Tag: classic cars

Goodwood 2025: highlights from the Cartier lawn

Read on for the top ten classic cars from Guy Bird's annual pilgrimage to the Style et Luxe lawn

Ten cars that defined the Art Deco era

Car Design News looks back on an era of fabulous automotive designs, many of which emerged in some of the darkest moments in modern times

UAE studio Peec reimagines local icon

The Nissan Patrol might seem an unlikely candidate for the luxe treatment, but its connection to UAE culture means it makes more sense than you might think

Ten strange and wonderful car light designs

We see some wild lighting schemes on concept cars every year. But few make it into production. Here are a few that managed to slip past the censors

Sex and mystery vs. tech and trends – Italy’s design battle

CDN talks to designers at Ferrari, Alfa Romeo, Estrema and Bertone about the history of Italian design and what the future might hold

Keep it simple: can a mono-material strategy reshape interior design?

In this abridged feature from the Spring 2025 issue of Interior Motives, we consider how one material for key interior structures could boost recyclability and celebrate sculptural form over visual complexity

Caterham design boss Anthony Jannarelly on his new ‘Art Car’ capsule range

Car Design News catches up with the French designer as he launches his new carbon-panelled, Ferrari-based Ælla-60

CDN’s highlights from Rétromobile 2025: rare concepts, modern classics and auto merch heaven

Guy Bird was in Paris for Retromobile 2025 earlier this month and found an impressive mix of cars, clothes and auto-related curiosities

Designer realises childhood dream with James Bond’s Bentley Continental

The James Bond novel Thunderball saw Ian Fleming vividly describe a Bentley Continental Mk2, a car that didn’t outside the pages of fiction. Car designer Tony Hunter remedied this by designing and building his own

Inside DRVN design and the art of the Continumod

Car Design News gets a behind-the-scenes tour of the Coventry studio and the design team led by Wayne Burgess

Book Review: True Spirit of XJ13

“In July 1973, the XJ13 was displayed for the first time. From this point on, it would be an ambassador for Jaguar marketing worldwide, its elegant lines assuring success and creating a legend”

Audi revives Auto Union Type 52 Schnellsportwagen

Ninety years since the idea was first dreamed up by Porsche’s designers, Audi has finally built the Auto Union ‘Schnellsportwagen’

Pininfarina CCO on restoring Honda’s first ever concept car

The Honda HP-X has been beautifully restored by Pininfarina, capturing an iconic glimpse in time. But instead of feeling nostalgic, the design team is looking ahead to challenge market convergences

Caterham 620S: timeless car design and form following function

Following an earlier experience with the entry-level Super 600, Car Design News gets to know the raucous and hands-on Caterham Seven 620S. It surprised not only with its performance, but also the user experience

bb-Auto: Looking back at fifty years of innovation

As the storied German customiser heads to Monterey Car Week, we look back on a half-century of bespoke Porsches – and others

A storied bloodline: the Jeep Wrangler and its design legacy

Jeep design lead Vince Galante looks back on the history of the Wrangler and how the brand has continued to update it for the modern era

Resurrecting the Ford Capri – pros and cons

Great design, just don’t call it a Capri – or maybe do?

Ex-Mercedes designer reimagines iconic 190E EVO II

With rich experience of working on Mercedes-AMG projects, Edgar Chu jumped at the chance to reimagine the EVO II. He tells CDN the challenge was in balancing past and future

Considering luxury at the Geneva Motor Show 2024

The juxtaposition of old and new at Geneva 2024 invited fresh considerations of luxury

Flashback: car seats that swivel

First designed as a convenience and a novelty, the swiveling seat may yet have something to say about the future of the automotive interior

Flashback: sequential turn signals

Flashback: the era-defining Cord 810

Karl Smith takes a look at the short-lived yet iconic Cord 810, a symbol of mid-1930s glamour

EyesOn Design weekend celebrates revolutionary designs, honours Ralph Gilles

The annual charity concours, held every year outside Detroit on Father’s Day, is a star-studded affair where automotive artistry meets philanthropy. CDN’s Laura Burstein served as a judge for this year’s event and got the inside scoop

Review: London Concours 2023

Car Design News went along to the 2023 London Concours where a mix of old and new sat side-by-side. Here’s our take on some of the standouts

Porsche and Petersen team up for a diamond anniversary celebration

The Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles teams up with Porsche for a celebration of the marque’s 75th anniversary

Renault champions versatility with new 4 concept

Car Design News speaks to Renault’s head of concepts about the new Renault 4 concept and what it signals for the brand moving forward

In pictures: a fresh take on the 2CV van

Following its redesign of Citroen’s timeless Type H van, Italian coachbuilder Caselani has tried its hand at an even more iconic shape: the 2CV

Rumpler Tropfenwagen – the first streamliner

Largely forgotten, the pioneering Rumpler Tropfenwagen was a decade ahead of the designs of the time. But its legacy lives on in a new generation of aerodynamic research and in automotive design

Italian coachbuilder modernises classic Citroen vans

Starting as little more than a pet project, one Italian coachbuilder has secured a deal to produce modernised Citroen HY vans of the 1950s under license. It signals a growing appetite for classic aesthetics with modern technology

Inside the one-off Porsche that sold in Monterey for a record $3.6m

Porsche designer Grant Larson gives North American correspondent Laura Burstein an exclusive walkaround of the custom 911 GTS created with Pixar and sold for charity

In pictures: Pierre Gonalons’ retro Renault 5 Diamant

Renowned interior designer and architect Pierre Gonalons has reimagined the classic Renault 5 in art deco form with the Diamant

Review: Cartier does it right at Goodwood 2022

The Cartier lawn at the Goodwood Festival of Speed is always a treat for classic car enthusiasts, with stunning examples on show from Bugatti, Ferrari, Fiat, Lancia and Lotus to name but a few

Second Rolls-Royce Boat Tail is a pearler

Rolls-Royce revealed its latest Boat Tail model at the Concorso D’Eleganza in Lake Como and Mark Smyth was there to chat to its designer, Alex Innes for Car Design News

Review: Goodwood Festival of Speed 2021

Goodwood Festival of Speed has become the premier UK car show with a variety of cars both old and brand spanking new on display. What’s more its outdoors which means Covid restrictions are a little less stringent. Armed with camera and notebook, longtime CDN contributor Guy Bird reports

Radford returns: coachbuilder that defined the swinging sixties is back

Legendary sixities coachbuilder Radford, which counted the Beatles and Peter Sellars as customers is back, helmed by a high-profile team including former F1 star Jensen Button

A trip down Skoda’s memory lane – designers breath new life into old icons

A collection of historic Skoda models have been re-imagined and re-designed with modern adaptations

Design icons: Volkswagen K70

Following its 50th birthday, we look back on the design of the Volkswagen K70 and see how it inspired a range of other models

An English Car Designer Abroad: Peter Birtwhistle talks about his life

Designer Peter Birtwhistle has released a new book in which he describes his work at GM, Audi, Porsche and Mazda

Design Essay: The Strange Allure of Ugliness

From Edsel to Marcos Mantis, Reliant Robin to Pontiac Aztek, ugly cars have been assaulting our eyeballs since the dawn of the automotive age

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

Exclusive: Roberto Giolito on the Fiat ESV 1500

In Part 1 of this series, Fiat’s design maestro takes CDN on a tour of his favourite designs in the Fiat Heritage Hub in Turin

Designer Interview: Roberto Giolito on the Fiat 500L (2012)

Architect of the Multipla, the Fiat 500 and many more cutting-edge designs, Roberto Giolito also worked on the 500L launched in Geneva in 2012

Goodwood Festival of Speed: Cartier concours

Alongside the new models haring around at Goodwood this year were some cracking classics. We walked the lawn

Concept Car of the Week: Quasar Khanh’s Unipower City Car

The Unipower City Car, a tiny rolling glass box, was introduced in the 1960s, and designed by an unlikely engineer-turned-car and furniture designer, Quasar Khanh

Opinion: Why honest design matters

Mild misdirection or visual lying? Here’s a firm view on the trend of design fakery

LA 2017: Subaru Ascent, er, 360

The new estate/SUV is solid enough, but look at its grandma – the 360 – Subaru’s first production model in the US

Concept Car of the Week: Volvo Tundra (1979)

In 2013, Volvo unveiled the Concept Coupé – a good reason for Flavien Dachet to take a look back at another Volvo coupé concept from 1979 – the Tundra