life with design. They are enthusiastic about constant trying, restructuring and thinking out of the box to help the company redefine Changan Design. This will drive continuous evolution and breakthrough of Changan Design to bring users brand-new experiences. Designers from 23 countries and regions work together in this international team integrating diverse cultures, methods and styles for a common goal. They communicate sincerity by design and create miracles by innovation, upholding the aspiration of “solving users’ problems with design”. Changan Design pursues the beauty of vigor in life and intends to translate this aesthetics…

logical follow-through of The X and The V concepts is the Xing, a mass-produced vehicle from Venucia: a Suv characterised by striking performance features and aspirations to elegance. The brand has existed since 2010 but since 2017 it has been an independent subsidiary of Dongfeng, one of China’s "big four", in a joint venture with Nissan. The Xing debuts on 22 November at the Guangzhou Motor Show and incorporates the design philosophy developed by Venucia and inspired by a fusion of solidity and tension. It is a design that emphasises harmony and unity of form, light and shade, with taut structural lines and rich surfaces lending the exterior an extremely dynamic appearance of great expressive power. It represents a very innovative break from the mould of previous Venucia vehicles. A…

Mobjects have become a reality as a result of the start up of the same name that will soon begin production. Born as a research study for urban micro mobility within the Turin design house Granstudio in 2012, the project has gone through multiple development stages (see A&D 219) aimed at exploring the potential for autonomous driving applied to a sort of piece of urban mobile furniture also earmarked for pedestrian areas. "It's a movement experience that spotlights that range of city distances that are too long to walk, but too short to justify using a taxi, waiting for a bus or renting a bicycle”, explains Lowie Vermeersch, founder and Creative Director of Granstudio Mobjects are mimetic and able to blend in with their surroundings thanks to the use of…

The message at the entrance speaks clearly: "Transformation of Luxury", say the words on the door arch. We are in Sophia Antipolis, not far from Nice, at the headquarters of the new Mercedes-Benz design centre, one of Mercedes design’s five international centres. It in effect replaces and expands the scope of the Italian centre in Como which is mainly dedicated to interior design and materials: on the Côte d'Azur, designers work on projects for exteriors, interiors, colour&trim, UX and product design, as well as monitoring new trends all round. “With a studio like this we can fulfil what is in our DNA, namely continue to redefine the concept of luxury”, says Gordon Wagener, Design chief of the Daimler group, as atelier doors were opened to outside visitors for the first…

Cupra’s electric moment has arrived. After the Formentor, the plug-in hybrid concept car presented at the last Geneva Motor Show, the Seat sports brand reaches zero emissions with the Tavascan, a SUV-coupé prototype and manifesto for its future. “This vehicle shows Cupra’s future through innovative and unconventional lines”, explains Alejandro Mesonero-Romanos, head of design for Seat, whom we met at the International Motor Show Germany where the concept debuted. “It all started with a conversation with members of the board of directors. Future mobility will be electric and we are heading in that direction with a family of ecological and sporty SUVs: from now on, there will be a surprise at every motor show”, Mesonero says, smiling. One of the key priorities in designing an electric vehicle is the continuous…

Elegance, dynamism, and sportiness. Three words that summarise the essential features of the Juke’s second generation, the Nissan crossover designed especially for the European market. “Changing a reference model isn’t easy. In Europe alone, more than one million Jukes have been sold in nine years, a total success that was achieved thanks to a strong, disruptive design. Almost all the customers wanted to buy the car for its look, above all”, Mamoru Aoki, head of design for Nissan Europe, explains. For the second generation, we opted for a change of gear. A real inversion of the tendency that led designers to soften the initial lines, smooth out the surfaces and blunt the edges, obtaining a less garish, more elegant style. “With the first generation of Juke, we wanted to amaze…

Original, enchanting, inimitable. Defined as the Japanese bike par excellence, the two-wheeler is back in a modern guise. Designed by Rodolfo Frascoli, he tells us how it was (re)born. When it was first presented in 1981, the Suzuki Katana represented a real revolution among two-wheelers. A mould-breaker, it proposed stylistic solutions twenty years ahead of its time that left people thrilled and disoriented. Today the Katana is back, in a more modern and – to a certain extent - more conventional guise. It re-interprets the original concept not with a simple revival operation, but by drawing inspiration from the previous model to relocate it in time, giving rise to an original motorcycle, usable, attractive and… beautiful. It was designed by Rodolfo Frascoli, who was thunderstruck by it when, as a…