Tag: influential concept cars

Interview: Stefan Lamm, director global advanced design, Mercedes-Benz

Car Design News sits down with Stefan Lamm, the new director of global advanced design at Mercedes-Benz to discuss early beginnings, showcars and his career highlights

Flashback: in-car record players

The concept of a personal road trip playlist began with an unlikely technology

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

Top Ten Pininfarina aero designs

As Pininfarina celebrates 50 years of its famous wind tunnel Car Design News highlights ten of its best designs shaped by aero tech

Italian car design legends captured in unique photobook

Italian car design greats captured in unique new photo book by Car Design News contributor and former Bertone employee Piotr Degler

Renault collaborates with Mathieu Lehanneur on 4L tribute

Product and architectural designer Mathieu Lehanneur works with Renault to create new concept based on iconic 4L

Concept Car of the Month: Lamborghini 400 GT Flying Star II (1965)

Remembering how the original Touring Superleggera went down in shooting-brake style

Interior Motives: Hyundai Concept 45

“It sheds the styling and technically flamboyant design [usually] shown, and provides a completely different interior experience”

Concept Car of the Month: Opel Experimental GT (1965)

Opel’s small, curvaceous concept dazzled the crowds at Frankfurt in 1965 and paved the way for the production GT

Concept Car of the Month: Opel GT2 (1975)

Opel’s crisp and geometric GT2 concept car was Jean-François Venet’s breakthrough project

CES 2020: Chrysler Airflow Vision concept

Despite the throwback name, this Chrysler showpiece could hint at their future design direction…

CES 2020: Toyota debuts a concept city

Mount Fuji is about to become the site of a futuristic mobility experience, thanks to Toyota’s Woven City concept

LA 2019: Hyundai Vision T Concept

Hyundai has introduced a sculptural plug-in Hybrid SUV concept called the Vision T

Design Analysis: Hyundai 45 & H-Space concepts

Taking a closer look at Hyundai’s two-stage vision of the future

LA 2019: VW ID Space Vizzion concept

Cool, electric estate anyone? VW puts a long, sleek premium ID concept on the stand in LA

Concept of the Month: Renault Radiance (2004)

The Renault Radiance is one of design legend Patrick le Quément’s favourite, and more underrated designs

Frankfurt 2019: Hyundai unveils Concept 45

Hyundai unveiled the next iteration of its electrification journey with the Pony-inspired 45 Concept at Frankfurt 2019

Concept Car of the Month: ATNMBL (2009)

A radical concept that launched the autonomous car debate

Three 1980s economy concepts by Renault, Audi and Citröen

The Renault Vesta II, Audi 60 and Citröen Eco 2000 – three concepts from the 1980s that bear revisiting

Concept Car of the Month: VW Futura (1989)

The once and future Golf? The Volkswagen Futura, introduced at IAA Frankfurt in 1989, was once considered the future of the German marque

The Cars of Ian Callum: Jaguar R-D6 concept

A push for a 21st-century Jaguar spawned this highly influential sports hatch

Concept Car of the Week: Linea Diamante (1953)

Arguably Italy’s greatest modernist architect, Gio Ponti also had a whirl at car design with the Linea Diamante

Citroën’s Ami One urban mobility concept: small yet significant

The French firm’s centenary city car puts them squarely into the wider mobility landscape

CES 2019: Hyundai Elevate concept UMV can stand up and walk

Hyundai’s ‘CRADLE’ division for technological research has unveiled an Ultimate Mobility Vehicle (UMV) which can either drive like a car or walk like a quadruped

Concept Car of the week: Dome Zero (1978)

Launched at the Geneva Motor show in 1978, the Dome Zero designed by Minoru Hayashi was a Japanese concept car that echoed Italdesign or Bertone

Concept Truck of the Week: Ford Super Chief (2006)

The trend towards luxury has produced a number of interesting truck concepts over the years. One of the largest and most interesting was the Ford Super Chief concept of 2006, which was, despite appearances, more of a personal limousine than a pick-up truck

Concept Car of the Week: ItalDesign/Volkswagen Project Orbit (1986)

Following the success of the Golf, Italdesign proposed a radical duo – Machimoto and Orbit – to evolve Volkswagen’s small car concept

Peugeot’s Gilles Vidal on the e-Legend concept

A closer look at the e-Legend concept

Concept Truck of the Week: Toyota A-BAT (2008)

The Toyota A-BAT was a ‘ute’ for the ’burbs – and beyond

Peugeot E-Legend Concept revealed

A retro throwback on the surface, an autonomous connected EV underneath

Mercedes-Benz Vision Urbanetic concept

Swappable bodies make autonomous, electric concept van an urban tool

Concept Ute of the Week: Isuzu Como F1 (1991)

The Isuzu Como F1 concept combined a car, a truck and a prophecy – with a whole load of horsepower to boot

Concept Car of the Week: Arthur Radebaugh & the Bohn concepts (1947-49)

In the late 1940s, artist and advertising man Arthur Radebaugh produced a series of futuristic artworks for automotive and aircraft parts manufacturer Bohn Metals based in Detroit. The results were stunning

Design Development: Tata EVision Concept

In-depth details of how the UK-conceived concept car came to be – and lots of images

Concept Car of the Week: Lamborghini Marzal (1967)

We look at the Lamborghini Marzal concept

Concept Car of the Week: Autobianchi Runabout (1969)

Marcello Gandini’s Autobianchi Runabout was a precursor to the Fiat X1/9

Concept Car of the Week: Bertone Alfa Romeo Carabo (1968)

Marcello Gandini’s Carabo for Alfa Romeo pioneered a distinct design language, influencing automotive icons such as the Lotus Esprit and Lamborghini Countach

Concept Cars of the Week: Italdesign’s 20th anniversary cars (1988)

Giugiaro celebrated 20 years of success like only he could, with a trio of radical concept cars: Aztec, Apsid and Asgard

Geneva 2018: Porsche Mission E Cross Turismo concept

On a new electric powertrain, the Mission E Cross Turismo previews a future crossover

Design development: GAC Enverge concept

A look into GAC’s trend-driven poster car which prefaces its planned entrance to the US market

Concept Car of the Week: American Motor Corporation Concept 80 Cars (1977)

A brave, but ultimately doomed, attempt to save the American Motor Corporation

Concept Car of the Week: BMW GINA (2008)

The GINA Light Visionary Model extended themes first seen on the 2001 X-Coupé and the production BMW Z-4. Designed by Chris Bangle and his team in 2001, the car had been kept secret for over six years

Concept Cars of the Week: The ItalDesign ‘M’ Cars (1978-82)

Sleek, smooth and enormously influential concepts from Giugiaro including the Lancia Megagamma, the 1978 ItalDesign M8, Lancia Medusa and the Lamborghini Marco Polo, we trace the connections

Rinspeed Snap mobility concept unveiled

Separating the interior space from the automobile, both literally and philosophically

Concept Car of the Week: BMW X-Coupé (2001)

Chris Bangle’s now famous Flame Surfacing made its debut in the form of the BMW X-Coupé at the 2001 North American International Auto Show

LA 2017: Toyota FT-AC concept

Toyota’s on-trend SUV steals the limelight at the LA Auto Show

LA 2017: Chris Bangle’s Redspace project

Car Design News was at the launch of a startling Chinese government-backed urban micro-EV

Concept Car of the Week: GM Ecotec Lakester (2003)

A concept car with a racing heart

Concept Car of the Week: GMC Terradyne

The Terradyne was General Motors’ turn-of-the-millennium vision of the urbanised future of the truck

Concept Car of the Week: Holden Hurricane (1969)

Holden’s first concept car was one for the ages

Concept of the Week: Oldsmobile Profile (2000)

A compact SUV concept from Oldsmobile that looks strikingly contemporary

Concept Car of the Week: Renault Nepta (2006)

A land yacht for cruising the Corniche, the Renault Nepta is an open-top grand tourer with classic lines and proportions evoking classic open-topped cars like phaetons, or the classic 1960s Lincoln Continental convertible

Design Review: Borgward Isabella Concept

Concept Car of the Week: The Airomobile

A valiant attempt at an aeronautical, economical, people’s car

Frankfurt 2017: Honda Urban EV Concept

One of the clear favourites of IAA 2017, has been the Honda Urban EV Concept, a cute little electric city car which takes the rectilinear style of the 1970s and adds 21st-century softness

Concept Car(s) of the Week: The early Ford Fiesta concepts

Looking back on early concept versions of Ford’s flagship supermini

Concept Car of the Week: The Dale (1974)

Grifts, murder, a transgender con-artist and a micro car – the story of The Dale concept car proves life is stranger than fiction

Concept Car of the Week: Pontiac Firebird Type K (1978)

The culmination of decade-long programme to bring a shooting brake to production

Concept Car of the Week: Vauxhall SRV (1970)

A magnificent design emerges from a “temporary” assignment

Infiniti reveals vintage-inspired ‘Prototype 9’ concept

Nissan’s premium brand (est. 1989) imagines its own 1940s Grand Prix car, in a fit of ‘fauxstalgia’…

Concept Car(s) of the Week: The Corvette Mako Sharks

Wicked-looking concepts that predicted the future of Chevrolet’s iconic sports car

Concept Cars of the Week: Corvair Sports Cars

The humble Chevrolet compact inspired some surprising sports cars

Concept Car(s) of the Week: The Darrin Roadsters (part deux)

The second part of Dutch Darrin’s search for the ‘Holy Grail’ of sports cars

Concept Car(s) of the Week: The Darrin Roadsters

Dutchman Darrin’s search for the ‘Holy Grail’ of sports cars

Concept Car(s) of the Week: The Corvette Quartet (1954)

A fabulous foursome of Motorama showstoppers

Concept Car of the Week: Studebaker Sceptre

The swansong from South Bend

Concept Truck of the Week: Ford Ranger II

What Syd Mead Would Drive to the Beach

Frank Lloyd Wright’s Lincoln Continental

The famous architect’s personal concept car

Concept Car of the Week: Renault Avantime (1999)

A look at Matra’s last car, an automotive portmanteau

Lamborghini Bravo (1974)

An overlooked Gandini classic may be one of his best designs ever

Pontiac Phantom (Madam X)

Bill Mitchell’s illustrious career ended with a gothic coupé

Cadillac Personal Luxury Car Concepts

The development of the ‘personal luxury car’ produced some remarkable concepts

Concept Car of the Week: Pininfarina Jacqueline (1961)

World-famous First Lady inspired this mid-Atlantic collaboration

Concept Car of the Week: Hillman Zimp [1964]

Ercole Spada Gives the Imp an Italian Makeover

Concept Car of the Week: Chrysler 70X (1969) and Cordoba Del Oro (1970)

Defining the “Fuselage” Aesthetic for a new decade at Chrysler

Concept Car of the Week: Citroën M35

Ami meets Wankel. Odd romance ensues

Concept Car (OK, Truck) of the Week: Siemens Innotruck (2012)

Luigi Colani, Siemens and T.U. Munich showcase their vision of tomorrow’s truck

Concept Car of the Week: General Motors Bison (1964)

The Bison concept by General Motors explored a trucking application for gas-turbine technology