Auto Design

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 »

An Embarassing Comparison?

When I received the first set of official pictures of the Audi A5 Sportback, the first thought that came to my mind was how far (or, indeed, how close) the new “5 door coupé” from Audi  is from the new Porsche Panamera. The two cars are very different in many ways, starting from their selling prices to their fuel consumption and performance via their overall dimensions. You cannot compare them when the time comes to buy one.

Yet, they have a lot in common. They are both luxury cars, they both fit in the new trend of  “dynamic, coupé-like, four seater, authoban-cruisers” with that fastback design and rear hatch. Read the rest of this entry »

A streetcar “called Desire” in San Francisco.

Built in 1923, streetcar 952 came to San Francisco from New Orleans, by way of Chattanooga. Photographed in front of the Ferry Building around Christmastime. 

This photo has notes. Move your mouse over the photo to see them.

From Scorpione I have just got the link to a very interesting transcipt of a ABC radio broadcasting. I think all those who loves cars and would like to drive them in a better environment where private and public transportation integrated and enhance each other, should read it.

Here some excerpt from the manuscript and the link http://www.abc.net.au/rn/rearvision/stories/2006/1749886.htm to the full text:………

Annabelle Quince: And am I right in thinking there was a time when that railway network was literally one of the biggest railway networks in the United States? Read the rest of this entry »

Lee Iacocca was absolutely right when he proposed again and again to double the price of fuel. Would the U.S.A. car industry be so much in trouble if they had listened to him?

I am calling on my readers from the U.S.A. for help. If they share my point of view, they could help filling the holes in this commentary and try to send it to their President or his staff. Just to qualify myself just let me say that I anticipated the dramatic Fiat crises foru to five years earlier in a report for the annual publication of the Brithsi Guild of Motoring writers as well as the failure of the Fiat-GM alliance when it was announced in a number of printed magazines published around the world.

Today it is time to take position on the North American car industry.

First, I wish to thank you President Obama for his courageous decision on the dramatic developments of the American car industry. Second just check with his administration and members of the Congress if they are considering some of the following strategic policies as a way to steer private and public transportation developments of the Nation.

If one of the two most troubled Bigs in Detroit has to fold down and let die, this is GM not Chrysler. This has nothing to do with Fiat and their alliance under discussion.

The reason is simple: to rescue the gigantic GM requires so much time, so much money and such a change in company culture (intended from Saturn but never achieved due to Detroit’s influence) that I consider it an impossible mission in the medium or long term. All the money being put into GM can only gain them some time and see if and how they can survive. Read the rest of this entry »

In the cat-and-mouse game, it is just too easy to guess who are the cat and the mouse when it comes to car drivers and oil companies. The price of gasoline goes up and down on Russian Mountains according to rules that even powerful nations seems to be in control of. Thus, as soon as car drivers moved towards smaller and more fuel-efficient car, to keep their own budget under control and fuel consumption was quickly cut by several percentage points, the gas price at fuel station went down again and again. Now gasoline is again affordable and the mood is switching again to SUV and bigger cars. The come back would be a lot swifter without the world financial disaster that is freezing economies and shopping decisions.

Nevertheless, the business show must go on and the Geneva Motor Show will be sending many messages or just signal about the way the world car industry is going to react and redesign its future through new strategies. The Geneva Show itself is sending its own message. At a time when an increasing number of carmakers are cancelling their exhibitions at major motor show and quite a number of motor-show are cancelling themselves (even the Tokyo Motor Show is reportedly under question), the Geneva Show is going to be as good and as interesting as ever, filled with attractive new ideas, propositions and announcement, even though its overall surface will not be expanded once more but somewhat reduced. This is in itself good news. It will prove that growth is not the only way to go and that smaller (if not small) can be beautiful.

Back to the cat-and-mouse, oil-companies-and-car-drivers, game it will be interesting to see how many smaller cars (and SUV) will be unveiled at the show and compare their number with extreme cars, going in the two opposite directions: small and very fuel efficient versus supercars that fly over the financial crises and the fuel price.

The series of first announcements and teasers is very promising (to be update, on regular base).

I have known Christopher “Chris” Bangle since he was at Opel at the time when he designed the interior of the Opel Junior show-car. Through the years we have talked several times. I cannot consider him a friend. We never met for other reasons than our jobs and in our roles, but through the years I have been appreciating more and more what he was doing at Fiat, when he was there and at BMW.

Read the rest of this entry »

The American congress will have to say yes to the rescue of the American car industry. If not under the Bush administration, if will happen after Barack Obama replaces him at the White House.

Their 14 billion dollars “helping hand” is mainly going to save General Motor from bankruptcy and perhaps give some support to Chrysler (which will likely be the first victim of the current hurricane). Ford, for the time being, is resisting on its own as an independent company to maintain respect and credibility. It would just be happy with a favourable “credit line”, which is all right. If it happens, the sale of Volvo will give them additional breath and reach.

The government might eventually take a 20% stake into GM and become the largest (and ruling) shareholder. In addition the USA government is appointing a “Czar” to supervise the development of the American car industry, according to a policy that will give priority to the benefits of the nation, its environment, its economy at large, rather than short term profits for the management (first) and the shareholder (next). The top executives will see their unrealistic salary drastically cut. If they are allowed to keep their jobs.

Executives will see no bonus until their company (and the industry at large is well on its feet again) and shareholders may forget their dividends for a while. Read the rest of this entry »

Sorry, my friends, for having been absent for such a long time. As a friend of mine keeps telling me….troubles happen. Indeed, he does not say troubles but the word he uses does smell and I think it is not appropriate to repeat it here.

I was just about to leave for a week to California when a major thunderstorm badly injured the telephone lines in my area and sent my computers to different repair shops. Today I am still waiting for the telephone company to repair my ADSL line and if you can see new stuff eventually posted, it is simply because of the hospitality of friends of mine who let me access the internet through their line. To do this I visit them once a day, which means I am currently running on idle. As this were not enough, my portable PC got infected by a virus while I was in the USA. Now it is at the doctor but tomorrow it should be back home.

In addition, last night, another major thunderstorm has hit Sardinia and both electric and telephone lines have been disrupted.

Nevertheless, I did not stop going after new and no-so-new features and news.

Through the past two weeks, I have driven the new Mini E, the electric two-seater, in Beverly Hills, Southern California, visited the Los Angeles Auto Show there, visited the Jay Leno Garage (called Big Dog Garage) in Burbank (of which I am not allowed to show pictures, since they are copyright of NBC). On the contrary, I will be very proud to report of the weekly gathering of exotic and interesting cars that takes place every Saturday morning in Irvine, California, on the Ford and Mazda parking lot under the courteous supervision of John Clinard.

Back home I have been confirmed that Jason Castriota is going to be the director of design at Stilebertone, effective December 1^st and that the GAC “Vip Lounge” show-car designed and built by Stilebertone has been elected Star of the Show after its unveiling at the Guangzhou Auto Show on November 19^th.

In the meantime the publication in Automotive News of an image associating the Lamborghini Miura to a full scale model of a sports car reportedly outlined by Giorgetto Giugiaro in his latest days at Bertone with the suggestion that it was the “seed” for the actual Miura has set fire to an old argument about the designer of the Miura. Last August, I promised to investigate the matter once again and, through these months, I have very cautiously asked old questions (once again) and search for some facts. I shall come back to this when I am able to reach my conclusions.

Let me ask for your help in the meantime. Late in the eighties, the British magazine AUTOCAR published a report that featured the Maserati Ghibli and Giorgetto Giugiaro with/versus Marcello Gandini and the Lamborghini Miura. Is anybody out there who can send me copy of that report? I would like to read it again.

You might have seen the recent reports posted in the couple of past days. Tomorrow I hope to bring you my previous report  on the Alfa Romeo 8C Competizione. Now that it has reached the U.S.A. you may like a refreshing of the news and comments.

Ciao.