Table of contents for No. 165 in AUTO & DESIGN

We need to remember the role once played by the Concours d’Elegance as a scenario for stylists to present their latest creations. Today, the Villa d’Este Concours takes us back several decades in time. This event offers an opportunity to discover historic design masterpieces. Wandering through the magnificent gardens at Cernobbio, we selected five cars which have significantly influenced the history of car design. Alfa Romeo 6C 1750 Gransport “Flying Star”, by Touring, 1931 The third edition of the “Coppa d’Oro di Villa d’Este” was held on September 12 and 13, 1931. It was here that Josette Pozzio presented a “Flying Star” created by the coachbuilder Touring. The long bonnet and contrasting short passenger cabin give rise to perfect proportions. The ornamental detailing accentuates this harmony with a chrome strip…

Seat stole the show at Barcelona with the official presentation of its first production 4x4, the Altea Freetrack. The car was already previewed in concept guise at Geneva, with a showy externally mounted spare wheel emphasising that this is the Spanish marque’s first foray into SUV territory. The definitive car launched at Barcelona is, however, more in keeping with contemporary trends favouring a crossover look over more overt off-road cues. The spare wheel has gone back into the boot, but the all-road vocation of the car is corroborated by sturdy, matt grey scuff cladding protecting the front, the tail and the wheelarches. Apart from 40 mm more ground clearance, other features distinguishing the Freetrack from the Altea XL on which it is based are a skid plate under the tail,…

When the Peugeot 206 hit the streets in 1998, in the midst of a period dominated by buzzwords like edge design and styles defined by straight lines, sharp edges and imposing volumes or friendly designs, with rounded, reassuring shapes, many snubbed the car. Some considered it to be too distant from the current trends, even calling it already dated, and predicted that the car would have a short lifespan and would soon be replaced by a model more in keeping with the rest of the market. Yet the 206 became a remarkable success story in terms of both sales and image, and its perfect proportions cast the mould for the style of the marque’s entire range for years thereafter. This style is still recognisable today in the new 207 which,…

A few years ago, Inview – one of the most influential publications on the design ideas of the future – ran the headline “Materials are the message”. This simple slogan expresses the richness and the sense of substance that research into materials and the aesthetics of surfaces, themselves an inherent part of a project, offer to a wide variety of design fields. This research focuses on the concept of ‘polysensoriality’, bringing all the senses into play in relation to the finished product; recycling, applied to both materials and processes for increased sustainability; and sharing technologies across different areas, tangibly encouraging true innovation. At the recent Furniture Show, materials were the central theme of the exhibits at a number of the most interesting stands, alluding to the link between content and…

More personality, but without losing the styling strengths that determined its success. After half a million units built in four years, 63,000 of which sold in Italy alone, the Ford C-Max (the word “Focus” has been dropped from the name) aims to reconfirm its stake in the compact MPV sector with refreshed styling for the exterior and interior. The car makes a good first impression, with an attractive look developed in keeping with the Kinetic Design philosophy which, as Ford Europe design director for the C-Max Claudio Messale explains, embodies energy in motion even when at a standstill. The revised front, inspired in part by the larger SMax, features a single-piece bumper, split grille, a bonnet consisting of three distinct surfaces and a different design for the lights. Changes at…

With a little imagination and without the constraints imposed by construction, even heavy trucks can assume unusual and interestingly varied forms. The students of the course in Transportation Design at the European Design Institute in Barcelona kept this very much in mind during a project conducted in collaboration with DaimlerChrysler. Martin Kreidl, manager of the truck design team, assisted the students in every step of the project up to the final presentation of their work to director of truck design Bertrand Janssen. Bio-stallion by Carlos Carrasco draws inspiration from the image of strength, power and agility of the horses which once pulled the wagons of the pioneers. The large air intakes at the front and the aerodynamic forms, on the other hand, are evocative of racing cars. Pau Castello proposes…

One of the strong side effects of Chris Bangle’s strategy at BMW is that he resisted the temptation to soften the sometimes controversial designs, despite public criticism. And right he was, since from the compact 1-series to the exotic 6 - series coupe and convertible, all of the creations he and his team have delivered have added to BMW’s individualistic image. But eight years after the presentation of the Z9 concept study at the Frankfurt motor show, the time was ripe to evaluate all the work done since, and enter the next stage of creativity of the Munich brand. “Let’s call it romantic,” Bangle said in Shanghai where the latest BMW Concept CS study was presented. But he leaves telling the detailed story of this 5.11 meters long flagship limousine…

With less than a year to go before the start of the programme of events for the Turin World Capital 2008 initiative, the Associazione Tecnica dell’Automobile (Automotive engineering association) and the Turin Chamber of Commerce organised the international conference entitled “Car Design Towards Higher Challenges” which, on May 7 and 8 this year, drew representatives of the design centres of major carmakers, consultants, automotive OEMs and a number of schools of transportation design to the Torino Incontra congress centre. Oliver Boulay, director of the Mercedes-Benz advanced design centre at Yokohama in Japan, presented an analysis entitled “Global Warning” (which earned the prize for best presentation given at the end of the convention) on the “conflict between global markets and local needs”. Retracing the origins of the European, American and Asian…

In the overall scenario of the past decade dominated essentially by sofas with low backs and deep squabs, consisting of simplified, reconfigurable volumes, over the past few years there have also been signs of interesting new research which, in this edition of the furniture show, finally enters the realm of the commercially feasible. The designs by Patricia Urquiola – the most prolific designer in the field – explore various different directions, all sharing a sense of informality for a friendly, easygoing home. Her Fat Sofa for B&B, for instance, upholstered in two-tone, tactile fabric, consists of solid, soft and rounded shapes, which come together to form a welcoming oasis. Her Bergère-Légére for De Padova is a reinterpretation of the classic sofa, raising it up on a lacquered metal frame and…

Neither a quad bike nor a styling exercise, the X-Bow presented at Geneva is a street legal, compact, rear mid engined, rear wheel drive sports car with an almost motorbike feel that is ready to race on the track. Not only is this a good-looking machine, it also boasts extraordinary technological content, developed in a pan-European project involving major names such as Audi, Kiska, Magna Steyr, Dallara, Brembo and Dainese. It all started in 2005, when the Austrian KTM and Kiska Design – which share a working relationship dating back fifteen years – decided to create something far removed from their familiar areas of expertise. KTM is a motorcycle producer established half a century ago, which became famous in the 1970s for its dirt bikes. The company currently makes offroad…

The proposals by the third semester students of the course in Industrial Design at Fh-Joanneum in Graz – coordinated by professors Bernd Stelzer (design), Georg Wagener (engineering) and Werner Kleissner and Walter Lach (modelling) – redefine the image of one of the commonest objects for personal grooming, the razor. The projects all began with an in-depth study of the design, technologies and materials currently implemented in the manufacture of this object, to then develop new interpretations of its ergonomics and aesthetics to enhance practicality and ease of use. Le proposte dei ragazzi del terzo semestre del corso di Industrial Design dell’Fh-Joanneum di Graz - coordinati dai professori: Bernd Stelzer per il design, Georg Wagener per l’engineering, Werner Kleissner e Walter Lach per la modellistica - ridefiniscono l’immagine di uno dei…

At Villa d’Este, the world’s oldest Concours d’Elegance – founded in 1929 and now one of the most important events of its kind, with BMW’s involvement and the return to former glories of the prestigious Hotel di Cernobbio, in its elegant setting on the shores of Lake Como – it is not uncommon for extraordinarily beautiful cars of the last century to be just as successful now as they were when they first made their debut. Beauty, it seems, is also timeless for the automobile. Indeed, the pleasure of rediscovery, accentuated by the aura of nostalgia, only increases a car’s appeal. An appeal that is not dulled by the years or lessened by changing fads. This attraction will never fade as long as whoever owns the car cherishes it like…

A “human inspired silhouette” is how the designers describe the elegant, sinuous forms of the A5 – considered by some critics to even be too classical and minimalist – which were defined by a project starting in 2003 after the presentation of the Nuvolari Quattro concept at Geneva. That prototype, however, was merely the starting point for the creation of a much more evolved production model. “The Nuvolari did influence the project, but we also followed a different theme, with more in common with the genetics of our ‘quattro’ models”, explains Satoshi Wada, senior designer for the exterior of the A5. “In particular, I drew inspiration from the Audi Quattro Sport Coupé of the 1980s. That car was decidedly more functional in orientation than our current, more emotive precepts. We…

According to a number of reliable sources heard after its presentation, the most highly acclaimed of all the Chinese branded concepts at Shanghai 2007 will soon become a highly original production model, built by Chery. The Shooting Sport unveiled by the Asian carmaker on April 20 is a highly feasible study for a midsegment car resulting from an analysis of the current Chinese market scenario. The car was developed in just three and a half months by Roberto Piatti’s firm Torino Design, which started from a number of key considerations: “The idea for this study came from a dialogue with the Chery management. China is evolving very quickly in every sector today, and this means that it is becoming a place where trends are born and develop. There is a…

The ‘baby Benz’ of twenty-five years ago has grown into a mid-sized lady with grand aspirations. In keeping with what has become a tradition at Stuttgart, the arrival of the new generation – in this case the fourth – of the C Class also ushers in a change in strategy for Mercedes although, for once, not to unanimous approval. To conquer the leadership of the mid sized premium saloon market – the D segment – the team headed by Mercedes design chief Peter Pfeiffer has essentially remained faithful to the styling cues of the S Class, albeit with a touch more aggressiveness. As Pfeiffer himself says: “We followed the same design philosophy, an expressive language with very clear, tense lines alternating with silent surfaces.” In short, as he says: “less…

The mountain environment and Alpine sports are an integral part of Austrian culture and social life. The meagre snows and frequent sunny days of last winter revealed a very different mountain scenario from the ones we are used to. While global lifestyles alter in an attempt to contain the consequences of the harm done to the environment, the students of the sixth semester of the course in Industrial Design at Fh-Joanneum in Graz tackled the problem with a project focusing on the Austrian Alps – a tourist destination drawing approximately 100 million visitors from all over the world each year. The students addressed the issue of climate change with solutions that not only safeguard the natural beauty of these mountains – a part of Austria’s national identity – but also…