Table of contents for No. 154 in AUTO & DESIGN

“With the Q7 project, we wanted to create a complete break with the common off-roader image. We wanted something more passionate, sportier and less utilitarian: this is sport utility according to Audi.” Walter de’ Silva, Audi Brand Group design director, describes the genesis of the four-ringed marque’s latest arrival, which debuts at Frankfurt: “this is the product we were missing, which opens new opportunities for growth, particularly in the North American and Asian markets, but also here in Europe.” The decision to build a large SUV for the Audi brand was made in 2002. In January that same year, Volkswagen had presented its Magellan concept, a preview of the production Touareg and the Porsche Cayenne’s sister car, at the Detroit Show. The same platform was also chosen as the base…

Take the free spirit of tomorrow’s young designers, add the evocative power of a marque dredged up from history to new glory, combine with the savoir faire of stylists responsible for some of today’s most desirable cars and see what happens. This is precisely what the German tyre manufacturer Fulda has done, to mark the launch of its new range of sports products, creating a bespoke motor car so fast and aggressive that it is the ideal counterpart for the new Carat Exelero tyre. This unexpected initiative has deep rooted foundations: back in the 1930s, Fulda used a Maybach – the brand involved in the project – to test the compounds and performance of its tyres. Coordinating the efforts of the Pforzheim Design Polytechnic, Maybach, the Mercedes styling division and…

This has not been just a styling exercise, but an entire project dealing with every aspect of the train, from the exterior and interior design, to the graphical layout and the production of the largest complete mock-up ever made. The project to define the new Pendolino – Italy’s high speed train due to go into service in early 2006 – was the work of Italdesign Giugiaro. Giorgetto Giugiaro was assisted in the project by his son Fabrizio, who explained to us how the development of the train, which lasted 18 months in all (from December 2003 to May 2005), was also an opportunity to rework the entire concept of high speed rail transport in Italy: “Until now, each model of train wore its own specific livery, different from all other…

The legendary Tratto Pen celebrates its thirtieth birthday. The pen, designed by Design Group Italia for Fila in 1975, which won the Compasso d’Oro in 1979, has today been chosen, together with the Tratto Clip pocket version, by the British publisher Phaidon as one of the 999 objects listed in its book “Phaidon Design Classics” dedicated to the greatest examples of design from the 19th and 20th Centuries. Fila briefed the designers to create a low cost pen based on technology already used by the company, which manufactured fine nylon fibre tip pens with alcohol based ink, to compete directly with the Grinta made by Paper Mate, which had a relatively thick tip. Their answer was a cross between a felt tip and a pencil: it works like a felt…

Over the years, Ruspa has carved out a clear-cut niche for itself among the constellation of companies operating in the automotive industry in Turin, with its philosophy based on a few but significant principles: involving a thorough analysis of every issue handled, a completely in-house production cycle and a constant commitment to total quality. The company was established in the 1930s as a metal engineering concern with its own automotive component workshop. The company, chairman of which is Renzo Ruspa who is also responsible for research and development, is progressively grew to become the leading manufacturer of accessories for buses and commercial vehicles and today has many patents to its name, working with three basic materials: metal, plastic and leather. The company’s range of internal components (tables, ashtrays, handles etc.)…

The 307 gets the gaping mouth which, since the introduction of the 407, has become the new face of the marque, and a revised range of trim and engines, broadening the choice for C segment buyers. After the outstanding success of its first four years of life, the Peugeot 307 now presents sports styling that is more in line with the current design language of the marque and a new interesting option for lovers of the coupé cabriolet: a high performance and frugal diesel engine. The new nose, which adds a centimetre to the front overhang, makes the new 307 visually bolder than the previous version, giving the car a generally more imposing appearance. Among the new trim and engine choices now available are the Féline – a fully equipped…

Who has never dreamt of designing a Ferrari? This dream has come true for the students of Transportation Design at the IED in Turin, who concluded their studies with a thesis carried out in conjunction with Ferrari – the very embodiment of passion and desire on four wheels. The Prancing Horse marque asked students to develop new concepts to introduce significant innovations into the product range, particularly in the area of interior design. Right from the very start, Ferrari’s brief was clear: they wanted a car of substantial size, yet visibly light, with a dynamic stance, a feeling of controlled aggression befitting the heritage of the marque and which expresses the evolved sportiness of F1. Aerodynamic efficiency was a fundamental factor in the development of the exterior design, as were…

“Create a new Lamborghini Espada, a four seater GT, taking into account limitations regarding the package and the engine size, to reinterpret the model in a shape that is both modern and attractive to the current target clientele”. This was the topic of the Master’s Course in Car Design at the Design School Polytechnic in Milan, carried out in collaboration with Lamborghini in the marque’s first official cooperation project with a school. The students, from many different countries and educational backgrounds, worked on the brief throughout the year and, in addition to the concept for the new Espada, also developed a number of ideas for a complementary topic proposed by Lamborghini to give the young designers free rein, and to see what they came up with. The students were asked…

In Auto & Design 153, we discussed evolution and revolution in automotive design, and the crucial importance of creating cars so desirable that improved sales reflect and validate the designer’s work. Citing one case of imposing much needed differentiation on a too-homogeneous range and another of applying a consistent design ethos to a generalist range so stylistically diverse that there seemed to be no connection between models, we were essentially talking about conscious intellectual exercises carried out in masterful ways. There is another approach to overall design direction in a major car company that seems to be equally successful: the injection of emotion into the design of both generalist commodity cars and technically superior but stylistically austere upper level models. Successful protagonists for this approach are Gérard Welter at Peugeot…

On July 1, Lorenzo Ramaciotti retired from professional life after working for over thirty years at Pininfarina, where he was vice president of design, a position now occupied by creative director Ken Okuyama. The story of his career as a designer reads like a dream come true for anyone who is passionate about cars. It started in that heartland of the motor car, Modena, where he was born in 1948 and where, as a boy, he dreamt of one day designing for Ferrari and other exclusive marques, and continued in Turin, where he graduated at the city’s polytechnic in automotive mechanical engineering. He started working for Pininfarina in 1973, when Leonardo Fioravanti was at the helm of the Style Centre. In 1977 he took on his first managerial role in…

Design is nothing other than the humanisation of technology, as Augusto Morello used to say. The Intel Design Award is dedicated to this industrious researcher, who did a great deal to introduce design in areas where it had never been applied. The ceremony for the award, which is now in its fourth edition, was held during Intel, the international expo of electric appliances, lighting, industrial automation, safety and component technology held every two years at the Milan Trade Fair. This is a valuable opportunity to showcase a number of sectors which, due to their intrinsic complexity, are otherwise out of the public eye, to illustrate their new developments and to discover at first hand innovations in style, in the context of an increasingly competitive market. The 2005 edition was no…

“The time has come for us to fall in love with our cities once again, and make them ours”. This was the passionate premise of the “Take a seat with ULI; a bench for Milan” initiative organised by the Urban Land Institute (ULI), a non-profit association headed by Manfredi Catella that organises cultural events and projects to research territorial management. The initiative concluded last May with the selection of a project by Alberto Meda carried in conjunction with Alias. The bench was chosen as a symbol of one of the basic needs for the city-dweller, as something more than a mere object of urban furniture and a sign of how the city itself is perceived. The projects and respective prototypes by six designers, invited and supported by six backing companies,…

If, at first sight, you can’t easily tell who is responsible for Seat’s new Léon, a closer look reveals a detail that you’ll recognise as Walter de’ Silva’s trademark: the door handle concealed in the rear pillar – which we all know as the distinguishing feature of the design of the Alfa 156 and 147. The Léon is a car with clean lines defining an original shape – so original, in fact, that you can’t be sure if this is a coupé or a five door saloon, or even if the car wants to look like an MPV. But this ambiguity only adds to the highly contemporary feel of Seat’s latest arrival. Compared with the outgoing model, the new Léon is 131 mm longer, 26 mm wider and stands 19…

It is some time ago now that the concept of beauty in luxury cars changed, to adapt to more worldly canons and substantially altering its significance. Strength, muscularity, aggressiveness and ostentation have replaced grace, elegance and charisma to reflect a general attitude more befitting a mediaeval armoury than a car. This, fortunately, is not the case with the Bentley Continental GT Flying Spur (design story, Auto & Design 153), which is currently the best executed example of an ability to reconcile state of the art technology and performance with a stately and elegant four door GT body. The perfect counterpoint to the harmonious lightness of the shape is provided by an engine capable of delivering shattering performance, whatever the road conditions. The heart of the Continental GT Flying Spur is…

The four year course in Transportation Design at Huddersfield University, in West Yorkshire in the UK, was established in 1996 and today offers an interesting syllabus to twenty-five aspiring young designers. The curriculum begins with a year of study in collaboration with Huddersfield Technical College, during which the students, under the guidance of Professor Hugh Colquhoun (first year tutor), embark on their first automotive design experience, as illustrated here. In preparation for the development of the end of year project, on which the students work for eight weeks starting from June, the course involves five simulated projects, carried out throughout the year. The topic of this year’s project is MG Rover, concerning the company’s current situation and its future destiny. The idea to deal with this particular marque did not…

Now that he is no longer among us, to say that Ermanno Cressoni was a “maestro” may sound rhetorical and seem like excessive glorification. But he truly was the most authentic personification of the word, as proven by the indelible mark that he has left in the history of Italian automotive design, and remembering this aspect of him, which he himself, an intelligent and self-effacing man, always denied, taking refuge behind his extraordinary sense of humour, is a fitting and respectful homage, paid by those who had the privilege or fortune to meet him, know him and come into contact with his exceptional intellect and humanity. He was an attentive observer of the evolution of style, to which he contributed directly with acute intuition and outstanding ability over almost four…

Panamera is the name chosen for Porsche’s forthcoming four door, four seat coupé. Fans of the marque will have to hold their breaths until 2009, however, when the model makes its debut alongside the other three products in the line, the 911, Boxster and Cayenne. The Panamera will be the result of investments of over 1 billion Euros, put up entirely by Porsche itself, which will handle its design and development, and it is planned to build it at Leipzig in volumes of around 20,000 units per year. The design will be defined entirely by an in-house team directed by the German Michael Mauer. Si chiamerà Panamera e sarà una nuova coupé Porsche a quattro porte e quattro posti. Gli appassionati del marchio dovranno però attendere fino al 2009, quando…

Fiat makes a return to the limelight in Europe as it presents the new Punto at Frankfurt, a car with unmistakable Italian style that boasts attractive and convincing design and proportions. Fiat stakes a lot on design for the success of this car in terms of public opinion and sales, which will be vital to help lift the marque out of its recent severe financial crisis. With exterior design by Giorgetto Giugiaro, the third generation Punto continues in the tradition set for segment B Fiats, such as the Uno and original Punto, which were also penned by the same designer. In the meanwhile, the competition only gets tougher. Completely redesigned versions of the Punto’s two greatest rivals were also unveiled at Frankfurt: the new generation Renault Clio and Toyota Yaris.…

A visit to the Alfa Romeo Style Centre is always an enthralling experience. The reception area is a small anthology of Arese design, with a timeline illustrating the changing generations of the marque’s cars and of the men who designed them. Hanging on the walls are drawings by Ferruccio Palamidessi and Ernesto Cattoni, pencil sketches of the Alfa 1900 and Giulietta, watercolours and tempera of the Giulia and three plan views on blue Canson of the Alfetta – the latter are very close to the old plaster mock-ups in 1:10 scale, which would be done in clay in 1:4 scale today. The bold but elegantly restrained red background provided by the carpet and sofas clearly proclaims the passion for this marque, which is more alive today than ever before. It…

“W e wanted to rediscover forgotten things.” This is how Alfredo Stola expresses the concept behind the creation of the RK Spyder, the special – in the true, classic sense of the word – that inaugurates his new company, Studiotorino. Which forgotten things? Sports specials, as they were known in the 1950s and 60s, were one-off or limited series models, hand-built for those – as Stola puts it “who see the car as a three-dimensional expression of dreams and passion”. Of course, an enormous amount of skill is needed to take on a project such as this: Studiotorino is structured like a typical dot com company, working to bring together and coordinate the best existing human resources and facilities without actually needing its own plant, and acting as a beacon…

Olivetti wrote the history of Italian design in office equipment. Under the guidance of Adriano, who not only knew how to pick the most capable designers, offering them real creative freedom, but also managed to truly realise the utopian vision, the company opened its doors to projects by Marcello Nizzoli (the Lettera 22 is but one of his countless designs), his pupil Giovanni Pintori and Bauhaus exponent Xanti Schawinsky, and then later to designs by Bruno Munari, the Boggeri studio, Franco Albini, BBPR, Ignazio Gardella and many others. These included Ettore Sottsass, director of Olivetti’s Computer Design area within the electronic division from the late 1950s to the late ‘70s. He headed the project for the first Italian electronic calculator, the Elea 9003 and, as chief consultant for the office…

Forty days from the idea to the finished prototype. This was all the time available for the crafting of “Sportiva Latina”, a study for a GT car developed by the Fiat Research Centre and unveiled at the Barcelona Motor Show, where it earned the STA Prize for Innovation for its high tech content. “Sportiva Latina” is not a styling proposal, but rather an authentic object of design, where form is a direct consequence of function. As explained by Pietro Camardella, director of the Design Research Centre and Fiat Research Centre, who headed up a team with Paolo Tadini and Raffaele Vergano for the project: “The idea for this prototype was conceived in the second half of March, when we decided to take part in the STA Prize, taking advantage of…

The new Kia Rio focuses a great deal on design and changes radically with respect to the outgoing version, from which it inherits the name alone. The car started life as project JB at the Korean brand’s European Style Centre, located at the new Frankfurt headquarters in which the Hyundai Kia group has invested 74 million Euros. The goal of the new Rio is to win over a much larger slice of Europe’s growing B segment, targeting female and younger buyers in particular. To attract these consumers, the new saloon has drastically different proportions and, as a consequence, dimensions. The wheelbase has increased by a full 90 mm, yet on the five door hatchback version, overall length is 250 mm shorter, now measuring 3990 mm, which is more in keeping…

Even more versatility for the Honda FR-V: the range of this compact MPV, offering space for six passengers in two rows, has now grown even further with the addition of a new turbodiesel powerplant. This new high performance 4 cylinder 2.2 (2204 cm2) Euro 4 unit, delivering 103 kW/140 bhp, powers the i-CTDi version, which is available in Italy in Comfort and Executive trim levels. Quiet, powerful and responsive, even from lower down in the rev range, the new turbodiesel contributes effectively to the car’s personality, and is perfectly matched by the 6 speed manual gearbox (no auto version is planned as yet). The performance figures speak for themselves: a top speed of 190 Km/h, 0-100 Km/h in 10.1 seconds and a fuel economy of 6.3 litres/100 Km in the…

Design your own school. This was the unusual brief for a thesis given by the European Institute of Design of Turin to its students of Interior Design, who then set to work, defining a school that suits their own needs, in order to create their ideal study environment. The project was inspired by plans to create, in the former OSI area in Turin (16000 sq.m. of space currently occupied by an abandoned industrial building), the first design campus in Italy which, in addition to providing the future home of the IED, will also host a design library, a shopping area, student dormitories and private residences. The students of Industrial Design, on the other hand, were asked to reorganise the home, and the kitchen area in particular, on the basis of…