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Major OEMs have just started to make a lot of noise about electric powered cars, but Venturi has been making them for four years. On their home turf in Paris last week they unveiled the Volage, a concept car in every sense of the term except that it is set for 'very limited production' from 2012.
The Volage is based on a carbon fibre chassis from the Venturi Fetish production electric sportscar and incorporates 'Michelin Active Wheel' technology where each wheel has a 55kW electric motor and active electric suspension. Other core specifications are: 350kg of Lithium polymer battery, weight of 1075kg, 0-100km/h in 5 seconds and relatively low top speed of 150km/h.
Like all recent Venturis, the Voltage was designed by Sasha Lakic. A classically curvaceous aerodynamic teardrop form is the core theme, with butterfly doors that have glazing in the lower as well as upper part. The high rocker below them sweeps up rearwards and arcs in plan from the aperture just aft of the front wheels to the aperture just before the rear wheels which then forms a huge venturi passage under the rear.
Other interesting design features include a totally enclosed rear wheel and the way the blacked-out side panels below the door merge with the DLO/door graphic to dominate the side profile.
The interior is far less impressive, with light purple leather elements and a cruder aesthetic inherited from the older Fetish design.
The Volage has something of the quality of a car from a science fiction film: it lacks many automotive design qualities which would connect it to a specific period and it has a very exuberant form. Presented in a hall away from the major car brands and being from a very low volume and little known brand, the Volage received less attention than is should have; we think that this was one of the stars of the show.
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Venturi Eclectic - Paris 2006
The C3 Picasso looks set to define a vehicle typology pioneered by Toyota with the first generation Yaris Verso and then Renault with the Modus: a car that sits between the conventional European ‘B-sector' hatchback, the B-sector based light utility MPV defined by the Renault Kangoo, and the mono-space B-sector based mini-MPV defined by cars such as the Opel Meriva and Fiat Idea. It also has significance in showing how Citroen are extending the Picasso sub-brand away from one specific model.
The bluff nose of the C3 Picasso is cleverly managed with large, high set headlamps that wrap around the corners and visually remove much of the bulk. Below these lights, a second layer consisting of black bumper elements and low set grille, and a third layer of full width grille, combine to reduce the visual depth of the front aspect. Two other interesting exterior design elements are the unique curved front quarter light that wraps over the slim A-pillar, and the subtle side feature lines that hook over the door handles, wheel arches and side protector strip.
Inside the long cabin, the lack of tumblehome and 1.62m height create a spacious environment, with versatility provided by sliding split-fold rear seats. This combines with a high feeling of quality from a crumpled silk effect IP texture and almost concept car-like air vent designs, to make for a very compelling proposition.
The C3 Picasso looks set to succeed where Toyota and Renault have failed to in this small car niche. Unlike the Yaris Verso and Modus so beloved of the over sixties, the C3 Picasso has a robust and slightly masculine design identity that conveys confidence and will appeal to younger car buyers and thus young-minded older buyers. Whilst conceptually the design is an update of the iconic French Renault 4, like all recent Citroens designed under Jean-Pierre Ploué, this is a very impressive design that is exceptionally relevant to today's market.
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Design Review: Renault Modus (2004) 
Who's Where: Jean-Pierre Ploue
Design Review: Citroen C4 Picasso (2006)
This is the latest version of the biggest selling car in Europe. Billed as the Golf 6, although commonly recognised as more of a Golf 5.5, the new car differs in every exterior panel relative to its predecessor, bar the roof. But carry over glazing and under-structure mean that this is a re-skinned Golf, not a new one.
The design is most significant for its horizontally-orientated DRG. The GTi version - just announced - has the most pronounced version of this new DRG with a deeper, wider front lower grille (not dissimilar to last year's mid-engine GTi W12-650 concept) and fog lights that stretch the lower grille even wider. First seen in its close sibling, the Scirocco, this graphic relates to the first four generations of Golf where the lights and grille aperture were one enclosed horizontal graphic.
The rest of the exterior unsurprisingly differs little from the Golf 5. Surfaces are slightly more taut, the side feature line slightly more crisp, and the rear lights are slightly more Touareg-like.
Inside the car has the much the same design as before, but with new detailing and materials that respond well to the criticism levied at the Golf 5 when it was first launched: that its perceived material quality was behind that of its illustrious predecessor. Some of the notable, albeit subtle, changes that achieve this are the way the IP now flows up to the slightly protruding air vents, and the aluminium edges to the window switches on the GTi version.
Without any doubt this Golf 5.5 is a marked improvement on the Golf 5. Within the carry-over limitations in which this clearly design sits, it is an impressive new design and one that, once again, creates clear water in terms of perceived quality between the Golf and its competitors in this fiercely fought market sector .
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Design Review: Volkswagen Golf 5 (2003)
Volkswagen GTi W12-650
Volkswagen Scirroco - Geneva 2008
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