Chinese design school builds a working car 

One of China’s most prestigious design schools, China Academy of Art, has clearly been very busy since we last covered its work. Students here have already shown us their talents with pencil, stylus and click pad, but earlier this year they took things up a notch and built a working car.  

Dubbed ‘Revelation’ this low-slung supercar is the country’s – and perhaps the only – example of such a project. The car is more formally described as a full-size rolling validation platform and was produced to coincide with the newly established Transportation Design Research Institute (TDI).  

While a huge array of OEMs and suppliers have been working with the CAA elsewhere, the school is keen to underline that Revelation was ultimately completed “independently” despite key industry support, primarily around the validation of core areas like chassis architecture, power systems and body materials.

Design was led by the students under the guidance of TDI Dean – and former Chery, GM, Ford and DaimlerChrysler designer – James Hope, who triumphed in the Best Educator category at the CDN People Awards 2025.  

Visually, the car hugs the floor purposefully and the roofline does a good job of trying to achieve the same feat, sitting at about knee height for some people. The large expanse of glass that in many respects defines the car’s proportions features a clever clamshell hinge that rises up and forwards – eliminating the need for conventional doors.

The surfacing is smooth to a point – literally – at the nose cone and two sharp diffusers that sit beneath like fins. A similar theme can be seen at the rear with a defined rear spoiler that flicks ever so slightly upwards but could not quite be described as duck tail.  

The wheels feature four detached quadrants that hug the outer perimeter like mints, decorating an otherwise deep-dish concaved wheel structure with very real, but seemingly painted on, tyres. Their large proportion in combination with the low roofline and almost non-existent cowl ensures the front fenders tower above the bonnet. The CAA’s distinctive red logo adorns the front.

To be frank, it does not look real. But real it is and its dramatic forms have been nicely captured by the school’s photographer of choice.  

Inside lies a single seat with a yoke-style steering wheel, white to match the accents of those wheels and brightening an otherwise moody ombre purple-blue-back CMF theme. Revelation was driven slowly into the school’s exhibition hall for its official reveal, a feat in itself given the context. “I do believe this is the first fully drivable full-size project by a car design school that bridges art and science,” Hope told CDN.  

Away from Revelation, students also completed their own individual projects with the support of a veritable smorgasbord of industry partners. Deep breath: Leapmotor, GM China, XPeng, Chery, Geely Auto, Lynk & Co, Jetour, smart, Mercedes-Benz, Kia, Dongfeng, SAIC-GM-Wuling, Ford, Alfa Romeo and Bugatti, as well as suppliers like Bcomp, Toyota Boshoku, Icona Design Group, Ninebot and MOMAI Tech. Other collaborators include the Ministry for Science and Technology and, curiously, the Detroit-based College for Creative Studies.  

Those projects will follow in a separate feature.