Features
Concept Car of the Month: Lamborghini 400 GT Flying Star II (1965)
Revisiting the shooting brake that proved the swansong of an Italian coachbuilder’s heyday
Are ’quadri-mobiles' the future of small cars?
Over the last ten to fifteen years, a combination of more rigorous regulatory demands and increasing customer expectations conspired to create the finest superminis ever made. One look at cars like the Volkswagen Up or the latest Hyundai i10 is enough to realise that buyers of entry-level models never had it so good
Design Essay: Surprise & delight, the importance of detail design
What makes people fall in love with cars? Aidan Walsh argues that small details in design cement long-term love affairs with vehicles
Concept Car of the Month: Opel Experimental GT (1965)
In the guiding hands of a young of Erhard Schnell, this month’s concept car, the Experimental GT, marked a turning point for Opel Design
Design Essay: Big Screen, Big Problem?
Integrating screens in car interiors comes with a set of significant problems, from aesthetic decisions to considering the life-cycle of the vehicle. You could argue that how screens are handled within the instrument panel highlights many of the wider creative challenges of mobility design
Designer profile: Simon Humphries, head of design, Toyota
Two years in at the top job, Car Design News chats to Simon Humphries, head of design for Toyota and Lexus
Jukeboxes: the unlikely automotive influence
A look at the connection between mid-century American cars and jukeboxes
2020 Trend Report by CnTFactory
CnTFactory has teamed up with CDN and Interior Motives magazine to provide a quarterly report on the trends that every automotive designer should have in their moodboards
Design Essay: Is still possible to draw in Italian?
Designer and writer Matteo Licata takes a brief look back at the history of Italian car design and asks if the same emotion can be replicated today
Concept Car of the Month: Opel GT2 (1975)
A follow-up to a popular blue-collar sports car was one designer’s breakthrough project
Explaining EU vehicle emissions targets: can OEMs avoid heavy fines?
The new average fleet targets that came into force in Europe on January 1st 2020 are having big impacts on vehicle development and design, pushing OEMs to produce and sell more hybrids and EVs. But the rules are complex and varied by brands, volume and sales. Here we provide a summary of the key rules and terminology.
The inside story of Land Rover’s new Defender
The interiors design team at Land Rover created a new look for the Defender interior with cunning storage solutions and rugged sophistication
CES 2020: Is Sony’s Vision S a scary sight, or a revelation for carmakers and suppliers?
Should automotive manufacturers fear or embrace this surprise announcement from the consumer technology giant?
Design Essay: Why is Car Design so Hooked on the Past?
Retro car designs have been appearing throughout the 21st century so far… but why are they so popular?
Tearing profits apart: how tier 1 automotive suppliers can mitigate shrinking margins
The latest report by Automotive from Ultima Media examines the profits and outlook for the top 20 automotive parts suppliers and explores the strategies and solutions they should consider to avoid significant disruption in the 2020s, including the key role they will play in automotive design and R&D
Land Rover Defender 2019
Land Rover’s new Defender has taken enough elements of the old Defender to respect the heritage, while playfully updating and reinterpreting the brand identitiy for a modern context. CDN spoke to Massimo Frascella, Gerry McGovern and Andy Wheel about the exterior design. The full interior story will follow in a few weeks…
Design Essay: The Strange Allure of Ugliness
Are tastes changing, or is taste simply disappearing? We try not to cover our eyes…
Iconic BMW Designs: the i8
BMW fan and M-car obsessive Steve Carter highlights his Top 5 BMWs of all time, including this mould breaking i8 hybrid
Mercedes moves into France’s tech hub (near Nice)
Car Design News strolled around the futuristic new Mercedes-Benz advanced design studio in Nice, France, where the German brand’s heads of department showed us around and explained the reasons for the move
Signs of Design: Geely’s new Shanghai studio
Geely Design moved its main China facility into an anonymous looking site near Shanghai South Station in June. Studio chief Guy Burgoyne gave us a little tour
Design Essay: Could the Electric Revolution save the Sports Car?
Could the flexibility, modularity and lower production costs of electric vehicle platforms be the sports car’s unlikely saviour?
Iconic BMW designs: the 2002tii
BMW fan and M-car obsessive Steve Carter highlights his Top 5 BMW cars of all time, starting with the legendary BMW 2002tii
BMW Design spotlight
BMW has shown some really interesting Vision concept cars in the last few years, most recently, the Vision M Next. If you want to understand what BMW design’s aesthetic values are – the Vision cars are a good place to start.
Driven: Range Rover Velar SVAutobiography Dynamic
Land Rover’s Special Vehicle Operations has produced a new range-topping version of the Velar, and it’s a delight
Show Review: K 2019
Car Design News reports on the 2019 K trade fair in Düsseldorf, which explored the use of plastics in automotive design and manufacturing
The Timeless Relevance of Syd Mead
A retrospective on one of the most distinctive and inspirational designers we’ve ever seen.
Concept of the Month: Renault Radiance (2004)
As we saw last month, delightful design can be found in unusual places. The 2004 Renault Radiance, a concept for a full-size lorry with more automotive design elements, is just such an example.
The Lasting Appeal of Syd Mead’s Turn-X Gundam
With the recent announcement the Syd Mead is winding down his design activities for good, we’ve found ourselves reflecting once more upon the famed visual futurist’s incomparable career, such as ths Turn-X Gundam fight-suit design
Trend Report: Frankfurt 2019
Analysing the biggest automotive design trends at Europe’s biggest motor show, before we head further afield – centring around the Frankfurt motor show that generated a certain amount of controversy from the start
Focus: Interior Lighting
The end of the age of speed is having a profound effect on the way car designers are thinking about interiors, and especially their lighting. Previously, focus was on the driver: the switchgear and cockpit were angled and lit to ensure very little got in the way of single-minded concentration on the road ahead.
Studio Visit: Jaguar’s new Gaydon studio
Jaguar Land Rover put on a special media tour of its new Jaguar design studio in Gaydon, England. The state-of-the-art facility spans 12,000 square metres and allows closer communication between departments
Stricter EU CO2 regulations will reshape vehicle platforms and car design
As OEMs try to reduce CO2 and transition to electric vehicles in the face of the high fines, we expect a profound impact on vehicle design.
Suppliers will face squeeze as OEMs push to meet EU CO2 targets
As carmakers strive to reach the more stringent CO2 emissions targets being phased in across the EU next year, we predict that many are likely to put more pressure on their supply base to help reduce emissions
Ian Callum on his new venture – and his new Vanquish
Car Design News spoke to Ian Callum about his new design firm, CALLUM, as well as its first project, the Aston Martin Vanquish 25 by CALLUM, created alongside R-Reforged.
OEMs’ profit strategies today could hurt them tomorrow
Ahead of stringent EU emissions targets starting in 2020, some carmakers are pursuing strategies that actually go against what they will ultimately need to do to reduce hefty fines. This makes sense – but only for now
EU fines and electric future not entirely in the hands of OEMs
In the face of government and citizens’ rising concern over climate change, vehicle emission regulations around the world are tightening, especially in Europe. In our latest business intelligence report, we forecast that carmakers will face hefty fines under tightening vehicle emission targets, driven largely by factors outside their control.
Opportunities ahead for automotive OEMs and tier suppliers
The downturn in automotive sales volume creates many challenges, but the transitional state of the industry also provides many business opportunities including for R&D and design, according to a forecast and report from Ultima Media.
Greater expectations: brighter days will return for the automotive industry
Although automotive OEMs will face years of stagnant vehicle sales, a stronger recovery thereafter will bring growth back up to long run averages and herald a return to stronger profits. By then, however, the industry is likely to have undergone further consolidation.
First sight: Yanfeng XiM20
Yanfeng’s Red Dot award-winning XiM20’s concept focuses on making a connection with people using a vehicle for short-trip travel, within a framework of the users being a group who value experiences over posessions
Report: Climate Change vs. Carmakers
In our second report from Ultima Media’s automotive business intelligence team, we focus on climate change mitigation policies around the world with a particular focus on the most stringent and imminent EU CO2 emissions targets predicting the financial consequences of the legislation upon the OEMs, the impact upon the wider supply chain and the opportunities that arise from the legislation.
Syd Mead announces retirement
Syd Mead, former Car Design News lifetime achievement award winner, has officially retired from professional design, according to an announcement on social media
Electrification poses cost and technology risk for automotive industry
The high R&D, production and technology costs of electric vehicles could mean that OEMs will be selling most at a loss for years to come, according to a report by Automotive from Ultma Media.
Emissions regulations pose existential risk for OEMs
Escalating fines over CO2 and fuel standards, especially in Europe and China, are set to have significant impacts across OEM profits and future model plans, according to a new report by Automotive from Ultima Media.
CCotM: Hymer VisionVenture RV (2019)
Our concept car of the month isn’t a car at all, but a reimagining of the recreational vehicle formula. We take a look at the all-terrain motorhome of the near future, which debuted at the Caravan Salon in Düsseldorf.
Exclusive: Ralph Gilles talks Maserati, UX and beyond
On a sunny day in California, Car Design News got an exclusive update from FCA’s global president of product design, Ralph Gilles, on Maserati interior materials, UI and UX design, the positive side of shared components, and what the future might hold for this historic Italian sports car brand
First Sight: BAC Mono R
Design director Ian Briggs introduces Car Design News to the updated ‘R’ version of the unique BAC Mono. BAC’s team of designers gave Mono a full aesthetic evolution for the first time – although not without a fresh wave of mechanical updates as this limited run of 30 cars bridges a gap between the Mono we know and a next-gen car that we’ll see in the near future.
Ken Okuyama on the Aiways U7 Ion
Working with the Aiways internal teams from his studio in Japan, Ken Okuyama has been working with the Chinese EV brand Aiways on the design of the company’s Shanghai show stand, a line of lifestyle products, and their newest concept car, the U7 Ion. He says that in the future, his design influence will likely extend to branding, stores, and even the website. After seeing the investment the company has made in their fully-automated production facility, he was convinced that Aiways had a big future, and he wanted to be part of it. In late 2018, he was named Chief Advisor of Design & Art, and his influence at the startup is already being felt. The immiment arrival of two Aiways U5 prototypes at the Frankfurt motor show on September 9, which left Xi’an in China on 17 July, seems a good time to take another look at this ambitious Chinese brand.
Book review: Design between the lines
Patrick Le Quément is a seminal designer who has worked at Simca, Ford, VW and Renault. This collection of essays is a tour de force through the design world of half a century and should be essential reading for anyone interested in design.
GAC Entranze - designed to share experiences
Chinese automotive company GAC used virtual reality technology to connect the China and LA studios’ together to design this striking crossover-MPV for the Detroit auto show in 2019. Look inside and the fresh approach to the MPV typology becomes even more apparent - led by Pontus Fontaeus, its interior materials, textures and shapes create some really interesting themes for travelling with friends or family in the connected age
Exclusive: Roberto Giolito on the 2004 Fiat Trepiuno
In the second of our series exploring the Fiat Heritage Hub, head of the new facility, Roberto Giolito, reveals a few secrets behind one of its most influential exhibits and his most famous design, the trailblazing 2004 Trepiuno…
Interior Focus: Trim & Materials
From Interior Motives magazine: New materials, textiles and techniques are enabling greater experimentation and creativity in the automotive sector, driven by design curiosity, a genuine desire for development, and changing consumer tastes and demands, particularly with regard to sustainability. Attention is being paid to both raw materials and end-of-life recycling – with some quite startling sources for new textiles and fabrics making their industrial debuts
How to be a car designer Pt5: The (job) interview
Professional car designer and transportation design teacher Luciano Bove offers aspiring car designers advice on how to make a career out of car design and get into a university which teaches transportation design. This series of articles is a must-read for anyone who wants to become a professional car designer. In this article we look at preparing for the job interview
How to be a car designer Pt4: Your portfolio
Professional Car Designer and transportation design teacher Luciano Bove offers aspiring car designers advice on how to make a career out of car design and get into a university which teaches transportation design. This series of articles is a must-read for anyone who wants to become a professional car designer. In this feature we examine the art of building a strong automotive design portfolio
Design Essay: What is a ‘luxury’ car?
With more and more brands going upmarket, it is worth examining this often-misused term…
Flavio Manzoni and the one-of-a-kind Ferrari P80/C
The Ferrari Senior Vice President of Design talks to CDN about one-offs and design inspirations
Design Driven – Honda e prototype
Honda’s Urban EV’s showroom car is nearly ready. That won’t be unveiled until the Frankfurt motor show, so we took the near-production protoype for a design drive
Cartier concours
Cartier Style et Luxe lawn at the Goodwood Festival of Speed had a stunning array of classic cars
Visions of tomorrow at Goodwood FOS’s Future Lab
The Goodwood Festival of Speed 2019 Future Lab crammed together the latest auto and digital innovations
Design Essay: Are ‘Responsible’ Cars the Future?
We took a look at why a holistic view of a vehicle’s environmental and social impact is needed when developing the cars of the future
Shanghai 2019 overview
Now the dust has settled on the biggest auto show of the year, we asked Drew Meehan join the dots of what we saw in April in Shanghai
