Pforzheim Transportation Design BA Summer 2026 show highlights 

Pforzheim’s annual Transportation Design degree show is an important fixture in the student design calendar, a programme responsible for producing many top automotive designers, such as Porsche head of design, Tobias Sühlmann. 

This year’s show unfortunately clashed with Goodwood Festival of Speed, where we were otherwise occupied sweating through automotive mayhem. Although we may have missed the physical show, we took a virtual look around the projects to see what this year’s graduating BA students have been working on.  

Daniil Zharov – Selectron 

This concept reimagines the rubbish collection truck as a symbol of care rather than pollution. Zharov designed this vehicle for dense European cities with narrow streets. 

The vehicle is inspired by the image of a king – the driver sits high above the street, while the front of the vehicle quietly collects waste from street containers. Inside, the garbage passes through several stages: shredding, scanning, sorting and pressing into solid cubes. These cubes are then stored in a transparent rear compartment, turning an invisible technical process into a public urban spectacle. Light shining through the recycled blocks transforms the vehicle into a moving street show. 

The project was developed around the idea of emotional sustainability – the belief that sustainable solutions become more meaningful when people can emotionally connect with them. Inspired by Kia’s Opposites United philosophy, the concept combines two seemingly incompatible ideas: trash and ceremony. One represents routine and waste, the other dignity and celebration. Together they create a new perspective, where garbage is no longer something to hide but a valuable resource in transformation 

Felix Hasemann – Light rail system for Pforzheim 

The light rail system for Pforzheim is a forward-looking project for the city. Buses are overcrowded and frequently caught in traffic congestion. At the same time, the city is heavily dominated by private car use. Hasemann’s vision for Pforzheim in 15 to 20 years is a sustainable and environmentally friendly mobility network in which different modes of transport work together as an integrated system.  

As a result, Hasemann designed this light rail system, where bicycles, pedestrians, and micromobility options are seamlessly connected with the system, creating a sustainable mobility concept. To support this vision, the light rail vehicles – trams – are designed with a large multifunctional area that can accommodate various forms of micromobility. The light rail system should also provide an attractive alternative to the car for as many people as possible. Therefore, a dedicated section is provided for passengers with reduced mobility, wheelchair users, families with children, as well as passengers travelling with pets or luggage.  

Once the light rail line reaches rural areas and operates on tracks separated from road traffic, the driver can move to the opposite end of the train to open the onboard bistro and offer passengers an additional service during the journey. 

Nae Guhn Yi – Chevrolet El Camino (sponsored by GM Advanced Design Europe) 

This sponsored project is a modern reinterpretation of thislifestyle utility vehicle, trying to balance the preservation of the vehicle’s original purpose while evolving it into an object of character and versatility.  

Yi took tmost of his inspiration from a pair of dungarees – which evolves from durable workwear to a symbol of individuality and confidence, without losing its functional roots. Yi noticed this shift also reflects Chevrolet’s identity.  

The exterior design is based on the garment’s structure – the shoulder straps inspire a strong, confident front end that guides the overall form, the waist section becomes a cab-forward passenger space, and the leg section evolves into a purposeful cargo area where utility is expressed most directly. Large sculptural surfaces, clean graphics, and inward-folding forms draw inspiration from the tension and simplicity of the dungaree, where every stitch and seam serves a clear functional purpose.  

Inside, the concept continues this narrative through a minimalist two-seat cabin featuring denim composite materials that reinterpret traditional workwear in a contemporary and sustainable way. The vehicle's defining feature is the Chevrolet Grid Deck, a modular cargo bed made up of 28 individually rotating bowtie-shaped panels. The modules create a completely flat loading surface when closed but transform into hooks, supports, bike mounts, and securing points when needed, making utility intuitive, adaptable and seamlessly integrated into the design. 

Nico Alber – Generation Autopunk 2.0 (sponsored by Opel) 

Inspired by the punk subculture, Generation Autopunk 2.0 represents the future revival of individuality, freedom and emotional connection. 

Its reduced and symmetrical design language is centred around the vehicle’s main axis and emphasises the central seating position, which is inspired by bobsleigh racing. This allows the driver to experience acceleration and physical forces in a particularly direct and unfiltered way. The strong wedge shape, low front end, and open rear communicate dynamism, lightness, and technical directness. In this way, the vehicle becomes an expression of an emotional future of the automobile where freedom, character and conscious experience once again become more important than pure efficiency. 

The project was developed in cooperation with Opel, with Alber noting that nowadays, Opel is often perceived as a sensible, reliable everyday hero. However, Alber points out that the brand is much more than that. Throughout its history, Opel has taken on many different characters and created vehicles that were sporty, bold, emotional, functional, or unconventional. This is where the connection to Generation Autopunk 2.0 becomes clear: both are driven by the search for driving with character and by the question of how the automobile can once again become a personal and emotional form of expression. 

Sisi Albarran Moll – Alpine Shuttle Bus (sponsored by Daimler Buses) 

Moll’s project focuses on how sustainable mobility can be designed for alpine regions that promote soft tourism (a way of travelling that protects nature and respects local cultures) and deliberately avoid traditional ski resorts with lift infrastructure. The goal is to create an integrated mobility concept that enables visitors to travel throughout the year. 

To make such a system work all year round, the vehicle itself also needed to be adaptable.Rather than fixed, season-specific solutions, such as a ski rack in winter or a bicycle rack in summer, Moll’s concept is based on a modular system. As climate change continues to blur the boundaries between the summer and winter, different types of outdoor equipment can be transported without requiring major modifications to the vehicle. This creates a flexible solution that can easily adapt to changing needs while allowing the vehicle to be used all year round. 

The vehicle design reflects this idea. A clean and reduced design language combines robustness with functionality, giving the shuttle the appearance of a modern and reliable vehicle for use in alpine regions. The final vehicle concept not only meets the practical requirements of a sustainable mobility system but also supports the principles of soft tourism and helps reduce private car traffic in sensitive natural environments. 

Tim Geist – Reboot 

This concept is a playful, bubble-like vehicle that utilises rounded proportions and soft surfacing to create a sense of escapism. The roof structure arcs over the body, supporting a blue-tinted canopy and connects to the main body through exposed roof supports. The pale blue pearlescent bodywork and silver exterior detailing follow through to the wheels. 

Geist found inspiration for this project through a Paradisio music video for the song Bailando (Spanish for ‘dancing’), a dance/electronic pop song released in 1996. He wanted to revive a time of escapism and positivity through design and put joy as a design value. The design process began with sketching, followed by photoshop rendering and 3D modelling. He then translated the digital development into a model through traditional model building and 3D printing. 

FYI – Paradisio’s Bailando music video is a wild ride, we’d recommend you watch. 

Yunxing Ma – Volkswagen Floating Freedom 

This project is a futuristic aircraft design inspired by Hong Kong’s vertical urban architecture and visual symbols, with Ma also wanting this concept to integrate into the existing infrastructure. 

With its floating, fluid motion and lightweight construction, combined with a rotating fuselage that allows for direct docking to buildings, Floating Freedom offers a seamless travel experience, creating space within the urban environment and offering a sense of freedom. The design is minimalistic, with flowing semi-sheer surfaces making up the exterior. The interior offers up a welcome pop of colour alongside mood lighting, and seats three in a triangular formation.Each passenger has a small horizontal screen that shows a map.  

In a future where cities continue to grow and become more densely populated, this flying vehicle aims to help put people back at the centre of attention – creating solutions that not only work technically but also enhance quality of life.