Table of contents for No. 244 in AUTO & DESIGN

A three-pronged relaunch of a 1960s icon. The Ford Bronco is re-born in its sixth generation, 24 years after the end of the fifth, and is purposefully inspired by the first, 1966 model that is now one of the classic and most sought-after off-roads. A four-door version is being added to the typical two-door version of previous generations for the first time: both have clear ambitions characterised by more extreme adventure in the wide American spaces. But there is also a less extreme Bronco, the Sport, which may also touch European shores in the future: an SUV that doesn’t abandon the off-road features and four-wheel drive, but is aimed more at road use. “Three cars”, Paul Wraith affirms, “which are devised, designed, and constructed for adventure, with a very clear…

For everyone in Turin, the fascinating complex of buildings on the hills that have had a breath-taking view over the city since the 1920s is simply Villa Gualino. Strangely enough, Turin has almost forgotten who Riccardo Gualino, an eclectic entrepreneur and patron, was. But it was precisely in Villa Gualino that a new chapter in the history of Torino Design, the automotive design centre founded in 2005 by Roberto Piatti, began in October 2019. "After almost 15 years of the company and 250 projects completed, we had to decide how to continue our growth," says the CEO in his studio surrounded by greenery. "The primary goal of a start-up is to consolidate itself and build a reputation with its customers. This is what we did, until we found ourselves increasingly…

Although now firmly front and centre of every manufacturer’s expansion plans, the development of entirely emission-free crossovers can still reserve unexpected conceptual issues. “This car is our first venture into the field so we started from the proverbial clean slate, a new platform that will also be proposed in future by the group’s other brands”, explains Alfonso Albaisa, Vice President Nissan Design. “It took three years of commitment, due to the innumerable innovations in terms of autonomous driving and connectivity. When the Ariya arrives on the market in mid-2021, it could become another historical benchmark for us, like the Qashqai and Juke were before it. And yet it wasn’t easy to get the project off the ground, starting from the layout”. The problem, continues the designer, is all about personality…

With its new UConnect5 infotainment system, FCA takes a huge leap forward in terms of functionality and connectivity. But in addition to the technical features, this technology enables the Italian-American group to explore new avenues in terms of graphics and interface. We asked Peter Jansen, head of FCA’s User Experience Design Lab, how it was born, how it was inspired and what guidelines lie behind the software that debuts with the New 500 and will be gradually adopted by all group models. “UConnect5 is a global system”, explains Jansen. "It’s our future infotainment generation for all FCA Global brands. It is the outcome of consolidated experience generated at Chrysler, and that has arrived in Europe in more recent times. But it is not just a simple evolution of the previous…

For a number of years now, León has been not only Seat’s best-seller, but also the conceptual inspiration, in terms of design, for other models cooked up in the Martorell workshop. A new term has even been created: people talk, in fact, of “León-ising” this or that model. Now the story repeats. In its fourth generation, and much richer in features compared to the previous ones, the León exploits its new dimensions and the resulting new proportions to offer a formal language to vehicles that will emerge in the next few years. “By simplifying the structure of our design”, Alejandro Mesonero-Romanos explains, “we have instilled the new León with a lot of elegance. It is a new simplicity, in a noisy automotive world, which still expresses a strong character”.…

In a fast-moving country like China, car design runs, if possible, even faster than elsewhere. Manufacturers, even those who are still defining or consolidating their identity, still have to keep pace with a society that is changing profoundly in terms of lifestyle and needs. “This was the context that saw the birth of UNI-T, a crossover that expresses how we see our future”, explains Chen Zheng, Chairman of Changan European Design Center, based in Turin, Italy, and COO of the Changan Automobile Global Brand. "This car is the forerunner of a new family of models and specifically targets the Z Generation. It has been designed to meet the needs of today’s 20-year-olds, the customers of tomorrow”. The UNI-T’s breakthrough design targets the next generation of drivers. The project got underway…

If over the years we have seen a component of absolute utility such as the brake rise to the rank of styling icon, much of the credit must go to Brembo. The Lombard company has built up a position as leader in braking systems not only as a result of its technical quality, but also due to its focus on product appearance and recognisability, including colours. So much so that it has created a specific work team, almost a design centre proper, named Brembo Stile, made official last autumn at the IAA in Frankfurt. A "signature" today consecrated by the collaboration with with Polestar that has led to the development of the first brake caliper specifically for this customer designed to the manufacturer’s request. For Alberto Ferrari, Brembo’s Marketing Manager,…

The global Covid-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on school and its dynamics. Remote working and virtual dialogue have, in fact, characterised the majority of this school year, substantially changing the habits of students and teachers throughout the world. Creativity, however, has not come to a halt, and the desire to communicate has overcome every boundary. So, at the end of June, the usual event for presenting students’ final theses for the “Automotive + Transport Design” course at the University di Coventry was not skipped, but held via virtual appointment. On these pages, we offer a selection of projects that, with innovative, sometimes outside-the-box, solutions, look to the future of mobility in various sectors. La pandemia globale da Covid-19 ha avuto un impatto significativo sulla scuola e sulle sue…

“The key to success lies in differentiating your products to the utmost. They must have different personalities if they are to fit perfectly into the company. Just like human beings”. Simon Loasby, Head of Hyundai Styling Group, has a clear vision: since arriving at Hyundai in mid-2017 to take over the styling of the Korean brand’s cars, his aim has been to give a different face to each name. “The idea that family feeling should be the obsessive driver of designers' pencils is a thing of the past. I don't think it’s any longer a value to present large model offerings with the most diverse architectures but which, at the end of the day, are all so similar that they become confusing," says Loasby, on the line from the Hyundai…

Mercedes-Benz goes vertical. The new version of the MBUX multimedia system, controlled by a large display positioned vertically at the top of the centre console, makes its debut on the S-Class flagship. A radical change of pace that takes a completely different approach than in the past and could extend to other upcoming models out of Mercedes. “The vertical set-up is more ergonomic and natural and also responds to safety demands: the ongoing increase in the size of horizontal displays would certainly have compromised visibility”, Gorden Wagener, head of design for the Daimler Group, tells us over the phone from the Stuttgart style centre. This solution, born in the main out of collaboration between Stuttgart and the design centres in Beijing and Shanghai, is also an offshoot of empirical experience:…