Auto Design

A new baby Porsche is born and i just could not be more happy and inspired about it !

Performance :  behind the seats are two flat-six engines with direct injection, thermal management and start/stop functionality. The base Boxster uses a 2.7-liter flat six, good for 265 horsepower (10 hp more than its predecessor) while the Boxster S is powered by a 3.4-liter six that produces 315 hp (an increase of 5 hp versus the 2012 model).

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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 ©

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 »

Ferdinand Piëch on the Future of Car Design

Giancarlo Perini ©

The other day I was searching a story through my collection of Car Styling and I also noticed an interview with Ferninand Piëch, shortly after the introduction of the new Audi 100, the Car of the Year of the time. I found interesting to read again his words and check his visions with the development of Audi (and the entire Volkswagen group) some 27 years later.

Perhaps you too may like to read them and share your comments with other readers.

Status and Trends of Automotive Design Development.

Q: How would you describe the present status of automotive engineering in general?

A: Automotive engineering is currently in a state of tension between numerous influencing factors, some of them mutually contradictory. Increased awareness of environmental problems is taking effect in the form of statutory limits on exhaust emissions and noise, but is obliging us to design engines with unfavorable fuel-consumption characteristics and to increase body weight unnecessarily. However, rapidly rising fuel prices and the drop in our potential customers’ available incomes on almost all volume markets oblige us to devote top priority in our development work to reducing fuel consumption. All in all, therefore, automotive engineering is striving to achieve the optimum compromise between economical running and long-term durability, with increased safety and environmental acceptability thrown in at the same time. Considerable progress in the field of electronics and in the materials sector has resulted in technical features appearing on production vehicles which would have been considered impossible to achieve only a short time ago. 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 »

Within the frame of the Concorso d’Eleganza di Villa d’Este, the organisers arranged a very special exhibition at nearby Villa Erba dedicate to a special category of car design (and engineering).

With the simple title of “Streamlining” the exhibition presented by the Prototype Museum in Hamburg shows the development of car with extreme streamlined bodywork designed to minimize air resistance and maximize performance (and fuel consumption in relation to performance). Read the rest of this entry »

In autumn 1938, the plans for the high-speed Berlin-Rome road race announced by the National Socialist regime for 1939 were going full steam ahead. For this event, several automobile manufacturers designed special racing versions based on series cars and with streamlined bodies.

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