Auto Design

At Pininfarina, in the late sixties there were quite a concentration of design talents that would become renowned world-wide in the following decades: Aldo Brovarone, Leonardo Fioravanti, Paolo Martin, Filippo Sapino, just to mention a few. Each of them delivered a number of masterpieces and a least a successful design for Ferrari.

It was an undeclared confrontation between Sapino and Martin that led to two outstanding Ferrari show cars: the 1969 Ferrari 512S Berlinetta Speciale and the 1970 Ferrari Modulo. Read the rest of this entry »

Following the launch of the latest itineration of the 3 series sedan, BMW is ready to deliver the “derivatives” coupé, cabrio and Touring that share the new design and a new version of the 2.0 litre four cylinder diesel engine in 85 kW tuning that reaches a record setting 4.1 litre for 100 kilometres fuel consumption rate. The achievement is celebrated with the label of “BMW 320d EfficientDynamics Edition”.

Design refinements cover the body work all around and mainly the front and rear lamps. With the 2010 model range, all engines of the 3 series meet with the BMW Euro 5 emission standards, with the 2.0 litre four cylinder engine, 105 kW engine of the 318i, now available also with the coupé and cabrio.

Photo Gallery

Photo Gallery Cabrio

It is called McLaren MP4-12C and it has been designed by Frank Stephenson.

I am offering you a selection of official images with not much words at this time. For two reasons. I am in a hurry and, despite McLaren has released a 29 pages text I have no clue about what this car is going to be really, for the very simple reason that McLaren has been very careful at not release any data that would its competitors critical information about its overall weight (the supercar body is made of carbon fibre and light alloys) and dimensions.

What is clear is that the ultimate McLaren is a top performer designed and engineered to compete in the core segment of the supercars market. Read the rest of this entry »

The Mercedes-Benz 190D BlueEFFICIENCY experimental vehicle.

If you too have been questioning why today cars are so large and heavy, and wondered what could they do for us and the environment if they were simpler and lighter, here some facts and food for thought from Mercedes-Benz. Read the rest of this entry »

SOMETHING TO RUSH TO FRANKFURT FOR.

Shortly after I posted my early preview of the upcoming IAA in Frankfurt, the news of the spectacular and very promising VISION EFFICIENT DYNAMIC concept by BMW came in.

The news radically changed my perspective because everybody will now be willing to look deeply into the BMW show-car (an exciting catalogue of trend setting design ideas) and what is underneath. It clearly is a major development of the BMW M1 Hommage unveiled last year at the Villa D’Este Concorso d’Eleganza.

BMW is not being conservative in stating the potential of their ActiveHybrid technology and what sort of performance (in absolute terms, including use of energy) they are looking at for the near future. Read the rest of this entry »

PEUGEOT RCZ

Back from holidays, I am facing great difficulties sitting back to my desk and go through the news to report, possibly in a sensible order. The sun is hot, the wind is fresh,  the sky is blue, the air is clean. Outside. What am I doing in my hole with a keypad and a monitor challenging me?

In addition, there is too much to report but nothing new to make “the news”. It is business as usual. Read the rest of this entry »

LILLI BERTONE HAS FULL CONTROL OF “STILE BERTONE”.

Lilli Bertone, the strongly minded widow of the late Nuccio Bertone, is reportedly the only owner of the Stile Bertone design think tank as of July 28^th. After the Turin Court ruled that Mrs. Bertone has the right to a minimal majority stake in the company, with the remaining 49.9periodical in the hands of her two sisters, the Bertone matriarch has succeeded in buying them out and ensure herself 100% of the stakes into Stile Bertone. Read the rest of this entry »

In a brilliant move, designed to anticipate all speculative scoops, Ferrari has unveiled today its plan for the introduction of their new Ferrari 458 Italia. The new high performance two-seater supercar will be first unveiled at the Frankfurt’s IAA motor show in mid-September. The company will be taking “advanced booking” but the car will go on sale late this year. Read the rest of this entry »

€170 million invested into facilities aiming at top Aerodynamic Efficiency.

North American parts suppliers consider BMW AG the best automaker for adopting innovations into vehicles, according to an Automotive News study compiled with J.D. Power and Associates. Read the rest of this entry »

According to some reports, Stile Bertone has stated that it plans to accept up to ten orders for their Corvette ZR1 Mantide “one off”, each carrying a price tage of 2 million dollars. That is some 1.6 million euros, just 0.1m euros higher than the price Jason Castriota mentioned when I talked to him at the Villa d’Este Concorso a couple of weeks ago. The add-on is probably the price of the full-optional ZR1 serving as the starting point for their job. Read the rest of this entry »