Auto Design

By Giancarlo Perini ©

The world is getting smaller and smaller and a new première cannot take just in one place at a time.

Here again we go for a world première in Beijing (for the opening motor show) and a preview in Los Angeles at a radically different happening. A meeting of art and culture that Mercedes-Benz did not want to miss.

Here is the rather realistic “show-car” announcing what the next sporty premium compact from Mercedes-Benz looks like. Take off the usual “show-purpose bright and plush” make up and you have the sleek four-door, four seater Mercedes CLA (or B) that is in the pipeline for 2013.

Its official name is “Mercedes-Benz” Concept Style Coupé and its first official description is “the style rebel”. This suggests it is a revolutionary member of the family. Indeed the Style Coupé is the long due reaction to the intense attacks from Audi and BMW in a segment that is going to grow through downsizing. Mercedes-Benz new weapon is going to place the company in the centre of the field for style and emotion and you need not to have prophetic skill to anticipate that this “Style Coupe” will be an outstanding winner, if its style, character and dynamic force are not diluted on its way to regular production.

Gorden Wagener, head of Design at Mercedes-Benz, is in charge and I am sure he will fight to death to preserve this milestone to the return to the front font.

Gorden says that “The Concept Style Coupé is almost production-standard” and that “it sets a new benchmark for avant-garde design in the executive segment”, “Its breathtaking proportions, sinewy fluid surfaces and sculptural lines are the physical expression of our dynamic design idiom.”

He has Dr Dieter Zetsche, Chairman of the Board of Management of Daimler AG and Head of Mercedes-Benz Cars, on his side.

He believes that “the Concept Style Coupé is expressive and powerful in its design” and is fully committing his company to it. “This is the model against which sporty vehicles in the executive segment will have to measure themselves in future.”

Mercedes-Benz does not publish the overall dimensions of its latest entry but considering that the wheels are 20 inches and the turbocharged, four-cylinder, petrol engine produce 155 kW (211 HP) one might see this as the little brother of the CLS.

Photo Gallery

by Giancarlo Perini (c)

The first official pictures of the all-new BMW i8 Concept Spyder, likely to be a star at the forthcoming Beijing Motor Show, are just out.

Whereas ppotential buyers have almost two years to ponder about their choice between the coupé and the spyder, BMW competitors will rush to look at the new show-car in every detail. In fact the new running prototype appears to be the next step toward the design that will actaully enter production next year.

It is obvious that when the new supercar from BMW is rready for the market Ferrari and Lamborghini will have a new powerful competitor to confront with. Not only the futuristic hybrid powerplant will make their current offering obsolete overnight but the design and the style of the new car will rock the establishement.

There is not much to add but, perhaps, the technical specifications of the show-car, getting closer and closer to the real two seater sport-car in the making.

BMW 2012 i8 Concept Spyder Gallery

Specifications. BMW i8 Concept Spyder.

by Giancarlo Perini (c)

Now I realise I have made a mistake to give up a visit to China for Auto Shanghai 2011. At least I would have been able to see the Volvo Concept Universe and offer you my opinion. Read the rest of this entry »

From Giancarlo Perini ©

Today Volkswagen has eventually released the first official pictures of its third generation Beetle. The official images show that the grand child has grown up and aims at developing a personality of its own, on line with the tune of the mature-internet generation. Read the rest of this entry »

By Giancarlo Perini ©

The 2011 Auto Shanghai motor show, opening in a week time, will not be business as usual. Indeed it will mark a new era of the entire world car industry, the one steered by the Chinese market and industry. China is the biggest car market, and the one that is growing faster worldwide. The leading premium brands are betting on for most of their growth in the decade. Read the rest of this entry »

By Giancarlo Perini ©

Can you concentrate all the luxury of a most aristocratic Rolls-Royce into a compact Mini?

Probably not. Yet you can go a very long way with the help of the Rolls-Royce design team led by Ian Camerun. Just look at the very plush and British interior of the Mini Inspired by Goodwood to be unveiled for the first time at Auto Shanghai next week and you may agree that a compact city car can be very seriously luxurious, filled with the finest material, soft leather and quite a bit of traditional walnut veneer. Read the rest of this entry »

Exclusive.

Just 21 days ahead of the Auto Shanghai 2011 show, BMW has officially released the news concerning the very unique and amazingly fast M3 Pick-up developed by a task force in a very short period of time.

Considering the speed of the entire development, today I prefer to let the press-office tell you the entire story by reproducing here the full press release, issued just few hours ago.

Read the rest of this entry »

By Giancarlo Perini. ©

You can’t be mistaken: the show car that Smart is presenting in Geneva with the name of “forspeed” proves that the company’s designers have taken a ride on the roller-coaster and had a lot of fun in creating an EV Roadster so full of curvatures, shapes and colour that in its full-size dimension attract teen-agers with a driving license and, in a smaller scale, would be the dream of their younger brothers and sister under ten. Read the rest of this entry »

By Giancarlo Perini ©

MINI is far from being tired of launching newer and sexier ideas in spectacular show-cars. In Geneva they will we unveiling their shortest and possibly lightest (for the millenium) Mini so far. It will be also the fastest from zero to 100 thanks to its hybrid technology since, according to a company statement “it is designed to allow the integration of a drive system which combines further enhanced sprinting ability with average fuel consumption of just three liters per 100 kilometers (94 mpg imp).” Read the rest of this entry »

By Giancarlo Perini ©

Bertone plans to show two design works on the Jaguar theme at the Geneva Motor Show. In addition to the Jaguar B 99, already unveiled in the past few days by friendly magazines, there will be also a “racing” derivative in GT2 style. Mike Robinson, director of design and brand manager, is indeed putting the final touches to a second show-model that will be on the company stage at the Show. That is the Jaguar B99 GT.

The B99 GT is indeed a design evolution presented as a full scale model. The approach is similar to the one taken in the past by Italdesign when they used the full scale model built to create the show-car to present a additional “design” through upgrading, tuning and graphic work. Read the rest of this entry »