Auto Design

From the Volkswagen press office I have just received the following report.

I like the idea of considering “car design” a popular subject but I would have expected more, much more, from an interview to three famous designers of such a high rating.

Fair enough, De Silva gives credit to the designer who actually drove the Golf VI design development under his direction and everybody knows Giugiaro (Giorgetto, not Giorgio as reported) designed the Golf himself. Did Warkuss designed the Golf IV himself or it was one of his designer who did the job? In this case who was it? Doesn’t he deserves due credit?
What is your opinion/reaction? I would really like to know.

Summit Meeting of the Designers:

Golf I bears the signature of Giorgio Giugiaro

Golf IV and V evolved under the aegis of Hartmut Warkuß

Golf VI and the future of the Golf are shaped by Silva

Wolfsburg, 21 October 2010 – These three men have had a decisive influence on automotive history: Giorgio Giugiaro, Hartmut Warkuß and Walter de Silva. Designers of world renown. Each of them has designed icons that will stand the test of time. One thing unites these men: the Golf. Because the Golf generations that were most important in terms of style—I, IV and VI—evolved under their aegis. Now the three top designers got together in a kind of summit meeting of design to analyse the “Golf” phenomenon.

Giorgio Giugiaro (72), who was head of Italdesign and designed the first Golf generation (debut in 1974), casts a glance back on the design of the Golf: “From my vantage point back then, it was not difficult to make the transition from the Beetle to a new vehicle type.” The fact that Giugiaro was always true to his own rules might have had something to do with that. Giugiaro: “When it comes to criteria for fine design, the proportions top the list. It is always somewhat of a mathematical game.” And his ideas were a winner: The proportions of the Golf I were right; 6.78 million units of the first generation were sold up till 1983.

Just how much the head of Italdesign, a company belonging to Volkswagen AG since 2010, influenced the “Golf” product brand is emphasized by Hartmut Warkuß (70). The ardent amateur pilot was chief designer of Volkswagen AG until his retirement in 2003; Hartmut Warkuß and his team created the Golf of the fourth and fifth generation. Warkuß: “We began with the Golf IV in 1993. I asked myself at the time how Giorgio Giugiaro would design it.” What a compliment.

Warkuß: “And so we created a timeless form again and intensified the character of the Golf through the distinctive C-pillars, among other things.” What was of overriding importance to Hartmut Warkuß: “Design has to be balanced. Its proportions have to be right. It has to suit the time in which such a design is to be valid.” For many experts, the Golf IV, which has been built 4.3 million times, is already today a classic of tomorrow.

Walter de Silva (59) is also one of these experts. He has been Head of Volkswagen Group Design since 2007. “Messrs. Giugiaro and Warkuß have given the fundamental design to the Golf as a Volkswagen.” With a view to the Golf VI, yet also to future generations, he outlines why he has preserved these genes and will continue to perpetuate them:

“Basically, Giorgio Giugiaro and Hartmut Warkuß have written the score, a beautiful piece of music. And with my team, with Klaus Bischoff—Head of Design for the Volkswagen brand—and naturally all the others, we try to give a proper interpretation of this music. The basic score of the ‛Golf music’ has been written. What we’re carrying forward here is a further development.”

The sixth generation of the Golf shows what potential this music still has. De Silva himself is living in the future; he is already on the road driving the next Golf in his thoughts. And that Golf will—some day—follow the score defined by Giugiaro and yet remain one-of-a-kind. This is part of the secret of success of the Volkswagen brand and the “Golf” phenomenon alike. Walter de Silva: “Volkswagen will remain unique in the future and therefore universal. Constant changes make for unreliability for customers.” The latest figures prove him right: During the first eight months of this year alone, Volkswagen was able to convince around 250,000 more customers to buy a car bearing the label of Volkswagen, in a year-on-year comparison with the previous period. People seem to have been entranced by the music on a lasting basis.

The auto motor und sport trade journal has just published a discussion between the designers Giorgio Giugiaro, Hartmut Warkuß and Walter de Silva about the Golf—recorded within the framework of the Schloss Bensberg Classics 2010.

For many design enthusiasts the Geneva Motor Show has a major surprise in store. The top Italian design house Italdesign-Giugiaro will not present a somewhat spectacular Alfa Romeo dream-car as widely reported but a very rational and somewhat conventional “compact” car developed in association with the Malaysia manufacturer Proton (Perusahaan OTOmobil Nasional).

If its design is far from setting new trends, its package and architecture will certainly attract every design, engineer and market wiz visiting the show. Giugiaro, (who previewed the Minivan concept with its project for the New York Taxi in 1976 and the 1978 Lancia Megagmma and whose 1983 Fiat Uno revolutionised the “B” segment, made obsolete all its rivals overnight and set a new definition of the market segment) is now challenging the idea of market segmentation with a design that “goes beyond the traditional segmentation in the car market”, according to the designer himself.

The time is perfectly right for a revolution, as the Italian company calls the family of low emission cars based on a modern hybrid drive system engineered with the aim of optimising on‐board space and car access ergonomics in a all-round five-door, four seater, car that is just 3,550 millimetres long.

Listen to Georgette Giugiaro illustrating his vision of the rational car of the future and you clearly understand this is one of the many fruits blowing from a study of a rear-engined, A segment, small car developed few years ago by Italdesign-Giugiaro and proposed to a number of car manufacturers around the world. The same project that in more than a way relates to the early concept and design of the VW UP.

It is not clear yet whether the Geneva 2010 Proton Concept comes with its small engine at the front or rather (as I expert at the rear) but you can be sure that the interior roominess is outstanding in relation to the overall length of the car.

“This is the outcome of several years of study: the solution allows interior spaciousness on a par with that of a segment D saloon despite maintaining the exterior dimensions of a segment A car” explained Giorgetto Giugiaro, Chairman of Italdesign Giugiaro.

“You could say that it is a brand new type of car, a new automotive concept where looks are as important as function, ergonomics and comfort, not to mention environmental impact. It is higher than other compact cars to make the best use of interior space; the front seat H point is at the same height as the passengers’ hips: you do not get down into your car as in a coupé, you do not climb up as in an SUV but you enter in a natural way. Rear seat comfort when you enter and leave the car is absolutely unprecedented, the distance from the front seat is comparable to that of an SUV” added Giugiaro.

The platform, specially designed by Italdesign Giugiaro for this car family, includes a raised floorpan that    is able to accommodate the hybrid system’s batteries at the rear. The four seats are identical, independent and sliding, ensuring identical comfort to passengers and driver alike.

According to Italdesign-Giugiaro, this is just the first configuration of the family of compact car created by the Italian design company for Proton.

Not to be missed.

Never before I have seen so many dream and concept cars in the same place ad the same time. This unique opportunity is offered by Torino 2008 World Design Capital and you must visit it before it closes on November 23.

For all details and a comprehensive introduction, go to http://www.torinoworlddesigncapital.it/portale/en/content_1.php?sezioneID=291&testoCompleto=1

Beware and please do not shoot the messenger: strangely enough, the exhibition closes at 6.20 p.m.

You also should not miss to get a copy of the Exhibition Catalogue currently on sale only in Italian but soon to be available also in English. Read the rest of this entry »

In the past days, the Turin Court has ruled hat the Great Wall Peri looks like a Fiat Panda with a different front end and consequently cannot be sold in Europe. Or, to be accurate it can, at a very high cost for those who produce, import and sell it. The claim was presented by Fiat, the maker of the Panda designed for them by Stile Bertone. I do not know who has actually produced the blueprints for the Peri but I remember hearing – some years ago – to some top Italian car design and engineering consultants that some Chinese company entering the car industry used to candidly ask them to just copy an existing (and potentially successful) car and help them setting up the production lines. Obviously some of these consultants have accepted when they should have not accepted. Sure, just duplicating an existing project saves a lot of time, some money and all the risks related to experimenting with something news. Read the rest of this entry »