Innehållsförteckning för No. 190 från AUTO & DESIGN

In honour of the 150th anniversary of the unification of Italy, the 22nd edition of the Golden Compass – one of Italy’s most prestigious design awards – was held in a spirit of sustainability and ethics correctness on 12 July in the city of Rome. Of the 32 prizes awarded during the ceremony, two in particular paid homage to car design. One was awarded to a product – the new Fiat 500 – for ideally embodying two different eras in the history of the Turinese brand. In 1959, the Golden Compass was assigned for the first time to an automobile – the 500 of 1957 designed by the engineer Dante Giacosa on the fundamental precepts of industrial design. This second Golden Compass is an affirmation of how successfully the new…

The Frankfurt show arrives at the end of a summer that has seen European markets take two different paths: the German, with its extremely buoyant results, and southern markets where France, Italy and Spain are all in negative territory. This situation of uncertainty makes the Frankfurt mega-show more interesting than ever, with the traditionally awesome deployment of local brand forces and with the non-Germans playing their strategic selling cards and anticipating what form their cars will take in the near future. This year’s battle sees the small segment A entries in the front line with sector specialists ready to unveil new models: Fiat with the new Panda and Volkswagen with the up! (see our supplement) joined by a refurbished Renault Twingo. For all of them design is a decisive factor…

Surprising is the only word to describe it. At first glance, the Tubik is not what you’d expect from Citroën. And in an era when everyone seems to be presenting concepts for city cars or for coupé-SUV crossovers, its looks, dimensions and architecture are also a surprise. But there’s something familiar about that vertical face – and it’s not just the prominent double chevron. Even with its very contemporary lines and surfaces, the Tubik is evocative of an iconic vehicle in the brand’s history, the Type H and – as the concept’s name itself suggests-its progenitor, the TUB. But it’s anything but a van. Boasting a luxurious, high-tech interior with original, futuristic details, the Tubik offers a whole new travelling experience to up to nine occupants, luggage and all, explains…

The name may be made up, but this is a car whose greatest strengths are substance and impressive versatility. This is the Freemont, the first product of the industrial merger between Fiat and Chrysler. Based on the Dodge Journey and built in Toluca (Mexico) this is a crossover combining aspects of the SUV, station wagon and MPV genres and exploiting its 4.89 metre length, 1.88 metre width and 2.89 metre wheelbase (as well as a height of 1.69 metres) to offer seven proper seats and a load carrying capacity varying from 145 to 1,461 litres. All of this is offered in an attractively designed, comfortably appointed and dynamically capable package priced attractively from just €24,900. “The development of this car,” explains Fiat Automobiles CE Andrea Formica, “focused on bringing its…

Taking part in an internship in your chosen professional field gives you the sensation of only being a step away from your goal. Through hard work, the chance to prove their worth, the hope of earning a permanent placement and the satisfaction of gaining real-world experience, students are given a glimpse of what it could be like to see their childhood dreams become reality. This is what many students feel when they leave the classroom to dive into the real world – even though for many this experience will only be a fascinating interval in their lives, as only rarely does it lead to employment. Not everyone will attain the coveted position of car exterior designer, and there are many different facets to the profession – and each one, from…

“It is important to have solid roots and long-term vision”, states Klaus Bischoff, who is of the same mind as Walter de Silva. “The moment I was appointed head of design for the Volkswagen brand, with de Silva design chief for the entire Group, in 2007, we made a clear-cut choice: every project had to start from the architecture. Then, on this basis, we defined an essential form, for an iconic product“. “For me and my team”, says Bischoff, who has been at Volkswagen since 1989 and has penned cars with the VW logo since his school years at Braunschweig University of Art, where he graduated, “everything starts from an understanding of the proportions of a form. The first step consists of deciding how we can affect the package, the…

The directive was straight-forward: “Design a new original”. Finding the right approach to redesign a model with over seventy years of history was not that simple. Yet the third generation of the Beetle (Maggiolino, Coccinelle, Käfer, Vocho, Fusca – every country had a name for it) succeeds in achieving an unprecedented level of innovation and freshness, as well as friendliness, in a totally unexpected manner: by returning to the origins. If the “New Beetle” launched in 1998 had a vintage quality, and could be seen as a modern rendering of a historic model, the car unveiled by Volkswagen last April is something altogether different. “In designing it”, explains Klaus Bischoff, “we looked to the original model, which it resembles much more closely than the second series”. It is the return…

If it had not been for Ben Pon, Volkswagen’s Dutch importer in the immediate post-war years, the Wolfsburg car maker would never have created the legendary model which would eventually give rise to the Bulli concept unveiled at the 2011 Geneva Show. It was Ben Po who, in 1947, drew on a piece of paper the outline of a minibus, anchored to the chassis of the Beetle, which, three years later, would become a world icon. The code name, at the VW plant, was T1, short for Transporter 1: the Germans called it Bulli, in the U.S. it was called Microbus. It would be sold and used in every conceivable way: as a multipurpose transporter, as a family camper, as a home to the “flower people”. With the Geneva concept,…

There’s a lot to be said for the Concorso d’Eleganza at the Villa d’Este, to which Auto & Design dedicated extensive space in the previous issue: it is held at one of the most beautiful sites in the world, it is the first and oldest (but not continuously held) automotive design contest, and it is the only one of dozens, perhaps by now hundreds, of concours d’élégance held every year to also honor present-day design. As the appearance of everyday cars is more and more homogenized, the entire world likes to look back to times when there were perceptible divergences in car shapes and details that no longer exist — not when almost every distinct feature you can find on a luxury car is available on well-made and decent-looking commodity…

The story of the M Class began in 1996 with the presentation of the AAV ‘All Activity Vehicle’ concept. The company’s intentions to turn this into a production model were confirmed a year later when the ML went on sale. The second generation – the W164 – arrived in 2004 and is still on sale today, and has been such a success that it is the best selling SUV ever in the history of the German marque. The new third generation M Class presented officially at the Frankfurt Motor Show in September was unveiled in a preview showing in Italy against the evocative backdrop of Villa Salazar, the Como-based headquarters of the Mercedes-Benz Advanced Design Center specialised in interiors. The event offered a fascinating opportunity to compare the newcomer directly…

The name RXH says it all: R places the car among the rarefied group of ‘special’ Peugeots, X indicates four-wheel drive, and H stands for the hybrid heart of the car, which boasts the HYbrid4 powertrain already seen in the latest version of the 3008. The 508 RXH unveiled at Frankfurt joins the 508 saloon and station wagon variants presented in recent months. However, it is more than just an existing car adapted to use a different engine solution, but a whole new engineering and styling exercise that does justice to its all-road aspirations (which also explains why the car is only offered in station wagon guise). “It is obviously neither an offroader nor an SUV”, says Michel Gombaud, “but a four wheel drive vehicle which appeals for its modernity,…

The name Mercedes-Benz instantly conjures up images of the luxury saloon segment. However, for the past 60 years or so, the Stuttgart-based brand has also played a prominent role in the sports coupé segment (starting with the 300 S in 1952), where it has introduced several models that have become veritable icons in their own right and others that have pioneered new directions, such as the CLS in 2004, the first four door coupé and the originator of a whole new genre. While until now, Mercedes-Benz coupés had targeted an upmarket clientele, the arrival of the C Coupé changes all that, as it represents an accessible way into the world of three-pointed star coupés while offering the same emotive experience as its bigger siblings. Measuring 4.5 metres in length, it…

Boldness and innovation are hall-marks of Italian design. For all the great companies that have written and continue to write chapters in the history of Italian design, purity of form, attention to detail and exclusive materials and finish have always been fundamental factors for the success of a product. Since 1945, the MV Agusta name has been carried around the world by motorcycles that reflect these values. From its first model, the 98, to the more recent F4, F3 and Brutale, the company has always chosen the path of innovation, which has led it to become an internationally recognised status symbol that epitomises extreme performance and minute attention to detail. This brand was the subject of the thesis project for the third year students of the three year post-diploma course…

This summer, Volkswagen has launched a new Beetle on the market. This is anything but a commonplace event. That is because the original model of this car series – the Beetle – is one of the 3 most successful cars ever built, which has sold 21.5 million units. And not only that: its visual design is probably the most recognisable in the automotive world. So, it was no easy job to re-interpret an icon like the Beetle. Is it even possible to reinvent originals – the true icons of product design, such as the Coke bottle, the iPhone, the Ray-Ban Aviator, the Porsche 911, the Leica M9, the Beetle – without just coming across as “retro”? The unequivocal answer is yes! All that is needed is a good understanding of…

The icons of today would not be the same without the icons of the past. This is something to be kept in mind if we are to understand the renovation drive undertaken by the Wolfsburg car maker: it is so deeply rooted in the spirit of the celebrated models of the past it must be interpreted in the light of those origins, of the legendary cars that “made” the brand. Consider for example the return of the Beetle, the crown jewel of “operation friendliness”. Today’s Beetle would not be the same without the one designed by Ferdinand Porsche, the car that can boast the longest life ever (produced uninterruptedly for 65 years, from 1938 to 2003 for a total of 21,529,464 units). Advocated by Adolf Hitler, the Typ 1 was…

There is an extraordinary symbiosis between Luca De Meo, marketing chief at VW since 2009, and the designers team. “If you have Messi on your team”, says De Meo, “it’s very easy to play with Messi”. A compliment from the world of football to the Messi in residence at VW, i.e., Walter de Silva, as well as a confirmation of the “new design approach” adopted at Wolfsburg. “Between marketing and design there is a great affinity”, he goes on to say: “Take the Bulli, for instance. It is the fruit of a joint effort: their proposals, our encouragement. It gives tangible form to a new idea, the emotional side of Volkswagen. The same applies to the up!, which is a great challenge. In Europe we must gain market share in…

A design with the same DNA for all products in all markets the world over, and although some of the products cater to local requirements, they are always based on the Design Criteria formulated at Wolfsburg. This is the philosophy that links the styling centres operated by Volkswagen in four continents-from Germany to California, from China to Brazil-, whose strategic significance is decisive for a brand that is a global player. The designers in Wolfsburg, about 225 people, are flanked by the Potsdam team (working in a visually stunning complex, inaugurated in 2006) staffed by about 60 people, the equally numerous Group in Sun Paulo Brazil, by the US team in Santa Monica (some forty designers, besides a team focusing on the Audi brand), and the designers working in the…

When a team of Koreans won the Ferrari World Design Contest, it was clear from their jubilant cry when they heard the name of their university announced as the winner, that they were more surprised than anyone else. As the Hongik University students Kim Cheong Ju, Ahn Dre and Lee Sahngseok received their prize from Ferrari president Luca Cordero di Montezemolo, their faces were lit up with the genuine joy that only those who still nurture the dream of the automobile can experience. There are still many parts of the world, safe from the creeping disillusionment of the West, where car design is still as highly revered and respected as a genuine work of art. Here, the glamorous and emotive element of the automobile still holds its appeal, and there…

“This is a new chapter in the history of BMW. It is the chapter of sustainable mobility, and so a new formal language was also necessary.” Adrian van Hooydonk leafs with evident pride through the sketches for the i3 and i8 concept cars that the Munich-based marque is presenting at Frankfort to give the world a taste of what the production versions of the i3 and i8 will look like in two years time. These will be the first models of a new BMW sub-brand – BMW i – created in response to the market’s insatiable appetite for electric and hybrid. Van Hooydonk is the design director head for the BMW Group: answering to him is BMW i design chief Benoît Jacob, who works independently of the main BMW design unit…

The renaissance of Touring, the glorious Milan coach-builder responsible for a number of legendary cars in the history of brands such as Alfa Romeo, Ferrari and Aston Martin, is taking shape in the form of spectacular new supercars: after the Bentley Continental Flying Star presented last year at Geneva, the aesthetic characteristics of the Superleggera brand – purity, integrity, simplicity and balanced proportions – have now been applied to the brutal race car brawn of the German Gumpert. Using the Apollo as a starting point – none less than the absolute lap record holder at the Nürburgring – Louis de Fabribeckers developed the Gumpert Tornante by Touring, a car that combines beauty with the ferocity of the beast. De Fabribeckers penned the design, defining and engineering the carbon fibre bodyshell,…

An extremely wide range of models, from the up! to the Pheaton, to be interpreted based on a consistent identity score. With models that elicit a smile, like the Beetle and the Bulli, the heirs to great automotive legends, or models like the Bulli, with which Volkswagen is writing a new chapter in the history of small cars for the general public. “To get across the friendliness of these three products, we did not resort to special effects”, points out Walter de Silva, who has always shunned gratuitous embellishments and loves cars that are “intellectually honest”. He prefers to look at history, not with a view to picking retro elements, but to revisit the models of the past from today’s perspective. “The project was undertaken with a fresh out-look, drawing…

Al suo arrivo alla guida del design del gruppo Volkswagen, nel 2007, Walter de Silva ha per prima cosa assegnato ai suoi designer il compito di individuare e definire i Design Criteria, quegli elementi stilistici che rendono immediatamente riconoscibili i prodotti del marchio. «Ho voluto dar loro un input particolare mostrando una foto di Ferdinand Porsche», racconta oggi. «Non dimenticatevi da dove veniamo, ho detto, ricordate che questo signore ha progettato un’auto per il popolo ed una esclusiva. Entrambe esistono ancora oggi: ci sarà ben un motivo. Secondo input: tenete a mente tre vetture, Beetle, Bulli, Golf». Upon being appointed design chief for the Volkswagen Group, in 2007, Walter de Silva asked his designers to identify the Design Criteria, i.e., the stylistic elements that made the products of the brand…

It is the start of a new journey, perhaps a historic turning point for Volkswagen. When, at the 2007 Frankfurt Show, the Wolfsburg-based car maker unveiled a new city car concept, the up!, the use of the lowercase initial and the exclamation point immediately revealed the minimalist connotations of the new model – which was followed, a month later, by the debut in Tokyo of the more generously sized space up! and, two months after that, by the presentation in Los Angeles of the space up! blue (a hybrid vehicle fitted out with fuel cells), which in its turn was followed, after a two-year interval, by the up! lite powered by a fuel-pinching engine. At this point, many people were wondering what industrial future could come of all this. The…

In talking with Alessandro Dambrosio (interbrand design manager and assistant to Walter de Silva for Konzern Design), we analysed the creative relationship between the Volkswagen Group and design school students, also in connection with a project underway since May 2010 for the presentation of the Taxi Milano. The project provides for a five-year collaboration contract between the German brand and two top city schools: the Polytechnic Design School (SPD) and the Politecnico (the engineering school). What better means to understand the point of view of students about the evolution of cars than to seek their direct involvement on design with the framework of mobility in a city such as Milan which is one big, uninterrupted construction site? The choice of Milan in fact was not due to chance, and was…

At the Volkswagen Design Centre in Wolfsburg they don’t just design cars. The “Lifestyle & Performance” team headed by Friederike Plock-Girmann is the exception that confirms the rule, with 15 years experience and 12 designers specialising in product design in a variety of roles: Fashion Designer, Product Designer and even Graphic Designer. Their aim: to create products “without wheels” such as collections of accessories, leather items, sunglasses, bags, all of them strictly linked to the Volkswagen brand. This is exemplified by the recharge station for the Volkswagen Bulli: the red colour of the product, the W logo at the top the same colour as the vehicle, and the emblem on the front are perfectly in keeping with the general principle of treating electric mobility so as to convey a feeling…