IN THIS ISSUE
Vehicle type: concept/ 3-seat coupe cabrio
Design Director: Gilles Vidal
Interior Design Director: Amko Leenarts
Lead interior designer: Julien Cueff
Colour & trim designer: Hélène Veilleux
Project started: February 2009
Project completed: July 2009
Launch: Geneva 2010
Running around the parameter of the interior is a deep band of laminated and differently dyed wood that subtly switches from slightly concave to slightly convex in section, highlighting the unique single rear seat from a distance. The way the grain runs in the direction of the car and the way the colors change from milky tan to rich brown-red is also totally unique and adds a strong premium quality to the whole design.
The rest of the interior uses muted hues and a mix of leather and satin and gloss finish high quality plastic and nickel plated surfaces. And there's more: the center console slides forwards to provide additional legroom for the single rear seat occupant, and a safe is hidden behind the display screen to store valuables - like the archetypal safe behind the antique picture frame. This safe also houses the bespoke Bell and Ross-designed watch that doubles as an in-car timepiece when viewed through its glass cover.
The rest of the interior uses muted hues and a mix of leather and satin and gloss finish high quality plastic and nickel plated surfaces. And there's more: the center console slides forwards to provide additional legroom for the single rear seat occupant, and a safe is hidden behind the display screen to store valuables - like the archetypal safe behind the antique picture frame. This safe also houses the bespoke Bell and Ross-designed watch that doubles as an in-car timepiece when viewed through its glass cover.
The concept’s link with the Lacoste sports and fashion brand is evident in the colour and textures used throughout the car. The pearl white exterior with deep blue wheelarches and bumpers has contrasting white cotton seat covers, while the Lacoste ‘square relief’ motif – which resembles parts of a tennis net – is used on the seats, hood cowl and front undershield. The tie-up with Lacoste came about through the friendship between Catherine Lacoste, niece of Michel Lacoste, and exterior designer Céline Venet
Vehicle type: concept/4-seat open buggy
Design Director: Thierry Metroz
Interior Designer: Nicholas Gonzales
Colour & Trim Designers: Vincent Lobry
Muriel Predault
Project started: November 2009
Project completed: August 2010
Launch: Paris/September 2010
Vehicle type: concept/4-seat open buggy
Design Director: Thierry Metroz
Interior Designer: Nicholas Gonzales
Colour & Trim Designers: Vincent Lobry
Muriel Predault
Project started: November 2009
Project completed: August 2010
Launch: Paris/September 2010
The two-spoke dished steering wheel will be recognised by anyone familiar with Citroën’s classic Ami or 2CV. “Note the rubber tyre motif on the steering wheel and the paddle shifters behind it. They control all the main functions including gearshift, lights and entertainment, and really exemplify the ‘simplifi cation and purifi cation’ philosophy behind the whole car,” says Gonzales.
The seatbelt anchorage points have ‘necklines’ , while the white cotton seat covers feature the familiar petit piquet weave used by Lacoste on its polo shirts.
Colour and trim designers Vincent Lobry and Muriel Predault worked closely with Lacoste’s designers to select new materials and fi nishes for the project.
When passengers board, the steering wheel can be fl ipped up against the upper dashboard – an ingenious way of optimising access to the front bench seat. The dark blue seat bases use a robust ribbed cotton weave finish.
Vehicle type: concept/ 4-seat city car
Design Manager: Kanna Sumiyoshi
Interior Designers: Kanna Sumiyoshi & Yuuki Nagasawa
Colour & trim designer: Sayuri Hanzawa
Project started: January
Project completed: May 2008
Launch: Tokyo/ October 2009
Simple, smart, modern and eco’ – this was the brief from management for Honda’s EV-N, a fully electric city car concept launched at the 2009 Tokyo motor show. However, also crucial to the design remit was to work within the broader and now well-established Honda design principle of ‘man maximum, machine minimum’ (or ‘MM’), and more specifically the latest phase of that philosophy as personified by the FCX Clarity and Insight, namely: ‘Efficient MM’.
Kanna Sumiyoshi, the young Japanese designer, wanted the concept to be light and small, but also enjoyable to sit in and drive, and to have universal appeal: “What we wanted to make was a day- to-day car that everyone would like to look at – like Converse sneakers or white shirts.”
At 2,860mm long, the EV-N is even shorter and narrower than the ‘three-plus-one’ seat Toyota iQ, if a little taller. Sumiyoshi doesn’t see size as a barrier to enjoyment, however: “Wouldn’t people want a car even smaller than a mini-car if its interior were sufficiently large and felt just right…? Wouldn’t such a small and cute partner be appealing?”
Kanna Sumiyoshi, the young Japanese designer, wanted the concept to be light and small, but also enjoyable to sit in and drive, and to have universal appeal: “What we wanted to make was a day- to-day car that everyone would like to look at – like Converse sneakers or white shirts.”
At 2,860mm long, the EV-N is even shorter and narrower than the ‘three-plus-one’ seat Toyota iQ, if a little taller. Sumiyoshi doesn’t see size as a barrier to enjoyment, however: “Wouldn’t people want a car even smaller than a mini-car if its interior were sufficiently large and felt just right…? Wouldn’t such a small and cute partner be appealing?”
Vehicle type: concept/ urban crossover
Studio chief designer: Frank Saucedo
Chief interior designer: Gael Buzyn
Colour & trim designer: Gulyaim Kuldjanov
Project started: May 2009
Project completed: January 2010
Launch: NAIAS Detroit/ January 2010
GM uses a sophisticated blend of functional utility and quality to create this compact vehicle with optimised volume
Sketching began at GM’s Advanced Design Studio in California in May 2009, led by Advanced Design Director Frank Saucedo. Buzyn was elected chief interior designer for the project when his theme sketches were chosen by management shortly afterwards. “You see on the exterior and interior a sophisticated blend of two genres that are usually opposite: a professionally rooted, functional utility vehicle on one hand, and a premium car on the other. We’ve taken these two genres and put them together to create a compact vehicle with an optimised volume inside,” says Buzyn. “It’s truly a new type of crossover.”.
The influence of Bell & Ross and other watch brands is most visible in the instrument cluster and steering wheel. The speedometer protrudes from the IP like the face of a watch and features a compass on its outer ring, mixing digital and analogue to great effect. Instead of a single HMI screen, information is divided into three ‘zones’ or displays: “Our customers want direct access to this information. They don’t want to waste time with menus, they want to use their time for leisure,” says Buzyn.
The influence of Bell & Ross and other watch brands is most visible in the instrument cluster and steering wheel. The speedometer protrudes from the IP like the face of a watch and features a compass on its outer ring, mixing digital and analogue to great effect. Instead of a single HMI screen, information is divided into three ‘zones’ or displays: “Our customers want direct access to this information. They don’t want to waste time with menus, they want to use their time for leisure,” says Buzyn.
Vehicle type: production/luxury sedan
Interior Design Director: Norbert Weber
Head of Interior Architecture: Enzer Rothfuss
Lead interior designer: Jens Sieber
Colour and trim design: Barbara Kromeke
Project started: 2004
Project completed: 2009
Launch: Art Basel Miami/ Nov 2009
Launch: Art Basel Miami/ Nov 2009
A detailed insight into this unique design that offers the best combination of luxury, lightness and sporty elegance
According to Enzo Rothfuss, leader of the Interior Architecture team, Audi design chose from four different interior proposals for project D4 (as the A8 was known internally). The theme
put forward by Jens Sieber won out because, according to Rothfuss, “it offered the best combination of luxury, lightness and sporty elegance.”
put forward by Jens Sieber won out because, according to Rothfuss, “it offered the best combination of luxury, lightness and sporty elegance.”
Wolfgang Egger, who leads the Audi Group design studio, stresses the “cohesive overall experience: an emotion that fits the brand”. He describes the high-class materials in the interior
as “not simple applications, but materialised surfaces“ – a characteristic very visible on the centre tunnel with its open-pore wood veneer.
as “not simple applications, but materialised surfaces“ – a characteristic very visible on the centre tunnel with its open-pore wood veneer.
Vehicle type: Production/ five-door MPV
Design Director: Mark Adams
Chief Interior Designer: Stefan Arndt
Assistant Chief Interior Designer: Kurt Beyer
Colour & Trim Designer: Belinda Muller
Project started: Winter 2004
Chief Interior Designer: Stefan Arndt
Assistant Chief Interior Designer: Kurt Beyer
Colour & Trim Designer: Belinda Muller
Project started: Winter 2004
Project completed: January 2009
Launch: Geneva/ March 2010
Chief Interior Designer Stefan Arndt speaks to us about the innovative design, mechanicalo components, functional assets and overall concept of the new 2011 Meriva.
The 2011 Meriva was designed at GM Europe’s studio in Rüsselsheim, Germany. The interior design was overseen by Chief Interior Designer Stefan Arndt, who led a team comprising three designers plus Assistant Chief Interior Designer Kurt Beyer. Arndt stayed with the project right from its gestation at the advanced design studio in late 2004, initially managing both the exterior and interior concept design. The advanced design and engineering department built an asymmetrically doored prototype in late 2005; it had the so-called ‘FlexDoor’ on one side, and a conventional door on the other. The mechanical package was signed off and passed to the production studio in early 2006, at which point theme sketching began. “What’s cool with Meriva is that we worked really closely with the engineers – it was nice to not just get a package, and have to do the drawing by numbers and work around the hard points, but rather to interactively massage the whole vehicle, the whole concept,” he says.
“While we were playing around with the mechanical component sets we asked ourselves: ‘Why not use this space between the seats, throw out all this scrap metal and take the mechanical parking brake out?’” recalls Arndt. “Suddenly we had this giant area to play with: not just theusual little container or closed compartment, but something really functional where you can put your bag of shopping or a ladies’ handbag.” FlexRail comprises two aluminium rails that allow modular items to be moved from front to rear. The system works on three levels: the upper part of the removable armrest comprising CD storage; within that storage for handbags and laptops; and below that a floor system with cupholders and 12V/USB charging points.
“While we were playing around with the mechanical component sets we asked ourselves: ‘Why not use this space between the seats, throw out all this scrap metal and take the mechanical parking brake out?’” recalls Arndt. “Suddenly we had this giant area to play with: not just theusual little container or closed compartment, but something really functional where you can put your bag of shopping or a ladies’ handbag.” FlexRail comprises two aluminium rails that allow modular items to be moved from front to rear. The system works on three levels: the upper part of the removable armrest comprising CD storage; within that storage for handbags and laptops; and below that a floor system with cupholders and 12V/USB charging points.
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