Table of contents for No. 207 in AUTO & DESIGN

The Lamborghini Gallardo has been the most successful vehicle ever to come out of the Italian supercar maker’s design studios. Designed by Luc Donckerwolke in 2004, more than 14,000 examples have found homes in the garages of wealthy enthusiasts over its 10-year production run, making it the brand’s most successful supercar ever sold. Creating a successor to a successful model is always difficult, but that’s exactly what the Sant’Agata-based design team was asked to do. The result is the Huracán, a supercar with dramatic cab-forward proportions named after a Spanish fighting bull that fought in the late 19th century. “Huracán wants to be not just a supercar but a car that can be used daily,” says Filippo Perini, Head of Lamborghini’s Centro Stile. “For this reason, our brief was to…

The third generation Twingo, says Laurens van den Acker, “has kept the playful spirit of the original, not the form” because, he explains, “this was not supposed to be an exercise in retro design”, and the new car does in fact have its own distinct personality. But it also seems to be the descendant of another Renault icon: the R5 or, rather, the R5 Turbo. The French brand’s visionary design chief says that as well as embodying Renault’s new design philosophy, the Twingo also completes the carmaker’s new generation of small models (together with the Clio, Captur and Zoe). “But it couldn’t be a mini-Clio, because then it would have had too grown-up a face, while a small car like this deserves to be iconic and even a little rebellious.”…

“Wacom Cintiq Companion Hybrid is my own mobile studio, a versatile product whose most important advantage is practicality” explains Michele Leonello – a designer with long experience in the automotive sector, having worked for over 6 years in the Design Center at Alfa Romeo and now collaborating with automotive brands as owner of a consulting studio – giving us an idea of the crucial role played by digital graphic display devices for today’s designers. We met Leonello at the Milan Scuola Politecnica di Design, where he lectures in the Master’s Course in Transportation Design, during a practical session in Digital Rendering. “I travel a lot, and the Cintiq Companion Hybrid means I can always take the material I’m currently working on with me.” As well as being an extremely useful…

This year some prestige anniversaries were celebrated on the banks of Lake Como where the 85th edition of the ultra-traditional Concours d’Elégance was held. The marques on display were more than ever in keeping with the atmosphere of the venue; Maserati with its century of life, Rolls Royce with a story 110 years long, in harmony with the “Great Gatsby” theme selected by the organisers as the basis for the 2014 edition. And again, albeit part of more recent history, the thirtieth anniversary of the BMW M5, a car celebrated by the German Group which sponsored the Concours once again. The Modena Trident brand was able to drink to a prize-packed centenary: the Best of Show trophy went to the Maserati 450 S of 1956 and victory in the Concours…

Few car designers have not been impressed by the radically styled 1936-37 Cord models 810 and 812. Front wheel drive was a rarity then, and fully unitized body and chassis construction equally unusual for the period. But what really set the Cords up as icons was the total absence of anything remotely resembling a radiator shell or grille. Gordon Buehrig was named chief designer of Duesenberg in 1929, when he was 25 years old, but returned to General Motors in 1933, where for an internal design contest he conceived a “faceless” front without grille or headlamps. It was judged last among four entries, so Buehrig returned to Auburn-Cord-Duesenberg to create a “baby Duesenberg,” a cancelled project transmuted into the 800-series Cords. Fewer than 3,000 were made in the two years…

Which is the better solution - touch screens, conventional controls, with buttons scattered over half the dash, or, perhaps, the multifunctional dial/joystick controllers seen in Germany’s finest? The car and the design of its interior space (and its infotainment systems in particular) are at a technological crossroads: should it embrace solutions borrowed from smartphones and tablets, or choose a more traditional path, simplifying and improving along the way as Mercedes has done? The three-pointed star has evolved its dial controller by adding a touchpad controlling a display on the dashboard that looks like a tablet, but is not touch-sensitive. BMW has followed a similar route with the newest iteration of its Connect Drive used in the latest Mini, while brands like Opel are opting for a multiple approach: with a…

Automakers are constantly trying to find new ways to appeal to buyers, and the recent popularity of crossover coupes is no different. Following the runaway success of the Range Rover Evoque, the compact crossover coupe niche seeks to appeal to fashion conscious buyers with an eye on image rather than practicality. The TT Offroad concept takes the venerable coupe of the same name to the next level, literally. The plugin hybrid, built on Volkswagen Group’s MQB architecture, takes the DNA of the coupe and offers an elevated ride height and two additional doors. Measuring in at 4.39m in overall length, 1.85m wide and 1.53m tall, the concept is nearly identical to the Q3 dimensionally, albeit 80mm lower. The exterior design has an aggressive demeanour, emphasised by a large grille, thin…

Gilles Vidal, design director at Automobiles Peugeot, always expresses a clear, outspoken message when discussing his latest creation. So for Exalt, Peugeot’s Beijing Motor Show car, he only needed a few phrases to explain what this sleek saloon is all about. “The message is multiple,” he said. “First of all, the Exalt presents the future outlook in terms of proportions and shapes for a saloon that could be acceptable in Europe as well as in other markets. But it is also about studying premium and upmarket materials, and finding a balance between the hitech race and timeless traditionalism and craftsmanship. Not only with pure and rough natural materials but also with the help of local skills and sourcing. In other words: we wanted to establish cultural links with our regional…

Retain all the features that decreed its success while adding new styling, dynamism and finish criteria, with the aim of fostering further developments. This was the briefing for the sixth generation of the Fiat Ducato. An authentic “giant” in the world of light commercial vehicles, with a story going back 33 years, 2.6 million units sold, and leadership in Europe. A work vehicle, of course, but whose aspiration has always been to offer something extra in terms of styling and comfort. And if from this point of view the fifth generation in 2006 marked a clear divide between itself and its predecessor, this new family has developed those same concepts to deliver what is in effect a completely new vehicle. “Its development”, explains Roberto Giolito, Head of Design at Fiat…

While the two Infiniti show cars were presented this April during the Milan Design Week, the adventure together with the renowned furniture brand Poltrona Frau began two and a half months earlier in the central Italian Marche region. During a visit to the Interiors in Motion division of the company, we witnessed the final stages in the preparation of the two “extreme, special” versions of the Q50 and QX70. Here, skilled artisans interpreted the guidelines defined by the Infiniti team headed by the brand’s Executive Design Director Alfonso Albaisa to transform the interiors of the respective cars. The underlying theme is the contrast between two opposite identities – one angelic, expressed in light tones, and the other diabolical, clad in dark tones. The venture marks the beginning of a relationship…

They say that three is the perfect number, and even the motor vehicle world offers a number of cases proving it to be true. In the years after the Second World War, the three-wheeler configuration provided the solution to get light transport back on the road, with vehicles like the Piaggio Ape, the Aermacchi Ercole and the little Empolini – not to mention the Harley-Davidson Servicar. And still today, it is a highly popular choice in certain markets. For transport vehicles, the architecture of choice has always been the same – with two driving wheels at the back and a single wheel at the front for steering. That said, history has also seen a fair share of oddities, such as vehicles with the rear end of a moped or scooter…

“The industrial design of Walter Maria de Silva spans the artistic and the technical, and is the perfect expression and fusion of the culture of thought and the manual skill of the artisan, masterfully marrying ars – or craft – with ingenium – inspiration.” With this introduction, Ivano Dionigi, rector of the University of Bologna, presented the honorary degree in design to the design chief of the entire Volkswagen Group in a ceremony held on June 7 at the Aula Magna di Santa Lucia. The numerous guests attending the event included VW Group president Martin Winterkorn, and innovation and development director Ulrich Hackenberg. This is an important accolade in recognition of de Silva’s work, the global scale of which was clearly put into perspective in the Lectio Magistralis given by…

On the back of the heritage left by the model launched in 2008, the new Ferrari California T enters the arena in a spirit of harmonious evolution and an aesthetic guise that melds innovation with tradition. “The car has been completely redesigned in full respect for the particular features that made the prior model famous but with a design of modern connotations in which certain references to the brand’s GT tradition come together with new sports cues”, explains Flavio Manzoni, head of Ferrari design. The development of the California T involved both the Ferrari Style Centre and Pininfarina which, with the constant supervision of Flavio Manzoni, and the guidance of Fabio Filippini (Pininfarina design chief) and Fabrizio Valentini (deputy head of design at Pininfarina) – took part in defining the…

“Luxury is a concept that must be continuously redefined. We have almost a century of history, but our customers look ahead and want to know what the near future will be like.” With this premise, BMW Group design chief Adrian van Hooydonk introduces the Vision Future Luxury unveiled at Beijing. The name leaves no doubts about its mission: to redefine the aesthetic canons and content of the luxury flagship saloon. “Concept cars are a direct link with where we are going at the design centre. Over the past ten years, however, we have only created a couple of ‘vision’ concepts.” He is of course referring to the futuristic Vision Efficient Dynamics from 2009, conceived to reinterpret driving pleasure in a lighter and more evolved form (and which was the main…

The Intrado crossover presented at Geneva this spring is not just the European face of Hyundai-it may well be the future face of the Korean brand itself. “It represents a new interpretation of our Fluidic Sculpture 2.0 formal language defined by Peter Schreyer” explains Roberto Kühn, who was responsible for the exterior design of the concept under the direction of Thomas Bürkle. This is in fact the first complete design exercise developed under Schreyer, who last year, after years as chief of Kia design, was also put in charge of Hyundai style. “Fluidic Sculpture was very three-dimen-sional, fun and exciting” continues Kühn. “With version 2.0, we’ve kept the essence of this but made it more sophisticated and defined.” You’d be mistaken, however, if you thought that the Intrados (the name…

The longstanding partnership between the Transportation Design Master course run by the Scuola Politecnica di Design for recent graduates in industrial design, engineering and architecture, and Volkswagen Group Design, continues. The aim of the Volkswagen method is to extend the experience of students and raise their level of professionalism. The sharply defined working methods employed are intended to create made-to-measure professionals able to work in VW brand design centres. An ongoing productive relationship made up of mutual confidence is established between students and the Group which Volkswagen gives expression to by awarding scholarships to the best students and, upon completion of the master course, the chance of a work placement in their style centres as was the case, for example, with Denis Zhuravlev and Andreas Van Speybroeck at VW’s Braunschweig…