University of Staffordshire Automotive and Transport design BA show highlights

While automotive design courses are often judged by the work they produce, the University of Staffordshire’s programme stands for nurturing a different, but equally important element: a strong sense of community. Combining a deliberately close-knit studio culture with a carefully structured curriculum designed to prepare students for industry, the course creates an environment where collaboration is valued as highly as creativity. The result is a selection of well-thought out, accomplished projects.

This special atmosphere is thanks to the deliberately small size of the course – ten, to be exact. Students are encouraged to work together across year groups in order to create an open studio environment, avoiding students becoming siphoned into solo projects.

The first year of the course sees students learn industry standard software and techniques to create realistic CAD models, renders and concept animations. They also partake in an industry brief from a client as well as spending time in the workshop getting to know a range of core materials and processes.

The second year brings concept vehicle design for games and film, another industry brief, clay modelling as well as the exploration of interior design and user experience.

The final year’s focus is on the major project, where students put everything they’ve learned into practice. There’s also a focus on networking, interview skills and building resilience before entering the competitive automotive design workforce.

Below is a selection of these final third-year projects.

Lilla Csetai

The idea for Lilla’s project came from a trip to the Lake District. She was walking around Lake Windermere and saw two F35s flying in tandem. Taken aback by the noise and how low the planes were flying; Lilla watched the whole world stop and look up. This was the moment that she realised she wanted to recreate the dramatic effect of these fighter jets on the ground.

Lilla chose Saab as her vehicle’s brand due to its heritage in aeronautical engineering – with the company still making fighter jets to this day. The front end of her design is kept clean, in keeping with Swedish design principles. To contrast this, Csetai added elements of technical design to the rear – with two vertical stabilisers that contain a fuel-cloud inspired swirl in the design.

This single-seat hypercar project was presented as a quarter scale clay model. Csetai explained that a quarter scale was chosen as it’s easier to use particular tools on this size as well as avoiding any distortion that scaling down may bring. It’s clear that Csetai has a passion for clay, with this being the specialism that she wants to develop in the future.

Joshua Tandy

After completing a placement at Aston Martin over the summer, Tandy secured the OEM’s sponsorship for his final project. This project, Ragnarok, was inspired by the idea that people would rather have a car that’s worth driving, than to have the fastest car in the world. As a result, Tandy has designed a car that celebrates the beauty of driving, with focus, precision and control key factors in his design.

Tandy took inspiration from the upright hood of a grand piano for this exterior form, implementing flat shapes with smooth flowing surfaces. To contrast this, he added an imposing front end cut in keeping with traditional Aston Martin DNA. This idea stems from one of Aston Martin’s design pillars – making cars that can go straight from the racetrack to the opera. Inside, the bucket-seats echo this inspiration– with red pillowing colour-matched to the red carpet in an opera house.

The glasshouse follows the vehicle through to expose the engine in the front bonnet, so you can see all the mechanics. Tandy referenced vintage mechanical watches as the inspiration behind this, stating how people pay good money for watches like Rolex in order to see the fine gears and details.

Perhaps the most pertinent design feature is the piano-string inspired lights that appear to stretch throughout the entire length of the vehicle – from the rear spoiler to the back of the seats, then emerging inside the cabin beyond the steering wheel towards the front of the vehicle.

Tandy opted for a pearlescent dark green exterior to align more closely with Aston Martin’s style – he also tweaked the surface language to become more sculptural and simplified to keep close to the brand.

Ethan Meekin

This Hydro-Rally concept was inspired by video games and Meekin’s love for Toyota. As a result, the PlayStation X Toyota concept was born.

The hydrogen combustion engine is one of the main focus points, with this particular engine type being used in order to maintain a visceral driving experience. Hydrogen canisters are stored in a row at the rear of the vehicle for easy re-fuelling.

The exterior design features a split and layered approach on the side panels, inspired by the contours of the 2026 PlayStation controller. Meekin also took inspiration from the fifth generation Toyota Celica, a vehicle he thinks was ahead of its time.

Adrián López Herranz

Aiming to meet the needs of both rural and urban customers, Herranz – originally from Argentina – designed an affordable biodiesel vehicle suitable for the varying areas of Argentina.

The design philosophy behind his vehicle is modularity and ultra minimalism, with the Slate 01 being one of his reference points.

The vehicle has different elements to swap between, with the ability to transform into a pick-up, off roader and an SUV. Each vehicle variation takes 45 minutes to swap between, made possible through extra seats that to slot into rails, and indentations in the framework where a roof can slide into – essentially all these changeable parts can be locked in.

Herranz’s favourite design elements are the air intakes and the curved bumper that directs air toward them. He is also proud of the colour-pop strip that runs from the top of the cabin to the wheelbase, which creates a welcome contrast and prevents the vehicle from becoming too simple. It also allows the customer to emotionally connect with the vehicle, as this strip is the colour of the Argentinian flag.

Ciaran Jones

With perhaps the best project name CDN has come across so far, Jones presented the Big Kahuna – a marine research vessel designed for a full team of scientists, measuring 22.5 metres long. This vessel aims to speed up the process of scientific research, as current vessels are quite small – only having capacity for a couple of scientists at a time.

The exterior shape was inspired by a hammerhead shark, and Jones decided not to add any windows in order to preserve the structural integrity. Instead, he chose a wrap-around LED screen inside, with cameras on the outside to capture a 360-degree view.

The Big Kahuna would be powered by a magneto hydrodynamic drive (a propulsion system that uses electric and magnetic fields to accelerate the water, generating thrust based on the Lorentz force). This ensures the vessel would not disturb ecosystems.

Jones always excelled when drawing animals and creating animations, so he decided to lean into this with his final project.

Bryn Thomas

Inspired by his love of trains, Thomas created a more accessible train for Manchester called Hexa-Link. The exterior design leans heavily on modified hexagonal shapes and references the worker bee – an insect of which Manchester is synonymous.

Within the train, Thomas has ensured everything is wheelchair accessible. He conducted surveys with wheelchair users who frequent trains to really understand what they want. From this, he learned that some people want to be able to sit together, whereas the majority want to sit alone. As a result, half of the seating is single pods.

Light wood and yellow and black material make up the cabin. As for the seating itself, the hexagonal shape is again referenced in the headrest, with a clean and simple design.