Table of contents for No. 162 in AUTO & DESIGN

The new concept car due to be unveiled this March at the Geneva Motor Show by the European Design Institute is called beON. Designed by the students of the RSP master’s course in transportation design, this is a full-scale model of a visually bold hybrid vehicle. This is a two-seater off-roader designed to be equally at home in the concrete jungle or off the beaten track that reconciles striking design with environmentally friendly performance. The nineteen students involved in the project developed numerous proposals, from which the initial proposal for the beON was selected. The full scale model itself was built by IED’s long standing design partner, Cecomp. Si chiama beON la nuova concept car che l’Istituto Europeo di Design svelerà quest’anno sul suo stand al salone di Ginevra…

After 25 years of clashing dates and struggling to earn recognition beyond the admittedly vast confines of North America, the Los Angeles motor show has now moved from January to the beginning of December, and out of the shadow cast by the NAIAS show in Detroit. In response to today’s feeble sales – a phenomenon that always brings the role of design to the forefront – the revised show is focusing on creativity. The Californian West Coast and, in particular, the Los Angeles region with its style and advanced design centres, enjoys a unique climate – both in terms of weather and mentality – and feels the burdens of the struggling automotive industry less intensely. As a result, the LA Motor Show offers an innovative, upbeat alternative to the more…

By keeping the same model name for forty years, from 1966 to 2006, the various generations of the Toyota Corolla have notched up record breaking numbers (32 million cars have been sold bearing this name). For its first C segment model designed completely in Europe, the top brass of the Nagoya based marque has decided to make a revolutionary break with tradition – at least in terms of naming – presumably to give it a competitive edge in the Old Continent’s ruthless mid-sized car segment. This new generation, presented first at Paris as a prototype in golden yellow livery and then at the Bologna Motor Show in production version guise, will go on sale as the Auris in Europe, whereas the Corolla name will be kept for the rest of…

A compact car with an image and an architecture based once again on a predominance of glazed surfaces – albeit in a completely different interpretation to the earlier Roomster – and with a powerful emotive valence that conveys the enthusiasm and freshness with which Skoda is winning over an increasingly loyal clientele. With the Joyster concept presented by the VW group’s Czech brand at the recent Parisian motor show, the design centre headed by Mlada Boleslav reveals another part of the picture defining the future family features of the marque’s range. Upon seeing this completely functional and running prototype based on the platform and mechanicals of the production Fabia, one can’t help thinking that this is a preview of an imminent B segment model or a study into a possible…

Pietro Frua a accompli la plus grande partie de son œuvre en dehors des grandes maisons de carrosserie. Son caractère bouillant et fantasque s’accommodait mal des carcans de l’industrie. Néanmoins, nous lui devons quelques créations qui ont laissé leur empreinte dans l’histoire du style italien. Bourru, rigolard, colérique et creatif: Pietro Frua était une des grandes figures de la carrosserie italienne. Son imposante stature, sa silhouette de rugbyman trapu était un silhouette familière pour tous ceux qui fréquentaient les salons internationaux, au cours des années 1950 à 1970. Pietro Frua ouvrit son premier atelier, la Carrozzeria Pietro Frua, en 1944. Il avait tout juste trente et un ans. Mais il avait auparavant rôdé son art, au cours des années 1930, en travaillant pour plusieurs entreprises de carrosserie de la région…

A Volvo that isn’t a Volvo? Seeing the new C30 on the roads of Sicily, the first impression is that the Göteborg based marque has – fortunately – slightly missed the mark. There’s no doubting that the car is agile, youthful and funky in both petrol and turbodiesel guise. But, in spite of the all-new package, the car still offers all those characteristics that Volvo has spent so many years developing and cannot – and indeed must not – simply abandon by the wayside. I am referring to a sense of solidity and safety, but also a degree of minimalism – especially in the interior – that smacks of quality, not austerity. Volvo deserves great credit for managing to reconcile its traditional values with the youthful passion exuded by the…

SsangYong’s decision to only build SUVs has certainly been a wise strategic move. The typically off-road stance of the Musso and Korando models now looks decidedly dated, and the new styling direction inaugurated by the Rexton, the flagship designed by Giorgetto Giugiaro, succeeds in conveying the brand’s core values of technology, quality and value for money. While the Kyron broadened the brand’s positioning to encompass a broader clientele, the Actyon will open up new market segments for SsangYong. Measuring 4.45 metres in length, this is a latest generation crossover, an SUV coupé offering dynamic and responsive handling on the road. The design is defined by extremely short front and rear overhangs – vital prerequisites for real off-road driving – and an aggressive front, with a distinctively shaped grille set back…

In furniture design today, there is a tendency to break free of formal stiffness and sobriety, yet without straying excessively into transgression, adding a pinch of imagination and expression to revitalise an object and make it more intriguing - seductive even. In particular, there is interesting research into the suggestion of a three-dimensionality of surfaces, making them more vibrant, intricate and filled with elements used as decorative motifs. The most obvious example of this is the chair designed by Patricia Urquiola for Moroso – an example of haute couture design, in which the textile upholstery cladding the steel structure consists of a ‘dress’ of petals made by stitching together triangular elements in either felt and cloth or cloth and leather. Depending on one’s mood, the upholstery may be used with…

“When I started as director of Renault style in 1987, the activities of the centre were jokingly called ‘exterior design’ and ‘inferior design’. Many things have changed since then.” This anecdote was from Patrick Le Quément, who spoke at the Corus Automotive Industry Forum held on November 30 last year at the Transportation Museum in Coventry, coinciding with the ICONS – The Coventry University Automotive MA Design Show, an exhibition of projects by the transportation design students of the British university. Confirming his statement on how much interior design has grown in importance in the development of new cars is the winning project for the Best Vehicle Design Award, a prize given to the three projects by the students deemed to be most interesting by a panel of specialists. The…

To create a proper Italian car once again, the sort of car that appeals both at home and abroad for being strongly expressive yet simple, with a design and proportions that are instantly pleasing. This was the essence of the brief given to Fiat designers for the 198 project, a mid segment hatchback to replace the Stilo. The job was made all the more difficult by the legacy inevitably left by the older car for the next generation. Controversial in many aspects, the design of the Stilo was never really successful. “I always thought that it should have been left a little longer in the oven to melt and soften those sharp corners”, jokes Frank Stephenson, current chief of design for Fiat, Lancia and the LCV division (light commercial vehicles),…

Design school students are often criticised for being out of touch with reality and for giving in to the easy temptation of making excessive use of the imagination to hide a lack of technical skills. What would happen, however, if the roles were switched and established designers were given an opportunity to express themselves with no restraints, unbound by the uncompromising and constant comparison with reality that their work is normally subjected to? For the past three years, the LA Design Challenge in south California – the heartland of the creative spirit and environmental vanguard of America, and home to the design studios of numerous national and international auto manufacturers – has attempted to provide an answer to this question. During the LA Auto Show, the Los Angeles conference brings…

Founded 140 years ago as an industrial military manufacturer, first of weapons, then of engines for military vehicles, Changan has recently joined the general drive for mass mobilisation in China, retooling and modernising its plants to produce civilian vehicles. The first stage of this initiative entailed the production of rebadged Japanese (Suzuki and Mazda) and Western (Ford and Volvo) cars, but, over the past six years, the Chongqing based manufacturer (in central China) has designed and developed its own models with the assistance of external design consultants. For the past five years, the brand has been collaborating primarily with Idea Institute in Turin, so it was only natural to “choose Turin as the headquarters for Changan Automotive Europe, as we are now familiar with the environment there, and because of…

“A touch of the Grand Tourer, the sporting spirit of the coupé and plenty of styling coherence with the S Class flagship presented a year ago.” This is how Peter Pfeiffer, design chief for Mercedes, described the new CL at its debut at the Paris motor show. A few months have passed since then and the recent addition to the Stuttgart based marque’s range has gathered a rather enthusiastic reaction from both critics and public, confirming that the “modern horizon of Mercedes style”, as Pfeiffer defines the recent evolution of the three pointed star’s design language, elicits more approval than dissent. “This design language, which we inaugurated with the S Class, consists of expansive, pure surfaces, well defined lines, sculpted details and a general design consistency and will be extended…

A completely new Mini which, at all costs, had to look exactly the same as the model it replaced because, as the saying goes, ‘if it ain’t broken, don’t fix it’. This was no easy task for Gert Hildebrand and his team of designers, but in the end, they succeeded. “To understand what has changed, you need to stand the two cars side by side”, he says, “only then are the substantial differences immediately obvious. Importantly, the new model doesn’t make the previous car look old.” BMW chief of design and Mini design director Hildebrand’s boss Chris Bangle, concurs: “We wanted this to be an evolution of the Mini icon. We therefore retained all the styling cues that the little car by Alec Issigonis has been carrying around for almost…

The term ‘crossover’ is usually associated with large cars, often with a strong off-roader element and the volumes of a large estate, perhaps with a coupé-esque slant to the rear pillar conferring a sense of dynamism to the whole. Crossovers, however, may also be inspired by many other vehicle types, with completely different results. An example of this is the D-Compact X-Over presented by Daihatsu at the recent Paris motor show. This city car sized vehicle (3.75 m in length) manages to be taller than an average B segment model without becoming an MPV. Its design is the product of a fusion between two different design philosophies – that of the Japanese marque (and member of the Toyota group) and that of Italdesign Giugiaro, which was responsible for defining the…

The new Pajero and Outlander models complete the line-up of Mitsubishi’s next generation of 4x4 off-roaders, ushered in with the L200 pick-up. The 4x4 sector is very dear to the Japanese marque for a number of reasons, not least of which the fact that it accounts for 35% of the brand’s sales in Europe. The two cars are completely different in character. The Outlander, a classic SUV, is the first car to use the platform developed together with DaimlerChrysler and destined to underpin ten future models from both manufacturers. It will also serve as the basis for two SUVs planned for 2007 from Peugeot and Citroën. The Pajero (in both 3 door and 5 door estate versions) is decidedly more of an off-roader and is the latest iteration of a…

The Fiat Panda is an authentic automotive phenomenon. The first generation, launched in the 1970s, revolutionised the concept of the compact car and went on to become a huge success. The new generation, which made its debut in 2004, follows faithfully in its predecessor’s footsteps, offering a great package that to date has won over more than 650 thousand customers in Europe. In short, people love the Panda. They love its friendly styling, its well-put-together, versatile, interior and the extensive choice of versions on offer which, after an all-wheel drive variant, special editions and even rally models, has now been further broadened with two new additions, the sporty 100 HP and the alternative fuel Panda Panda. The Panda 100 HP, on sale at 13,400 Euro, is the bad boy of…

Urban mobility, particularly in zones with historic city centres, is an issue of increasing complexity. Be it due to physical layout or to poorly organised authorities, cities are often incapable of responding adequately and with environmental coherence to the necessities of citizens and workers who have to move around them on a daily basis. The Faculty of Architecture of the University of Genoa has been studying this issue for some time, with many proposals presented in the form of degree theses. Over the years, the students have concentrated on a number of different aspects of the problems: such as improving the conditions of public transport, facilitating private mobility consistently with problems of pollution and the study of commercial and work related journeys. A number of proposals for public transport have…

“China has already overtaken Japan as the world’s second largest automobile market and, within 10-15 years, it will oust the US from its position as the world’s largest market”, proclaimed the China Daily, the nation’s official English language newspaper, proudly celebrating the inauguration of the most recent edition of ‘Auto China’, the biennial show now in its ninth edition, which, for the first time, showed that it had serious intentions to become a part of the global circuit of major international motor shows. Effectively, even though the major European, North American, Japanese and South Korean marques still hold the largest slice of the domestic market, which reached 5.17 million sales in the first three quarters of 2006 – 30% more than the previous year – local manufacturers are now becoming…

Attracted by the city’s automotive vocation and also by an academic partnership, in the summer of 2005, the Chinese light commercial vehicle constructor JAC (Jac Anhui Jianghuai Automobile Co. Ltd) – which has recently also branched out into the passenger vehicle segment – set up base in Turin with a highly innovative design, research and development centre. The focus on innovation and research is proven by the choice of the Environment Park science and technology park in Via Livorno as the centre’s initial site, and confirmed by the centre’s relocation, at the start of 2007, to a new site near Turin Polytechnic, with which JAC has recently sealed an agreement for joint research programmes into vehicle dynamics, safety and alternative drive systems. A year and a half after his arrival…

BMW’s two SUVs – although, fastidiously, the Bavarian marque prefers to call them SAVs, or Sports Activity Vehicles – have changed face, but it is certainly the X3, rather than the X5, that has benefited most from the cosmetic surgery by Chris Bangle and his team. “We were very careful with the X3 at its launch”, explains the design chief of the German brand, “because we didn’t want the public to confuse it with the X5. But, after a few years on the market, this danger ceased to exist, so we decided to add something new to the X3, while the X5 has moved more upmarket with a more accentuated sense of quality.” After 260 thousand units sold of the original version in just two and a half years, the…

Pietro Frua did most of his work beyond the confines of the large coachbuilding companies. His impulsive and capricious character did not agree with an industrial mindset. Nonetheless, some of his creations have helped define the history of Italian style. Brusque, jovial, irascible and creative: Pietro Frua was one of the great characters of the Italian coachbuilding industry. His imposing stature, with broad rugby player shoulders, was a familiar sight for everyone who visited international motor shows between the 1950s and 1970s. He opened his first studio, Carrozzeria Pietro Frua, in 1944 at the age of just 31. However, his skills had been honed earlier in the 1930s, working for many coachbuilders in the Piedmont region and regularly collaborating with Stabilimenti Farina. Frua went through a particularly troubled stage in…

Italian styling, German engineering and the craftsman skills of the Turin coachbuilder come together in an initiative to create special versions in the purest sense of the term. This was the path chosen by Alfredo Stola for StudioTorino, the company he founded in 2005 with his wife Maria Paola and associate Marco Goffi, following his decision to sell almost all of his personal shares (he has kept just 15%) in the family company that still today bears his name. This is a path that has brought the name of Alfredo Stola together with that of the German Alois Ruf, director of Ruf Automobile, a company known throughout the world (it will shortly be inaugurating a new production facility in Bahrain) for its incredible Porsche-based creations. The result has been two…

After its official presentation at the Mondial in Paris, the production version of the Kia Cee’d is now ready to hit the streets bearing the same name as the concept car shown at the 2006 Geneva motor show. The name itself describes the nature of the car: with C obviously being the segment to which the model belongs, ‘CEE’ referring to the fact that this is the first car from the South Korean brand to be built within the European Union, and the overall sound of the name – pronounced ‘seed’ – indicating that this car is a seed from which the future of the manufacturer will grow to promising new heights, now that it has consolidated its foothold over the years with competitively priced cars, especially in the most…

When we use furniture, we are not always aware of the levels of sophistication achieved by many of its components, some of which are vital functional elements. These include hinges, feet and handles but also those mechanisms needed to make furniture movable – the most important of which, naturally, is the wheel. ‘Rotola’, designed by the Turin based company Adriano Design – founded in 1999 by brothers Davide and Gabriele – and manufactured since 2005 by OGTM Officine Meccaniche, a company specialising in this field, revolutionises the wheel system in furniture, translating a new concept of rotary motion into physical form. By fusing the rolling body with the hub, the entire object acts as a wheel but with a radically altered appearance, as it has become a hoop rotating around…

One of the most important problems that the world will be faced with in the near future is the issue of energy and mobility. This problem will lead us to redefine current vehicle concepts, essentially in terms of resource usage, journey times, vehicle capacity, types of fuel and noise pollution. This concept, developed for a possible future aircraft, is an interesting example of this new thinking. For the time being it is just a prototype, a set of digital images simulating the plane soaring through the blue skies. The sturdy profile, with its swollen belly vaguely reminiscent of the gondola of a Zeppelin, and the expansive, uninterrupted and sinuous surfaces echoing those of a manta ray, belong to what is claimed to be tomorrow’s quietest and most ecological aircraft. A…

Overall, the nine concepts developed by the students of transportation design at Umeå University as their thesis projects may be best described as exercises in style that express creativity in their forms, innovative conceptual research and environmental awareness. The projects proposed a wide variety of vehicles, from coupé, SUV and compact city cars to trucks and even vehicles for space tourism in view of a not so distant possibility of holiday trips to Mars. The projects have been designed for a mobility scenario predicted for the year 2020, yet while belonging to a purely hypothetical futuristic context, they all respect the boundaries of feasibility and are not simply the products of pure fantasy. In keeping with the teaching methods adopted by the Swedish institute for years, the students were allowed…

To say that the primary intention of designers today, in all industries and all areas, is to create things that do not exist yet is to state the obvious, and this growing need for innovation and research is probably driven by the ever increasing demand by consumers for new, at times eccentric but undoubtedly original products. In this pursuit of the extravagant (which often risks straying into the realms of the pointless), it is often a line, a colour or a texture that makes the difference and defines true innovation. It is precisely in the originality and balance of a project that the skills of its creator, the ability of the designer to express his or her own creativity while offering the right response to the demands of the market…