Auto Design

Taking a walk at design exhibitions is always something that i like to do, to relax, to find new inspiration, new colours new surface treatments.

During the latest Salone Satellite (http://www.cosmit.it/) located in the Milan farigrounds  i’ve come across something quite unique that has brought my mind to the great Luigi Colani designs: Read the rest of this entry »

First written for Car Styling, Issue 173 (Tokyo, July 2006)

* Stories and cars from recent past you may like to read and see again.

LINEA PININFARINA.

Ten years after the front-engined Ferrari 550 Maranello replaced the mid-engined heirs of the mythical Testarossa in the upper, 12 cylinder, Ferrari class, the new 599 GTB Fiorano writes a new chapter in the history of Ferrari and of Supercar.  It is longer, higher, a lot more comfortable and yet it is lighter and dramatically faster around bends (and on straight lines). Even more relevant is the fact that, despite its dimensions, the 599 GTB looks more compact and nimble. (more on the car itself)

The fantastic performance of Ferrari technology called for a design capable of communicating the potential and of contributing to it, through aerodynamics, efficiency and the aesthetic harmony combining Ferrari power with Pininfarina elegance. Read the rest of this entry »

First written for Car Styling, Issue 173 (Tokyo, July 2006)

* Stories and cars from recent past you may like to read and see again.

Tecnica Ferrari.

To design a new Ferrari is the ultimate dream of every designer and student. However, actually designing one is probably the most difficult design job on earth, if not a nightmare.
Everybody always expects from Ferrari something that is really outstanding. From president and CEO, Luca di Montezemolo, to the young boy looking at a motoring magazine in a remote area in Guatemala, China or Kazakhstan.
Evidence of this came recently from the challenge presented to the top students of the most famous design schools around the world when Ferrari asked them to compete by submitting “new concept for the myth”. The students came up with excellent design propositions but no one with a new “concept”. Apparently only Pininfarina seems to be capable of delivering a convincing proposition that meets with Ferrari’s expectations.

The new Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano is the latest evidence, and indeed this is a very convincing design job, despite the given industrial (read investment) restrictions and the conservative market it must keep attracting. Business sense force Ferrari (and Porsche) to seek for innovations that do not shock their traditional customers but possibly attract new ones.

Listen to Ken Okuyama and Jason Castriota, respectively director of design and chief designer at Pininfarina, as they explain the design process and every single decision it went through, and you fully appreciate why designing the Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano was quite a challenge and why the outcome is going to be a winner; in the design circles as well as within Ferrari enthusiasts and collectors, and in the market world-wide.

The 599 GTB Fiorano is a strikingly sculptural car, with the purest Ferrari character and Pininfarina’s elegance.

When the project started at Ferrari and Pininfarina in the second half of 2002, the mission was clear: “create the most performing 12-cylinder Ferrari berlinetta” was Montezemolo’s directive to Okuyama. That is what they actually need to counter attack the strongest competition ever expected from an increasing number of powerful competitors.

Ferrari engineers had in mind what was needed to set the new standards in uniqueness, design and exhilarating driving. Their new two-seater GT supercar comes with the V12, 6.0 litre aspirated powerplant installed “mid-ship” behind the front axle. (see technical specifications and Evolution of the Ferrari V12 two-seater GT Berlinetta) Designed for the ultimate Ferrari Enzo, and newly tuned to deliver 620 HP (some 103 HP per litre of displacement), the engine has been engineered to play the magic music of a pure V12 soundtrack from both the intake manifold and the exhaust system.

The V12 is mated to the latest development of F1 transmission, a new generation that cuts overall gear-shift times to 100 milliseconds. On its turn a most sophisticated stability control system makes sure that the car has always the best grip to the road for cutting-edge performance in term of road-holding, safety and stability. Further innovations in the suspension system and the control of their oil viscosity greatly improve the driving experience through faster adjustments, reduced roll and superior body control when braking or accelerating.
At the same time the new Ferrari 599 GTB greatly benefits of the ultimate development of the aluminium construction technology and the revised architecture. Pininfarina had to dress-up this superlative ”performance” creature.

Click on the image for the complete photo gallery.   

Recently, I was in Munich to appraise and test drive a couple of models making up for the vast “new 3 series” model range. The programme suggested by my hosts was very efficient and provided plenty of time and many opportunities to drive or just look at the cars in every details. Considering that the new range is indeed a substantial update of the fifth generation that BMW launched four years ago, I reasoned that it would make sense to focus on the changes and the improvements and indulge in a closer analysis of the surface and of what makes the style of BMW cars so dynamic, modern and efficient, year after year, generations after generations.

Read the rest of this entry »

Some 2500 participants from all over the world have entered the 5th Peugeot Design Contest, launched on the occasion of the Beijing Motor Show last April. Design enthusiasts, students and professional were challenged with the theme: “Imagine the Peugeot of the metropolises of tomorrow!”.

The briefing was: Create a Concept Car which is designed to evolve within the cities of the future, whilst retaining the key values of the 21^st century. The projects should bear Peugeot’s stylistic codes and must contain the following four aspects included in this design competition: environmental awareness, social harmony, interactive mobility and economic efficiency.”

They were given a relatively short three-months time to submit their ideas and yet hundreds and hundreds of them submitted, via internet only, ideas of all sorts in two dimensional format. The rules called for still renderings (up to 5) a verbal description of the concept and a video animation.

The competition has entered into its second phase, following the selection by Peugeot experts of the top 30 projects now published at www.peugeot.com. The public at large (that is you!), and a selected panel of motoring writers, is now called to vote for the best 10 finalists within the deadline of September 15. Well, this is not perfectly clear.

Indeed the rules say: “Following an analysis of the votes, the PEUGEOT judging panel, consisting of PEUGEOT members of staff who are experienced in the domain of automobile design, a representative from MICROSOFT and chaired by Jean Philippe Collin, Managing Director of Peugeot, will make a list of the 10 selected designs..”

This means that your vote will be considered, but the Panel is the one that indeed make the choice, so that entrants with most friends on internet get an unfair advantage.

Between 16 September and 30 September 2008, the 10 finalist projects selected by the Peugeot judging panel will be posted online between 16 September and 30 September 2008 and again the panel will select the winner of the gold medal as well as those deserving the silver and bronze medals.

According to Peugeot the theme of this fifth edition has inspired the entrants to envisage a form of urban mobility that’s more versatile, more practical, more economic, but also more fun and more individual. There should have been 30 of such projects to choose form but only 29 could be published as one entrant has reportedly failed to grant the organisers the required copyright.

The projects published reflect the different cultural inputs from the global society that internet is contributing to form. From the simplicity of the Indian “Globe” project to the complexity and sophistication of the German “Rugir” project.

Vote.