Toyota chose the Detroit auto show to unveil the FT-CH concept, a compact four-passenger vehicle that was created in response to customer and dealer demand for a greater variety of hybrid choices. Designed at Toyota's ED2 design center in Nice, France, FT-CH concept - CH for 'compact hybrid' - aims to appeal to a younger target demographic than those in the market for the mid-size Prius.
Measuring 3886mm in length, 1740mm wide and 1397mm tall, the FT-CH is 559mm less in overall length and has a wheelbase that is 152mm shorter than that of the Prius, but it is only 13mm narrower. It is also lighter in weight and is claimed to be more fuel efficient than its larger sibling.
The FT-CH is full of clever design details, such as the recessed lighting in the front bumper, a headlamp graphic that outlines the hood of the vehicle, and a very pronounced shoulderline that accentuates the rear haunch - unusual for a vehicle with such obvious eco-intentions.
In profile, the dynamic design's blacked out lower sill blends into a body colored section just ahead of the rear wheelarch emphasizing the rear wheel. From this view it would appear that the rear end is very upright at the B-pillar, but the backlight bubbles outward and features integrated LED taillamps in the corners, rounding out the rear.
Unfortunately, and for reasons unclear, Toyota would not open the vehicle for us to get a closer look at what appeared to be a finished interior, complete with mesh seats which elevate the technical aspect of the cabin whilst simultaneously further saving weight.
Interestingly, Jim Lentz, Toyota's US President of sales, said that Toyota is developing a Prius family 'marketing strategy' for North America, which will leverage the brand equity of the car that has since become synonymous with the energy saving technology. He did, however, mention that while the FT-CH is purely intended as a concept, it is one of several proposals that Toyota is looking at for inclusion in the Prius brand portfolio.
If you are curious about the styling of the next Jetta then look no further than the New Compact Coupe (NCC) concept from VW. The car's front - minus the hybrid-style closed grille - pretty much represents the new face of the sixth-generation production Jetta due on sale this November in left-hand drive (right-hand drive sales follow early 2011).
‘No longer a Golf with a trunk', the new Jetta will be based on the Eos platform. Dimensionally, the NCC concept is 10mm shorter than the current fifth-generation Jetta plus 50mm lower, 20mm wider and with a 70mm shorter wheelbase. The NCC's sides are much more pronounced than the current Jetta's very soft and gently curved flanks. On the NCC, one bold shoulder line runs from the top of its front light to its rear light with a more pronounced and deeper sill below plus a large C-pillar.
The thin but wide front grille is enhanced by deep air vents underneath which reflect in mirror image the angular shape of the slimmer front headlamps. All these details make the NCC appear wider than it actually is.
The NCC concept is a three-door car with a four-seat interior layout divided by a high central spine - like its bigger production brother the Passat CC - but the next road-going Jetta will start as a four-door, five-seater. A coupe version with only four seats has not been ruled out longer term though. The interior dash looks to be almost stock Golf and the rest of the cabin production-ready aside from the impracticality of the white leather seating and centre spine already mentioned.
Based on the NCC concept, the next Jetta will still be a conservative design but represents an accomplished leap over its current incarnation and is in keeping with overall VW Group design boss Walter de Silva's new direction as personified by the excellent 2009 Polo.
Arguably the biggest surprise of the first NAIAS press day was GMC's Granite concept - a design that expands (or rather contracts) the truck/crossover brand's ‘professional grade' philosophy to a compact hatchback aimed at urban hipsters and early adopters. Conceived by Frank Saucedo's Advanced Design team in California and then built at GM's Design Center in Detroit (and in less than eight months), the Granite combines the basic proportions of the Nissan Cube and Scion xB with a military/industrial feel inspired by the current G-Star and Diesel fashion lines.
The resulting design is an undisputed success. The DRG is extremely aggressive, yet doesn't overwhelm the car as you might expect, positioning the huge GMC grille below a scalloped hood that bends up at each side to create a pronounced step down to the combined shoulder and headlamp surface. The distinctive interlocking slashes in the body sides also help break up the visual mass inherent to a tall, high-sided two-box design like this, and have been executed to perfection. The way they form a natural recess for the vertical vents behind the front wheels is a particular highlight, as are the wheels themselves, which inform some of the interior themes.
Those barn-style doors open up to reveal an equally imaginative and well-resolved interior. The four seats are visually connected by saddle-like yokes draped over the car's full-length center tunnel, and the liberal use of brown Nubuck leather reinforces the ‘Wild West meets New York loft apartment' interior theme. The implementation of seats that not only fold flat but hinge up vertically from the center line also allows a mountain bike to be carried with ease. Sadly, a last-minute decision to pull the concept's unveil forward from New York to Detroit meant the mechanism wasn't ready in time for its unveil.
A lot of thought has clearly gone into the design of the IP; analogue and mechanical elements have been used where appropriate, adding rugged functionality to the usual array of infotainment and connectivity tech.
Saucedo wouldn't be drawn on the car's future. But given that the Granite shares its wheelbase dimensions with the new Opel/Vauxhall Meriva minivan, not to mention its rear-hinged door design, we're cautiously optimistic about its chances of reaching production.
The US-spec Ford Focus never had the sales success of its European namesake, for obvious reasons: the ungainly vehicle always had the appearance of a spartan economy car that simply lacked the perceived quality of its European counterpart. The all-new Focus, however, signals Ford's intention to market the vehicle as a new global contender, and its newfound aesthetic is indicative of the Blue Oval's goals.
Shown in Detroit in four and five-door variants, the third generation C-segment vehicle was developed in the Ford of Europe's Cologne based-studio in Germany under the direction of Stefan Lamm, Ford of Europe's exterior design director. It implements the company's kinetic design theme but also pushes it one step further. The exterior design, created by lead designer Murat Gueler, is more upmarket than the Euro Focus it will soon replace and it accentuates the dynamic theme by appearing "fast whilst standing still," as Lamm told CDN.
The new Focus features a change in proportions over its Euro counterpart with a sleeker overall aesthetic, demarcated in profile by a pronounced featureline which begins just over the front wheelarch and drops down at the start of the front door, running across both door handles before kicking back up to accentuate the rear haunch. The trapezoidal lower and thin single bar grille give a new impression for the front and brings the car in line with its new Fiesta sibling and Mondeo, while the chrome-trimmed DLO elevates percieved quality.
The driver-focused interior, shroud in high-quality materials and designed by Tiago Dias under the direction of chief interior designer Ernst Reim, is also leaps and bounds ahead of its North American market predecessor, moving more towards premium German brands. The L-shaped IP is canted slightly towards the driver and features deeply recessed 3D dials and vents that are mounted vertically on the IP, while the center stack (with 8-inch LCD screen on premium models) doesn't exclude the front passenger.
Mini's product portfolio will double in the next two years as Coupe, Roadster and Crossover vehicles are added to its existing Hatchback, Convertible and Clubman models. And if the 2010 Beachcomber concept is anything to go by there's apparently yet another possible avenue for the successfully expanding brand - a door-less, roof-less, four-seater beach buggy.
Recalling the spirit of the 1960s Mini Moke, the Beachcomber has a chunkier, less golf cart-like 21st century exterior based directly on the forthcoming jacked-up, all-wheel drive Mini Crossover (which will have normal doors and roof and go on sale autumn 2010).
The concept's design was by Fabien Clottu (exterior), Oliver Sieghart (interior), and Claudia Geidobler (color and trim) but despite its sunshine-focused subject matter the car was not designed in LA at BMW's Designworks but in Mini's Munich studio, as Oliver Sieghart joked, "we have a good imagination."
The concept also has the option of a soft roof that can unfold from a small compact unit to open up like a tonneau cover for a boat - fastening on to the windscreen, the rear panel and the side openings with transparent plastic inserts for windows. More robust plastic insert panels are also available if the elements get too much. Mini says the A- and C-pillars have also been strengthened and along with the high sill contribute to good torsional rigidity to make up for the lack of a B-pillar.
The high-tech interior features wetsuit-style seating material and also a central 'power rail' running the length of the car that occupants can plug and slide their portable electronic devices along, for user maximum user convenience. This will also make production in the Mini Crossover.
BMW Group design boss Adrian van Hooydonk told Car Design News: "It just shows the Mini brand has picked up a lot of steam. At Frankfurt last year there were two concept cars and we're going to build those. We don't have any direct plans for this one yet, but if you bear in mind the Mini Moke and many parts of the world where people want to drive like this, there is serious meaning behind it."
The Audi A8 shown at the NAIAS in Detroit was only one of only three production debuts at the show, but the A8 actually made its first public appearance at an exclusive event in Miami late last year. Seeing the car next to its Audi brand siblings on the show stand it is immediately apparent that the A8 could only come from the Ignolsadt based automaker.
The exterior design, developed by Torsten Wenzel, is conservative and has been created to ensure the model wouldn't age too quickly or alienate its intended target demographic. Its LED headlamps and trapezoidal grille combine to give the A8 a strong DRG while its low slung roofline and static shoulderline emphasize the horizontal aspects of the design, making the vehicle appear very long and sleek. Measuring 5137mm in length, 1949mm in width and 1460mm in height, the new luxury sedan significantly exceeds in length and width of its predecessor but is 16mm lower. The sculptured convex and concave surfacing of the aluminum body panels adds some drama to the profile, underscored by a dynamic lightcatcher in the lower half of the doors, but this appears to be the only forward aspect of the design. At the rear, the taillamp mask shape is in keeping with other models in the range.
Speaking to designers at the show, general opinion was split between those who felt the evolutionary design was classic and elegant to those who believed it was simply not progressive enough.
As we've come to expect from Audi, the interior design is a stunning example of refined elegance blended with high levels of technological innovation. Based on a 'wraparound' theme, the cabin is encircled by a circumferential curve which integrates a low tiered IP that is separated by contrasting materials and textures. A prominent 8-inch wide screen that pops out in the center displays information ranging from the vehicles nav and audio systems to the operation of its multifunction seats and can be operated via a touch screen pad with handwriting recognition. The driver-focused environment ensures that all the controls are within easy reach while details such as stubby gear selector set in the black lacquered center console and the brushed aluminum-clad speaker grilles add a technical feel to the interior.
It's understandable to be confused given the number of similar-looking concepts shown over the last three years but Detroit 2010 finally saw the global production unveil of the Honda CR-Z coupe.
Unfortunately the car that actually goes on sale this summer seems to have lost some of the finesse of its 2007 and 2009 Tokyo show concept incarnations. The big and gapey Maserati-esque front grille still dominates the face of the car but the concepts' prominent Honda badge inside it has migrated to the hood and the stylish blue-tinged and LED-heavy front lights make way for more conventional ones.
The CR-Z is shorter than its sister hybrid five-door Insight by 295mm with a 115mm shorter wheelbase too. Its side profile looks broadly similar to its concept predecessors but at the back the 2007 concept's strikingly dominant vertical blacked out section connecting the centralized twin chrome exhausts at its base to the top of the rear window is long gone (as are those pipes). The rear lights also no longer curve up to meet a shoulder line that dipped downward at the rear. On the 2009 production model they are sharper and sit more horizontally above a chunky bumper section, although the hatch still features a see-through lower vertical section akin to those found on the Honda Insight, FCX Clarity and European Civic.
Arguably the biggest change on the US production model is on the inside where the two-plus-two seating arrangement has been swapped for a straight two seats (Europe and Japan still get two-plus-two). For the US version the package behind the front seats is little changed aside from the removal of the small rear seats, leaving a fold-down rear bulkhead that extends the load space and creates two secret box areas underneath.
Elsewhere the dashboard's two-tone gray plastics feel and look cheap and some of the metal effects are different colours and finishes. Overall, on this limited viewing, its design fails to convince as a slightly upmarket sports car so the hybrid's manual gearbox drive will have to be exciting and the price keen if it's to succeed.
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