The 370Z is the most exciting new production design to debut at the LA Auto Show, although it actually debuted on October 29 in the latest Need for Speed driving game - a world first for a production car design.
The 370Z is a progression of the potent, modern sports car theme that its successful predecessor, the 2003 350Z, established. If anything the 370 pushes this theme further with a 100mm shorter wheelbase, more pronounced flared fenders around the wheelarches and a roof that rakes down in a near straight line from the A-pillar. George Yanaka, interior and exterior designer of the 370Z told us how he also specifically wanted to accentuate the potent stance of the car relative to its predecessor.
Sharp-cornered, boomerang-shaped lights front and rear stand proud of the surrounding surface and are other obvious new design elements. But the exterior is also full of subtle innovations: a rocker that wraps under the car ahead of the rear wheel; a tumblehome that doesn't taper rearwards; a side surface, which extends ahead of the door above the wheelarch without wrapping onto the hood; and LED running lights incorporated into the lamp graphics, which key into the slim shoulder at the front.
The interior, like the exterior, takes the core theme of the 350Z but progresses it less. The most noticeable change is in the field of perceived material quality, with soft-feel plastics and even a leather clad center stack - albeit one that looks too much like that of an Infiniti sports sedan to our eyes.
Speaking with designers at the show we heard a mixed response to the 370Z. The stout proportions and stance are more ‘hardcore' and the detailing - particularly the lamps - are also polarizing, with some finding them too fussy. But what is unequivocally impressive about the 370Z is the way it clearly stems from the 350Z yet makes a stronger and more distinct statement.
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This is the sixth-generation Ford Mustang, a nameplate that has been in production since mid-1964, and a car which has become an American icon. As such, Ford designers have been subtle in their redesign, prompting some designers to call it 'version 5.1' as it inherits its predecessor's architecture and hard points, although every exterior panel is new bar the roof.
CDN spoke to Doug Gaffka, Chief Designer of the Mustang program, who told us that the new car aims to deliver a higher quality perception and a slightly more emotional feel relative to its predecessor.
The most notable differences are the slightly shallower front graphic, which, along with the more pronounced hood 'power dome', creates a visually lower nose. The ends of the car also have more plan shape, with three distinct planes (as per several European Fords) that visually reduce the overhangs; the resolution of its surfacing does give the car a more modern and premium quality than its forebear. The surface language and subtle differences in the side feature lines create a slightly less formal and more dynamic aesthetic as well.
Inside the cabin is also very close to that of the fifth-generation Mustang, but has been executed in higher quality materials - door uppers excepted. There is less thematic difference to the earlier car than is visible in the exterior.
Though the market for 'pony' cars is not as strong now as it was when Ford committed to this program, this new 'Stang stands as a powerful and positive statement from the company. And, like the similarly evolutionary new Volkswagen Golf VI, the sixth-generation Mustang does an exemplary job of creating a new design based on extensive carryover from its predecessor.
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The debut of new Cube in LA happened in parallel with an unveiling event in Japan and at Nissan's European design studios in London, indicating the company's intentions to make the redesigned ‘box' an international product offering. The unveiling in LA also marks car's arrival in the US market.
Mainly, the news is that the Cube is 'well-rounded', as its brochure proclaims, with all of the surfaces being softer and less 'product' in their design language. Large radius curves give a robust but slightly toy-like quality to the car (not dissimilar to the European market-only Kangoo) and impart a more 'fun' or light-hearted quality to the Cube, its exterior designer John Sahs told us. The core profile, proportions and asymmetrical rear aspect are in keeping with the look of the original, with the most notable differences being a more upright A-pillar and longer front and rear fenders, designed to meet federal crash legislation in the US-market version.
Inside, its spacious interior is dominated by bland light and dark cool gray leather-textured plastics and similarly old fashioned light gray velour. But there are also many modern and innovative design aspects to the interior, such as the vertically orientated instrument panel, which sweeps symmetrically from the doors forwards ahead of the two front seat occupants and then back into the car with the center stack. In the roof lining are rippling contours out from the central interior light (which is unfortunately rectangular), a motif repeated in the speaker grilles in all five door inners and in the left-side exterior C-pillar cheater panel. This theme first emerged in the Conran Cube concept unveiled at the 2003 Tokyo Motor Show.
The previous-generation Cube was an iconic design sold only in Japan whose fashionable, simple squareness struck a chord with many young Japanese car buyers. With this new design Nissan is hoping to appeal to American and European car buyers, but we think its intrinsically Japanese aesthetic will remain an acquired taste in these markets.
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