All articles by Sam Livingstone – Page 3
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Driven: BMW 335i Cabriolet
The 3 series has come a long way. While the original 1975 E21 was initially only available as a two-door sedan, it was soon transformed into a cabriolet thanks to an aftermarket conversion kit by Baur. In 1982, the E30 was a two or four-door sedan until several years later, ...
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Design Review: Audi Roadjet concept
Audi's last concept car was the Shooting Brake which gives a close indication of what to expect for the next TT. The Roadjet is one step further removed from a production design, but none-the-less has a level of feasibility that suggests many of its ingredients will soon be gracing our ...
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Design Review: Ford Reflex concept
It is based on the European B-class platform used by the Fiesta and Mazda 2 as was last year's Synus concept that also consciously explored how a car might be both American and small.Unlike the Synus that was 'Built Tough' and had a conspicuous security van aesthetic, the Reflex is ...
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Design Review: GMC Graphyte
GMC graphyte presentation at the 2005 Detroit Auto Show.. Click for larger imagesConcept cars stretch across a broad spectrum; from the light weight cappuccino froth of show cars that titillate audiences with fanciful forms only to die forever at the close of a show, to the less glamorous concept ...
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Design Essay: Instrument Panel Architecture
Architecture 1 - Rolls-Royce Phantom. Click for larger imagesArchitecture 1 - Jaguar XK120Architecture 3 - 1963 Alfa Romeo Giulia SpyderArchitecture 3 - 1976 Mercedes W123Architecture 4 - 1975 BMW 3 SeriesA hundred years ago, car instrumentation was spread out along the 'dashboard' - a name inherited from the wooden ...
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Design Development: Lamborghini Estoque
Despite sharing similarities with processes pioneered in the Reventón program, the Estoque project presented a new challenge in moving away from the existing Lamborghini typology. "With the four-door we had to think totally out of the box, totally different direction - which was at the beginning pretty difficult for the ...
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Design Development: Lamborghini Estoque
The Lamborghini Estoque sedan was one of the surprising and controversial designs of 2008, combining the unusual faceted design language first seen on the limited-edition Reventón with a totally new front-engined, four-door, four-seat package that looks remarkably production-feasible.
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LA Auto Show 2009 - Trends and Overview
The 2009 LA Auto Show delivered some impressive concepts and some important new production debuts as well as the Design Challenge and the engaging ‘car design vibe' unique to the show and California generally. But the biggest take-away this year was that it was a show dominated by Asian and ...
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Design Development: Renault Megane
The interior design program ran in parallel to the exterior program, but with three instead of four full-size hard models reduced to one in December 2005. The exterior design development continued with two designs until April 4, 2006 - exactly five years to the day that its predecessor was signed-off ...
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Design Development: Renault Megane
The third generation Megane, launched at the Paris Motor Show in October, is Renault's most important model, accounting for over a third of total Renault sales. And it's also a significant design: the new car takes a far less radical approach than did its predecessor, and it is the first ...
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Design Development: Renault Megane
The next stage of design development was opened up to all of the Design department, with about 15-20 designers of the 60 strong department contributing early design sketch proposals. Most designers worked with pen and paper, although the lead into Alias digital design development and quarter scale clay modeling for ...
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Design Development: Renault Megane
Behind the design of every major mass market car lies a myriad of different factors that impacted upon how it came to be. The importance attached to some of these factors depends on the organization, the individuals involved and the complex interaction between them during the development process. To uncover ...
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Design Review: Skoda Yeti
Yeti is the Tibetian word for 'magical creature' and the name given to the mythical large ape or 'abominable snowman' first thought to have been sighted in the Himalayas eighty years ago, which ever since has eluded a verifiable sighting. A strange name to give a concept car perhaps, but ...
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Trends: Renaissance of the Sports Shooting-Brake
In the last few months we have seen several 'sports shooting-brake' concepts - a car type that differs to the more orthodox fastback‚ sports coupe in having a longer roof to meet a more vertical rear tailgate. Audi showed the literally-named 'Shooting Brake' concept as a preview of the new ...
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Design Review: Ford Shelby GR - 1
Ford Motor Company design chief J Mays introduces the Shelby. Click for larger imagesTHE Sketch2004 Shelby Cobra ConceptShelby GR-1 designers Matthew Hill (interior), George Saridakis (exterior)Photos: Brett Patterson, Marc Beauregard, FordWhat makes a good car design? One that sells well? One that car designers rate highly? One that you ...
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Design Review: Renault Modus
Similarly, its Down-Road-Graphic is generic Renault with MPV proportions, slightly cute lamps and a benignly smiling lower grille aperture.
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Design Review: Renault Modus
The first Renault to bear Patrick le Quement's stamp was the Twingo - a very small but very spacious, very charming but very clever 3-door monospace design. It was the first 'sub-B' car in Europe to share its slightly bigger sibling's platform, and proves the value of Renault's more advanced ...
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Design Development: KTM X-Bow
However, once Dallara realised the objective for the X-Bow was to deliver a fun, recreational sports car that focused on handling rather than ultimate speed, they were able to focus on improving down-force to maximise cornering grip. Dallara then took Alias-produced surface data from Kiska designer Peter Stiller, put it ...
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Design Development: KTM X-Bow
KTM is an Austrian motorcycle company. Originally it produced only off-road bikes, but now it also makes ATVs / quads and road orientated machines, all focused on the enthusiast end of the motorbike market - there are no retro-cruisers, scooters or large screened tourers in the KTM range.
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Design Development: Opel Signum
The Signum, now being launched across Europe under the Opel and Vauxhall brands, is a variant of the Vectra range (or 'palette') already comprising sedan, hatch and the newly announced estate. The wheelbase is 130mm longer than the hatchback and sedan, but its rear overhang is 90mm less and thus ...
