Hatchbacks. Not exactly a premium image, yet they seem to be making a comeback this year: both this BMW 5 Series GT and the forthcoming Porsche Panamera will introduce the hatchback idea as the latest format for luxury car buyers. We remain doubtful as to whether it works: several designers we spoke to felt the Ford S-Max or the new Toyota Venza cover this crossover area more convincingly than does this design, which seems to lack the dynamic ingredients so necessary in a BMW.
In many ways the interior is more successful. Talking to designer Oliver Helmer, he explained his idea of a basic flow of forms from front to rear, best seen in the way the front door armrest twists as it runs through the B-pillar, taking on a concave form and terminating in the C-pillar trim. This trim wraps behind the individual rear seat and forms a second folding panel to seal the interior from the trunk, accessed by a dual-mode trunk/hatchback similar to that of the Skoda Superb Twindoor. The high contrast tan and cream leather environment is punctuated with milled lime wood inserts with thin aluminum accents embedded within the veneer. The seats feature a new flat woven fabric made from horse tail, although it's a slightly odd choice of seat material with a very hard touch that reminded us of a pair of golfer slacks for a Palm Springs retiree.
As a showcar idea it's intriguing: a mix of 7 Series platform, X6 upper cabin profile and concept CS styling cues combine to make an interesting statement, yet the idea that this might make a compelling new market niche for a production model is far less convincing. Mercedes tried this with the R-Class remember, with disastrous results: it's a sad fact that rich people with families distance themselves from the hatchback format in any way they can and we fear the production version could well miss the mark for a successful new BMW.
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Nissan's Qazana concept is a design study that showcases ideas for a future small crossover from the Japanese firm. Developed from an initial sketch by Matt Weaver under the direction of Alfonso Albaisa at NDE, Weaver also followed the concept as project manager during the seven month build process.
Designed to be a more youthful, urban version of the successful Qashqai crossover, the Qazana features interesting design that blends elements of a sports car and an SUV. "It's a car contrast," Weaver told CDN, "We're trying to mix sporting dynamics with the look of a buggy." He did however concede that the design is polarizing.
The front aspect of the car is the most imposing, with large headlamps in recesses and framed with LED rings at the edge of the grille, an element reminiscent of a Rally car. Mounted above the fenders either side of the hood are smaller lamps that serve as the eyes of the car. The front and rear skidplates for example are a plastic element that contrasts with the hue of the car, an element repeated in the smoothed out wheelarches that wrap under the wheel well and into the soft bodysides. The slim DLO and transparent door mirrors are accented by a sloping roofline that extends rearward to the boomerang taillamps, derived from those first seen on the US-spec Nissan Maxima and again on the 370Z unveiled in LA.
Access to the minimalist interior, by senior designer Paul Ray, is gained via two conventional doors at the front and two smaller suicide-style rear doors. There is no B-pillar. Once inside, the sporting theme is also readily apparent: door panels with exposed metal lend a mechanical feel and the center console has been inspired by the fuel tank of a motorcycle, alluding to outdoor activities. Hard and soft materials interact with one another - such as the mesh material that covers the carbon fiber seat structure and the rubber covered floor that can be easily cleaned.
Celebrating the 20th anniversary of Nissan's Infiniti luxury brand, the dramatic two-door two-seat Essence concept features classic GT proportions blended with existing Infiniti design elements, pointing to the company's future design direction.
The fruit of a global individual competition, the design was initially penned by designer Aroba Giovanni while at NDA in San Diego California, who has since moved to work at Nissan Design in Tokyo where the concept was refined and developed. Speaking to CDN, product chief designer Mamoru Aoki told us how the concept was inspired by big waves and Japanese brush strokes. "The idea comes from the power of nature," Aoki said, calling the design theme of the complex surfacing "comfortable complexity."
Powerful front fenders lead into the strong, slightly curved body side, which features a pronounced beltline ledge that contours the DLO. When seen in profile, this horizontal element and deep concave undercut bridges the voluptuous surfacing of the body side, emphasizing the front fenders and pronounced rear haunch. The chrome C-pillar element, which Aoki says will see production in a future model, is particularly interesting as it creates a concave surface aft of the C-pillar that dissipates into the rear deck. In the trunk is a bespoke luggage set created by Louis Vuitton, which extends out of the vehicle on a parcel shelf when the trunk is opened.
The two-tone interior, created by two designers at Nissan's Japanese studio and a designer at NDE in London, is divided into two very distinct parts: a dark-grey driver-oriented cockpit and the burgundy-colored passenger area. Utlizing materials such as Alcantara, traditional leather and horse leather (which gives a technical look to the IP area surrounding the gauge cluster and the center console), the exterior design theme has also been filtered into the cabin. The chrome window switches, HVAC, and audio controls on the center console also communicate the minimalist design approach.
With its expressive and avant-garde design, the concept certainly pushes the design envelope, yet still manages to be refined and elegant. And its complex convex and concave surfacing, though polarizing, has already been widely accepted by BMW buyers.
Casual observers have likened this preview of a smaller Rolls-Royce to the old adage 'same sausage, different length'. Yet seeing this car next to the bigger Phantom it's easier to appreciate the differences, the 200EX uses all the typical tools available to a designer to create a more sporty appearance: the screens are more raked, the DLO is shallower, the grille is raked further rearwards and there's more tumblehome. However, the biggest identifier against its more familiar sibling is around the rear roof: the 200EX has a faster third side window and a much slimmer C-pillar.
The fact that this model shares major components with the new 7-Series BMW in no way detracts from the luxury experience either. This is way more than a reskinned F01 7-Series and gives Rolls-Royce a significant new model that can compete head on against the Bentley Arnage. Just to put it in perspective, for the price of the cheapest Phantom you'll be able to buy one of these and still have enough money for an S63 AMG S-Class.
Design-wise, the front end is the best of any current Rolls-Royce: there's a much nicer integration of the bumper beam than the Phantom and the front grille continues the enveloping frame from the hood that was introduced on the Phantom coupé, but here the designers have found a new way to terminate the base of the grille by wrapping it neatly back into the lower grille aperture in a totally contemporary way.
The interior is superb too, managing to achieve a new sophistication over that of the more formal Phantom. The biggest difference from the larger car is the lack of a flat floor: here we have a conventional deep tunnel separating the passengers, although the rear hinged 'coach doors' and curled sofa ends to the rear seat maintain the unique Rolls-Royce ambience. Our only gripe is that it's being called a concept. There's nothing desperately conceptual here and anything less than this for production will now surely disappoint.
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Volkswagen chose the eve of the Geneva Motor Show to unveil its new fifth generation Polo supermini. With a sharper and more contemporary design, the Polo features understated design elements Volkswagen Group Head of Design Walter de'Silva calls "the new look of Volkswagen".
Speaking to CDN, de'Silva said that the familial similarities - such as the Scirocco /Golf face - where necessary to keep it coherent with the German brand's design philosophy and within the product hierarchy. And while the Polo's heritage is obvious, it does have its own personality: "The personality comes from its simplicity," de'Silva said. "The era of overdesign is over; here we have a few lines, nice surfacing, clean, end."
From the front, the car's longer headlamps, thin upper grille and honeycomb lower grille insert recall the Golf and Scirocco models, but the headlamps incorporate eyebrows within the housing and the chin spoiler beneath the bumper combine to lend an overall air of aggression to the design. Departing from the headlamp are three creases which subtly communicate dynamism: one crease extends from the headlamp and climbs over the hood while the other two find their way to the edge of the fender, detracting from the overall height of the front when seen in profile. The crease at the farthest edge becomes the shoulder and extends the width of the car. At the rear, the sinister look is continued in the taillamp design, which also features an integrated eyebrow graphic, but the design retains the precision found on other models in the range through a simple aesthetic.
But if the exterior design is returning to simplicity, having lost its geometric product design-type appeal - a direction Volkswagen has been moving away from for some time now - the interior is so understated that it verges on being boring. Functional though it is, the large flat surfaces are austere and lack character. Fortunately the consistent level of material quality is on par with other Volkswagen-branded vehicles.
Toyota was making a lot of noise about the new Prius, which made its European debut at a private function in Geneva on the eve of the first press day. But the Japanese automaker also unveiled the new Verso compact MPV, designed at Toyota's European design studio ED2 - the same studio that created the new Prius. The third generation Verso aims to stand out in the segment and increase driving enjoyment, an element atypical of practical and spacious MPVs: "People should not have to settle," chief engineer Masato Kasumata said.
The exterior design, honed in the wind tunnel at ED2 in Nice, France, seeks to avert the stereotype that a practical people carrier needs to have a tall boxy shape. Designers have sought to exemplify a dynamic design by fitting bulging front headlamp units - that stand proud of the concave hood surfacing - and an interesting swage line that sweeps up from the front wheelarch and up the C-pillar before connecting to the spoiler at the rear. This novel, fluid arc - a visual separator Toyota has coined 'Dual-Zone exterior styling' - appears a bit contrived however, clashing with the door shutlines as it reaches the C-pillar. This need to differentiate has also seen negative surfacing applied around the door handles, making the bodyside appear over-designed.
Inside, the Verso's interior features a wave-like form over the center-mounted gauges, a theme described as 'smart wave dynamism' by Toyota designers, which leaves the IP area in front of the driver open and enhances the sense of space. Set into individual cylinder housings, the speedometer and tachometer are canted towards the driver and slightly offset, but the hood that forms the arc above unfortunately extends over the protruding center stack element and onto the passenger side of the IP, making the design appear disjointed and unresolved. The bulging center stack, door handles and steering wheel feature titanium-look inserts - regrettably made of plastic - that also give the interior a low-rent feel, contrasting with the leather grain-effect of the IP's lower section.
Combining practicality and safety with desirability, new Verso will appeal to customers who want and expect more than just a functional car, but we're not entirely convinced by the overall design aesthetic.
Last autumn the general public only got a glimpse of a front wing of Aston Martin's forthcoming £1.2m supercar at the Paris Motor Show. Showgoers at the Geneva show this year will see a whole full-size exterior model revealed.
The One-77 represents the most extreme Aston Martin yet, as design director Marek Reichman confirmed: "The One-77 is lower than the DBS, DB9 and V8 Vantage, wider than all of them (at two meters), has the longest wheelbase in the range, and an overall length a little longer than a DB9."
Beyond the proportions, the graphic language is also extremely bold for an Aston, featuring a massive deeper grille, unusual air intakes that appear to cut into the front light clusters and two huge side scoops that stretch half way along each door. Exterior designer Miles Nurnberger explains his inspiration: "I visited the Luigi Colani exhibition at the Design Museum in London and saw this beautiful plane, a white cylindrical thing with an orange pilot sitting in a very technical section inside the main fuselage - it was like a volume within a volume. With this Aston it's like the grille is everything and this powerful thing is coming through the car with the wheelarches clamping it."
This version is still without an interior though. The complete car will be unveiled at the elite Concorso d'Eleganza car gathering at Villa d'Este, Italy, in late April. By then, Aston's designers say the interior will be finished in high quality materials and some of the car's high-tech, low weight carbon fiber chassis will be exposed within the sporty cabin. Slightly revised front and rear exterior lamps using F1 technology will also be fitted to the final version.
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The DS naming is part of a new brand strategy for Citroën. The idea is that these ‘Distinctive Series' cars could come to be seen as the next step on from over-hyped premium cars, thus more in keeping with today's zeitgeist and thus a 3 model sub-brand range will be offered encompassing DS3, DS4, DS5. The DS Inside is the preview of the forthcoming DS3 model likely to be revealed at Frankfurt Show in September, a Mini Clubman-sized two-door wagon, based on the C3/Peugeot 207 platform.
Two versions have been produced: the ‘alluring' version released in the original press images with dark brown bodywork and a metal-flecked roof and a second ‘dandy elegance' version seen here at the show with deep grey color and contrasting bright pink roof and rearview mirror housings.
Although it's called DS Inside, the interior was the one part of the car that was not available for viewing, Citroën preferring to keep that part of the story for the later production launch. However we can confirm that the DS Inside model was fully production-ready, complete with pressed panels, wipers and glass seals, so there will only be detail changes for the DS3. In addition, viewing the car wasn't easy, as it was presented in a darkened room behind the main booth, with low levels of colored lighting that made photographing the dark grey car very difficult.
Seen from the side, the most notable feature is the way the shoulderline is terminated behind the door and turns up into the kicked-up B-pillar treatment, meant to resemble a shark's fin. At the front, the vertical gills on either side of the big chrome trapezoid grille continue this shark theme of the design. Overall, the new DS Line is a promising development and we look forward to seeing the finished result later this year.
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The Spark is the replacement for the Chevrolet Matiz here in Europe, with target competitors such as the Suzuki Swift, Hyundai i20 and Ford Ka in its sights. The production design is an evolution of the Beat concept shown at the 2007 New York Auto Show and was designed in GM's Korean design studio, although speaking to Vice President of Design Tae-Wan Kim, he explained the production design seen here was in fact well under way when the Beat concept was shown.
The most notable aspect of the exterior is the very deep front end to the car, with a pronounced core line that extends from the A-pillar over the tall, wraparound headlamps. This deep front face end features a familiar twin port grille with a herringbone mesh, divided by a newly-redesigned Chevy ‘Bow Tie' emblem. "It's a confident front end: a small car but not afraid of big SUVs" explains Kim.
The design team tried as much as possible to get some volume into the bodysides within tight width dimensions. Moving the rear door handle up to the window area helped to allow more freedom for the door beam and window glass drop, and thus more sculpture in the door. "Plus it gives an impression of a 3D coupe," Kim continued. Having said that, the impression from inside is somewhat claustrophobic, with a very thick C-pillar and the positive impression of a low beltine at the front is reduced by the large black cheater panel areas and door mirror mountings.
The interior is notable for the use of large areas of body color used on the IP, door uppers and door storage bins. According to Kim, this gives more excitement to appeal to younger customers moving up from scooters, and the motorcycle-type meters mounted on the steering column extends this idea.
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The relevance of this Ford concept is not too hard to decipher: sized firmly in the Focus segment with a high-ish roofline and ‘MAX' in the title, its proportions pretty much give it away. And with the previous two Iosis concepts - the Iosis and Iosis X - leading to the Mondeo and Kuga respectively, it seems likely the Iosis MAX will inform the look of both the next generation C-Max and Focus due from 2010.
There are plenty of showcar flourishes from clever two-stage front and rear doors to the Aeron office chair-a-like mesh seat inserts, but the basic rakish silhouette, small DLO and deep, large trapezoidal lower grille with slim horizontal upper grille (like the new Fiesta) could well make production relatively unscathed.
The interior, led by Ernst Reim, is light and spacious with skeletal-style slim seats hanging off a central spine allowing for storage space and the feeling of space underneath. In a nice link to the exterior, the central driver's dial has translucent angular sections surrounding it in a similar way to the eyelash-like daytime running lights around the front LED headlamps. More neat touches include the unique mounting arrangement to allow the binnacle to move back and forth with the steering wheel to keep an optimum view of the instruments, and the unusual geometric surface texture and pattern on the instrument panel and floor.
From exterior through to interior and color and trim, this concept is yet another example of the consistency and excellence of Ford of Europe's design team right now.
The Namir concept is a joint venture between Giugiaro design and the famous pre-war English sports car company founded in 1923, which has bee specializing in the construction and marketing of hybrid systems since the early 1990s. Technically it's interesting, featuring a hybrid electric drivetrain comprising an 814cc rear transverse rotary petrol engine coupled with electric motors installed on the front and rear suspensions - developing an overall power of 362bhp - yet has very low emissions of 60g/km of CO2.
From a design perspective it's less impressive, although it's still a striking Italian supercar. A diamond theme dictates the design from all points of view, drawing its inspiration from the historic logo of the Frazer-Nash name. Seen in plan view or side view it works OK, but it's a fairly contrived approach for an all-new brand and the over-use of graphics to define the design leads to a number of functional shortcomings. The diamond-shaped air intakes on the bodyside can be seen as a graphical extension of the pronounced V-shape to the top and base of the screen. However, visibility from the driver's seat is very limited, while the lean-forward B-pillar severely restricts entry, though the little triangular extensions from the doors into the roof seem to be an attempt to redress this.
The interior features brown Alcantara and leather, with baseball stitching used on the seat sides, plus herringbone tweed cloth used on the lower dashboard. Three touch screen monitors are installed behind the hexagonal single spoke steering wheel.
In summary, the Namir disappoints and appears as a collection of old-school Lamborghini ideas: the basic profile, scissor doors, number of intakes, even the orange color. It would have been nice to see a more original styling approach for a newly revived brand.
Not content with simply showing the One-77 concept model, Aston Martin also chose the 2009 Geneva Motor Show to reveal a new concept car for its revived Lagonda sister brand on the second press day (Wednesday 4 March).
Aston's intention is to make Lagonda about luxury travel and enable it to enter emerging markets like China and Russia where out-and-out sportscars are less successful. To differentiate it from the forthcoming four-seat Aston Martin Rapide, the four-seat Lagonda's shape is demonstrably more grand tourer or four-wheel drive luxury crossover than low-slung sports coupe.
However, the result is large and high-sided with huge 22-inch wheels and a massive virtually upright front grille. In profile, especially in the early press photos, its clam-shell roof with blacked out A- and B-pillars recalls the side profile of the Saab 9-X BioHybrid concept, but in the metal, its much greater size and height, chunkier wheelarches and distinctive protruding rear end with cool pillar-box slot rear window, quickly dispel that notion.
The cabin feels suitably spacious and calm inducing given the long distance travel for which it is intended, with generous head and legroom. The luxurious interior was designed by ex-Citroen man Steven Platt, (also behind the inside of the acclaimed 2006 C-Metisse concept). Beyond the usual high-quality leather and metal appointments, the defining detail of the cabin is the diamond-cut pattern faux fur around each seat collar with more inside various cubbyhole areas.
While tramping the halls, we heard precious few positive comments from other designers regarding the Lagonda concept's aesthetics, many comparing it unfavorably with the acclaimed concept from Moray Callum, launched here in 1993. While the decision to position the Lagonda as a crossover model to distance it from the svelte Rapide is understandable, the lack of subtlety in its design is surprising.
The ix-onic (pronounced "ik-sonnik") concept is a preview of the next Tuscon, designed in Hyundai's Russelsheim studio under the leadership of Thomas Buerkle. With a length of 4400mm and 1650mm tall, it will compete with softroaders such as the Nissan Qashqai, Honda CR-V, Toyota RAV4 and BMW's new X1. The aim of the design was to use Hyundai's 'dynamic sculpture' design philosophy to fuse a light, elegant and sporty upper body, with belt lines flowing off both the front and rear wheel arches, to a tough, planted lower body. In this respect the design seems to succeed and the modeling of the sculpted fenders is beautifully handled.
Although it has similarities to a Ford Kuga from some angles, there are some good details here. Note how the lower black body and chrome side protector indexes nicely with the exhausts and the use of a fascinating asymmetric free-flowing texture within the main grille. The hexagonal grille shape itself is an evolution of the style introduced on the 2006 Genus concept car and the 2007 HED-4 Qarmaq. Like this latter car, Hyundai have collaborated with SABIC Innovative Plastics to use their "Exatec- glazing" to incorporate extra features into the rear glass. For example, a U-shaped depression surrounds the wiper and the third stoplight is incorporated in the upper part of the rear window. Like the exterior, the interior is close to production intent, with crème white leather trimming and illuminated ice blue accents.
The ix-onic is an excellent demonstration of how far Hyundai design has improved in the past five years and it was interesting to note how close the showcar displayed at Geneva will be to production: apart from the 21-inch polished aluminum wheels we'd expect the main elements of this design to remain intact.
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The Duster is the first concept to come from the revived Dacia brand, owned by Renault, and was designed as a collaborative effort between Renault's central European design base in Bucharest, Romania and Renault Design Technocentre in Paris, where the model was built. This crossover design aims to showcase the brand's core values - namely simplicity, robustness and authenticity - in a ‘surprising' form and the result was a nice addition to a Geneva show where genuine concept cars were in pretty short supply this year.
The Duster has a distinctive stance to it, with a short, stubby hood, big white 21-inch wheels, a very raked wrap-around windscreen and a long 2804mm wheelbase and the combination gives an appealing Tonka-toy character to the car. The design features a number of interesting ideas such as an asymmetric door layout, floating rear quarter panel and new seat stowage arrangements.
The rear is the most notable view of the car. The vertical rear window has an engraved Dacia logo and is framed by arrow-shaped taillamps with a triangular hole within them. The idea is that air flows freely along the vehicle's flanks before being jettisoned through these rear lights and the aerodynamic, wing-like forms of the roof-mounted direction indicators also channel airflow towards the rear. The overall impression reminds one of the recent Renault Ondelios concept seen at Paris Show, although the Duster adopts much more orthodox volumes and graphics than the larger Renault.
Complimenting the anthracite gray exterior is a cabin finished in two-tone chocolate and blue. The interior features a deeply bucketed driver's seat pad that curls up into the wraparound console surface allowing the passenger seat to slide underneath it on rails concealed in the floor. Thanks to a recess in the floor and a strap located under the dashboard, this space can be used to carry a trials mountain bike.
It might have a very similar name and profile to the i-MiEV Sport concept shown at the 2007 Tokyo show but the i-MiEV Sport Air is significantly different in many areas from technology and exterior dimensions to styling and interior layout.
The 2009 i-MiEV Sport Air is still an interpretation of a possible future sporty two-plus-two Mitsubishi EV with an identical 2550mm wheelbase to the 2007 i-MiEV Sport, but this version is 200mm longer (3650mm), 120mm higher (to 1520mm and also sporting a removable glass sunroof thus the moniker ‘Air' in its title) and 30kg lighter (940kg) courtesy of an aluminum space frame.
The 2009 i-MiEV Sport Air now uses a single motor to power the rear wheels as opposed to the two in-wheel motors at the front and a single motor at the rear in the 2007 i-MiEV Sport. The newer concept's front face sports bubble-shaped details in the bumpers - one on each side acts as a fog lamp - and a more pronounced nose with semi-transparent solar panels in the bonnet.
This overtly electric circuit board design motif is continued on the all-new inside's centre stack and even on the foot pedals within an electric blue, grey and black interior. Masaki Matsuhara, general design manager, said the 2009 concept's cabin had to convey two messages: "To create a more cock-pit feeling in the IP area, together with roomy feeling around the feet due to the centre stack [that protrudes out from the dashboard]."
In terms of relevance, Matsuhara kept reiterating that this was but a concept, but Mitsubishi is already intending to sell the original full electric i-MiEV in the UK late this year in right-hand drive and is making a new bigger left-hand drive version with wider tracks and longer overhangs to pass forthcoming Euro spec pedestrian impact legislation for introduction as a 2010 model introduction. A sportier version would not be so crazy after that and would expand the i-MiEV range nicely.
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Created at Kia's European design center in Frankfurt, the No3 concept is the Korean carmaker's first foray into the B-MPV segment. Speaking with CDN, chief designer Gregory Guillaume told us how development of the vehicle stemmed from research conducted on MPV buyers, citing that while variability, interior space and value were top factors in their purchasing decision, emotion was not high on the list. Designers at Kia "wanted to steer away from the normal MPV while still retaining space and functionality," Guillaume said.
The result is a vehicle built around a 'ski equipment' theme, based on the same platform and with the same length as the new Soul. The No3's grille and headlamps previews the automaker's new front face, which will see adaptations across the range. Guillaume said the variations will still yield an "instantly recognizable" familial look and an identical grille design. The car's sporting proportions and short overhangs are obvious in profile. Though the trendy matte 'rock star' black exterior color - which contrasts with white accents around the DLO, grille and front spoiler - isn't the ideal choice to show off the wedge shape elements, rising shoulder leading off the pronounced front wheelarch and lightcatcher recess, its dynamic form language is expressed nonetheless.
Beneath the large expanse of glass that constitutes the roof, the interior continues the exterior ski theme with more clarity: the seat stitching evokes images of ski tracks on a snow-covered slope, the sliding gold-colored visor is akin to goggles worn in the winter sport, and the white plastic seatbacks call to mind a helmet. Stark contrasts in color, aesthetics and tactility bring a quality feel to the interior: the door panels feature a technical material beside micro velvet elements and the IP gauges recall a chronograph watch, with lines and subtle identifiers on the inside of the binnacle reinforcing the sporting theme.
As most recent concepts from Kia the No3 is a near production-ready vehicle, which is certain be an attractive alternative in the B-MPV segment when it hits European roads in 2010.
This is not the usual one-off for a wealthy collector, but rather a cut-price limited-edition two-seater model that will be produced in South Africa at the rate of 999 per year and retail for ‘under €50,000,' according to Zagato publicity. Construction will be a simple GRP on a tubular chassis - rather than the traditional hand-made metal body - and it will be powered by a Corvette engine producing 440bhp.
In the past CDN has been critical of Zagato Atelier's reliance on retro themes, so it was encouraging to see this contemporary approach by chief designer Norihiko Harada. In some ways it's a development of ideas for the Ferrari 575GT Zagato special from three years ago, with its series of lozenge-shaped openings in the fenders, but the form language and detailing here are altogether crisper and more modern.
The side view is characterized by powerful convex surfaces in the rear fender wheelarch that develop into a flatter bodyside section featuring concave upper and lower surfaces, punctuated by two lozenge-shaped extractors. This lozenge theme is repeated throughout the design: the rear taillamps and exhaust finishers repeat this shape, while the headlamps and even the basic DLO shape continue this motif. The long hood ends in a Maserati-like snout, slightly reminiscent of old Shelby racers in the USA. It also features a recessed section that opens to reveal the 6.2-liter V8 engine, mounted well behind the front axle line. The dark gray interior has a simple symmetrical IP with bright blue leather inserts and quilted leather seats, while the small trunk is accessed through the glass hatch.
Zagato is proud that the project was done in just four months using only digital methods and no full-size conventional modeling, but to our eyes the Perana Z-One would have benefited from rather more of Zagato's traditional development methods to refine the surfacing before release.
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The Yeti is Skoda's new production small ‘soft-roader' offering two-wheel and four-wheel drive variants that aim to compete with the likes of the Nissan Qashqai and Kia Soul this year. Squarer and blunter than the estate car-with-cladding Fabia Scout also launched at the 2009 Geneva Show, the long-awaited production car is nonetheless much less chunky in exterior appearance than the 2005 concept that prefaced it.
The 2009 Yeti appears to have a longer nose, a less bold grille treatment with body-colored panels below the front lights instead of the more off-road grey/black plastic cladding of the concept, plus a body-colored roof rather than a contrasting white one. The production car gets only one rubbing strip as opposed to the more 4x4-feeling twin horizontal strips of the concept and even the production roof rails seem less defined. Part black clad, part silver and disconnected from the front and rear pillars by the body-colored roof section, the result is much less coherent than the concept's rails, which gave the illusion of a smart continuous black handle-shaped graphic from the A-pillar right over to the D-pillar.
Boasting neither the full curves of the Qashqai nor the upright stance and unusual rounded-off square window graphics and asymmetry of the Nissan Cube, or even the clamshell roof and chunky high sides of the Kia Soul, the Skoda Yeti seems a dull fish indeed. Inside is standard pared down VW - functional and decent quality - but uninspiring. The comic name will surely be problematic to sales too. Through our eyes, this is a poor 'me-too' design with more in common with anonymous estates than niche-defining compact SUVs.
During its 30 year history, I.DE.A Institute has been noted more for its engineering and prototyping services than design. With a recent change in management, the company has transferred from its historical premises in Villa Cantamerla to a prestigious headquarters in Turin and the development of the ERA concept and return to the Geneva Motor Show after an absence of ten years are deliberate signs of the rebirth of the company.
The ERA was first previewed in Turin last May during the celebrations for the company's 30th anniversary and was later part of the fabulous ‘Dreams' exhibition last autumn. CDN was introduced to the car back in November, when it was presented to us by I.DE.A's young styling manager Umberto Palermo and this version at the Geneva Motor Show is a revised development of the car with a new front end, gullwing doors and full interior added. The revised bright white body color and new wheels seen here are a huge improvement over the previous silver color and the very bright booth lighting helped to give it a much less retro look than was our previous impression.
The top surfaces of the hood and trunk are notably fluid, almost appearing as a veil lain over the solid lower half of the body. The intersection of this ‘veil' and the sides is formed by a fender crown line that loops over the front and rear wheels before fading out at the rear, with a broad shoulder surface that's slightly concave. The new front end is most successful, with its aggressive face, slim three-bar grille and large side intakes.
The side view has a revised sill section with a dark winglet added and the three new finger indents added for the hood, doors and rear trunk help to punctuate the volumes and add further character to the design. Overall, the ERA was one of nicest concepts from the Italian carrozzeria at the show this year.
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Dream - Cars of the Future Since 1950
Hot on the heels of the global unveil of the E-Class sedan in Detroit in January came the reveal of the production version of its new sister the E-Class coupe in Geneva.
The younger sibling is better looking in all respects and a more coherent design all round. The difference starts with the large three-pointed star incorporated in the graphically bolder and cleaner twin vane grille at the front of a bonnet that is more aggressively wedged and angled inwards. It has the same front overhang as the sedan, but a shorter wheelbase, a much lower roof and a smaller greenhouse.
In side profile the Coupe has a similarly flared rear wheelarch line to the sedan - that leads back to the rear light clusters - but the overall effect is more successful because the Coupe's arch doesn't clash with its shorter side character line - fading away before it gets too close.
Inside the car, design boss Gorden Wagener says the IP is more angled than the sedan and takes inspiration from the wingspan shape of a stealth fighter plane. The driver's area features an all-new slimmer three-spoke steering wheel that will roll out to other coupe ranges and four slim bucket-style seats that allow for reasonable rear seat space. Access to the rear seats is assisted by headrests that retract electronically when the front seat is pushed forward, allowing them to fold further towards the dashboard and out of the way. It's a fittingly neat detail for a smart overall design.
This was an easy car to miss at the show but one that deserves a closer look. Since 1999, EDAG has produced a number of concept cars, some little more than restyled versions of existing cars. With the "Light Car - Open Source" however, EDAG is showing a more advanced approach that shows innovative use of the glazing of the car and a number of new materials and technologies.
Most interestingly, the driver can design the outlines of the front and rear lights to his individual taste, by drawing on the surface and dragging the shapes into a desired position, similar to moving the icons on an iPhone or a PC desktop. We've seen this idea for using OLEDs in a number of student research projects over the last two years but this is the first time to see a more professional interpretation of the idea as a full-size working model. The transparent tailgate has embedded symbols in the surface to communicate with following drivers - such as warnings for road works ahead or braking severity - and the front face is left blank as a simple black screen.
Talking with Johannes Barckmann, Head of the EDAG Design Studio, he explained that the glossy black exterior color was deliberate to eliminate the visual gap between windows and body. "The bodyside surface was driven by the character of the reflections we wanted. There's no discernible transition between the screen, hood and front mask: the lighting should be surprising and fascinating when illuminated". While the exterior styling is somewhat literal, the bodyshell is innovative in that it uses 100 percent recyclable basalt fiber developed by ASA.TEC.
Although presented as a simple milled model with no interior, the showcar acted as an effective demonstration for the ideas that EDAG will offer to a number of computer and software developers to apply their new technologies to take the project a stage further, hence the ‘open source' title of the car.
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The Geneva Motor Show is traditionally the place where Frank Rinderknecht and his company Rinspeed present their extravagant creations. This year, two cars were presented on the stand: a tuned version of the Fiat 500 Abarth and the iChange concept, both finished in a matching apricot metallic color. The iChange concept is another collaborative project between a number of predominantly Swiss suppliers and Rinspeed and, as usual, the Swiss engineering company Esoro was hired to serve as general contractor for the entire project, including styling.
The three-seater layout with central driving position appears as a repeat of the 2005 Senso concept but with softer styling, and the result is a heavy-handed piece of work from Rinspeed. There's a basic imbalance between the volumes of the bulky fenders and the slimness of the bodyside behind the front wheel. The main surfaces and covered rear wheel appear too simple in character, with no acceleration in curvature, nor any variation in radii around the body to add refinement to the design.
The unique aspect of all Rinspeed concepts is that there's always some part of the vehicle that transforms and this year it's a pop-up rear end that provides room for two additional passengers. It's not terribly innovative; simply a collar around the big polycarbonate canopy that rises to provide more rear headroom, an idea seen on many transportation student projects. Other innovations include no built-in instrument panel (instead there's an Apple iPhone to control the most important vehicle functions) and grey wool fabric used on the seats and steering wheel. However, the wavy trimming didn't add to the feeling of high quality and it wasn't clear what it added to the concept.
Overall, the iChange is unconvincing: it's not as wild as some previous Rinspeed concepts such as the 2004 Splash or the Senso, nor is it as innovative as the 2007 eXasis.
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The Ampera previews Opel's version of the Chevrolet Volt extended-range electric vehicle (E-REV) that is destined for production in Europe in 2011. Essentially it's the Volt with a new nose on it that incorporates styling cues from the Flextreme and GTC Concept cars from 2007. Changes are limited to the front and rear bumpers and wheels, and we noted up close how the hood and fenders are unchanged, even though the initial impression is quite different. It's a powerful DRG impression that's quite complex when examined closely: the headlamp has an Audi-like reflector bar within it, below that the DI lamp, then a hexagonal gloss black grille and finally the foglamp at the base.
Seeing the Ampera/Volt in the flesh again, we also noticed how low slung it appears, with the wheelarches drawn almost too tightly around the wheels. And there's still has that odd double beltline that starts 3-4 inches higher than the graphical beltline outlined in chrome. This was to showcase the complex surfacing possible with polycarbonate side glass on the concept, but here it seems like an unnecessary complication for the styling, with no real purpose to it. The showcar seen here was still a mock-up model, similar to the Chevy Volt model shown in Paris, with an identical interior including all-digital instrumentation. The impression was more European, with inserts in dark grey gloss rather than white plastic as on the Volt, and an interesting red graphic that extends from the doors into the IP top surface.
The Ampera features GM's Voltec E-REV technology that uses electricity as its primary power source and a petrol engine as its secondary power source to generate electricity but not to drive the wheels directly. As GM's main offering for an electric car in Europe, the Ampera represents exactly the kind of car that customers are eager to buy. We just hope Opel/Vauxhall survives long enough to get it into production.
According to Peugeot's interior chief designer Amko Leenarts, the new production Peugeot 3008 is an "anti-monospace for families with dads who want to feel cool". While we might not agree fully with that sentiment regarding the humdrum exterior and its cheap-looking front cladding, uninspired gapey grille and unremarkable proportions - neither compact 4x4, mini-MPV or chunky estate - the interior is undoubtedly a big step forward in terms of packaging.
Get behind the wheel of the production car - that follows closely from the Prologue concept shown at the 2008 Paris show - and you'll find a distinctly wraparound IP and very high center console and tunnel more akin to a sportscar than a people mover. The gearstick sits on top of this tunnel providing good ergonomics while the deep expanse underneath is put to use with a cavernous L-shaped storage space beneath the center armrest.
‘Surprise and delight' features often elusive to Peugeot include the optional head-up display featuring speed and satnav direction on a glass screen that slides out of the top of the IP behind the driver's binnacle at the touch of toggle switch. Further toggles in the center stack can alter the angle of the glass while an optional fixed glass panoramic roof fills the whole cabin with light.
At the rear, the car features a solid fold-down tailgate - but Leenarts stresses the 3008's was designed and made by Peugeot rather than the similar one found on the 4007 re-badged from the Mitsubishi Outlander. Further practical aspects include a double-height adjustable rear load floor and fold-flat seats.
Overall, look beyond the so-so exterior and Peugeot has at last created a compact MPV with decent interior style and flexibility.
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