Design language

Land Rover SVX - an extraordinary concept

2008-04-28T10:18:53Z

Land Rover's latest incarnation of the Defender will certainly get heads turning... and quite possibly a few stomachs. I saw the SVX soft-top at the Geneva motor show and instantly felt that the Defender’s timeless concept - the flat panels, front and rear beam axles, minimal electrics and hose-clean interior – had been Islingtonised. It’s like finding your local pig farmer has taken to wearing high heels, a tiara and pearls.

Few Land Rover drivers would unflinchingly defend the standard seats and driving position from criticism, but if Recaro buckets are the answer, then I’d love to know what the question was. Yes, sat-nav and iPod connectivity are excellent cabin additions that will have wide appeal; similarly, a bit of damping refinement will be appreciated by anyone who drives in town, where the combination of speed bumps and poor road surfaces presents most 4x4s with their greatest challenge. But what is the point of putting an high-end sound system in a four-wheel-drive soft-top, where you’ll struggle to hear it above 30mph?

I’m delighted that the four-pot Transit engine has proved popular – rightly so – but how does losing a cylinder fit with installing the best part of £10,000 of upmarket kit? I suspect that under Tata’s ownership a ‘UN-spec’ Defender will soon appear. If it’s a soft-top with wind-up windows, I will be the first to rejoice. Even if it's only for overseas consumption.

Technorati Tags: land rover,defender,roll-bar,svx,geneva

Wing vents; yesterday's fashion?

2008-03-18T11:29:05Z

Just been driving Renault’s latest Clio 197 Cup, in poverty specification but with black lacquered alloys, red brake calipers (both these signaling the Cup chassis) a tailgate wing that would be the envy of a model plane maker and some rather sexy extractor vents let into the front wings.

It’s painted white, too, which makes the wheels and vents look all the more dramatic - amazing how these detail changes like this get the car stared at by young blokes.

It’s the wing vents that got me into auto trivia mode though, as I found myself wondering when the trend for extracting air from the front wheel-arches kicked off. Probably at least half a century ago, in fact, with the 1958 Aston Martin DB4 wearing those now famous twin slots in its front wings, Aston sensibly persisting with this pretty individual trademark all the way to today.

The BMW Z3 and M3 have extractors too, as do assorted Corvettes, the Viper and various Ferraris, the vent forming part of a looping crease line along the flanks of these cars. Hyundai picked up on the Ferrari 456 GT’s treatment for its current coupe, while Land Rover introduced the elegant vertical vent into the front wings of the Range Rover at much the same time; an arrangement that has extended, a little unconvincingly, to its cousin the Jaguar XJ.

You’ll also find front wing vents on the Mazda RX-8, the MG SV and, a rare sight this, the facelifted version of the MG ZS, which seemed to have gills behind its front wheels.

And the new Mitsubishi Evo X has them too. So they’ve been around for a while, front wing vents - you’ll find a trio of baby ones on ‘50s Oldsmobiles in fact, as well as Maseratis - but right now they seem to be an essential visual flourish of any front-engined car with a hot engine under its bonnet. I like ‘em, too, but I wonder how long it will be before they become yesterday’s fashion.

Children; the real car designers

2008-02-29T15:44:33Z

I may be mercifully free of children, but that hasn't stopped them having a creeping influence on my territory. Stealthily, the 'opinions' of children are increasingly influencing car design. And the new Meriva is a high watermark for this trend.

One of the reasons the Renault Scenic was such a smash hit when it was launched over a decade ago, was that back bench, hyper-territorial children each got their own seat. And the occupants of the third row of seats in a new Discovery get their ownlidded cubbyhole and stereo controls. Both are understandable inclusions to try and keep the peace when the whole family is onboard.

But when Nissan was designing the UK-built Note MPV it carried out some of its 'customer' research in the primary schools of Milton Keynes. And what did the celebrity-addled little dears want? Tinted rear windows, just like they have on the telly.

But it's the new Meriva that really takes the turkey twizzler.

I've a horrible feeling that the rear-hinged rear doors are a direct nod to the child, which finds it easier to enter via the rear footwell, rather than trying to scramble straight up onto the rear seat. And the distinctive dip in the window line? That's so the cherubs can see out when snugly ISO-fixed into the rear seat.

Back in the 1970s I used to sit, unbelted and un-entertained, in the echoing rear space of an Austin 1800. And in the summer, you could hardly stand the searing heat from the vinyl upholstery on your exposed legs. But you can see where the carmakers are coming from.

I know one exceptionally successful character who went into a Nissan dealership to look at an X-Trail for his wife. His daughter took one look at it and said 'Daddy, that¹s disgusting. He ended up stumping up another £10K for a Murano.

Read all about the new Meriva by clicking here.

New Fiesta is looking good for showroom success

2008-02-15T09:04:15Z

According to Ford’s big bosses, nearly as many people inside the company voted to drop the Fiesta name from the new supermini as wanted to keep it. In the end, the decision to stick with the Fiesta name — and apply it to all versions around the world — was taken because it was simply too valuable to chuck away. Research throughout the car’s 32-year life has consistently established that it has happy, positive associations. And it has appeared on some 12 million car since 1976, which is no mean achievement either.

In the flesh, the car more than justifies its slightly prosaic name. Ford has literally built the highly rated Verve concept car it first showed at Frankfurt last year. The new three-door pictured (we’ll see the five-door in Geneva in a couple of weeks) is very close indeed to the concept, except that it now has doors with window-frames, plus a centre pillar for its body — and none the worse for that. Ford design boss Martin Smith (who was at Opel-Vauxhall during while the well-liked Corsa was created) says he has seen production cars disappoint at launch after their earlier concept studies were well received, and wanted to avoid such a thing with Fiesta.

Ford’s new supermini is almost the same in road area as the car it will replace late this year, though it is 2-3cm taller. It will offer a weight saving over its predecessor believed to be 20-40kg. The gain isn’t as spectacular as the 90-100kg saving claimed by Mazda with the similarly engineered Mazda 2 (a car whose interior lacks the feeling of completeness and materials quality of the Ford) mainly because the outgoing Mazda 2 was a heavy car, practically a small MPV. Ford has high hopes for Fiesta sales on grounds of its good looks alone, and at first sight they’re well and truly justified.

Technorati tags: Ford Fiesta, concept cars, Ford Verve, Cropley

Beauty is in the era of the beholder

2008-01-08T18:55:16Z

Are classic cars more beautiful than modern cars, or is it nostalgia that makes it seem that way?

Perhaps I should clarify myself at this point; I think there are plenty of cars being produced today that are great to look at. I would happily sit and stare at an Alfa Romeo 8C all day long whilst writing romantic poetry about lonely clouds and semi-monocoque chassis'. Or whenever I get to take our Audi A5 long-termer home I spend most of the evening walking past a front window so I can look at it. Yes, this means I should get out more, but that's a whole other blog.

We will soon be hosting 'Autocar's most beautiful car' survey online, which includes cars from all eras and which has me completely flummoxed because every car I want to win was built before I was born.

The Lamborghini Miura is just as much art as Michealangelo's David, and anyone who says otherwise has no soul. The E-Type is still influencing design today, as is the AC Cobra, and if the Merc 300SL Gullwing isn't then it should be.

I cannot look at these cars without thinking that something has been lost from modern car design.

It can't be nostalgia, because I wasn't around to experience the cars when they came out. Of course, I can still get all misty eyed about the good old days when men were men, women were women, and cars came with wicker picnic baskets as standard, but I'm an eighties child so in truth I have no idea what I missed.

Of course, way back when there was no legislation and car design was a blue sky industry free from most of the legislation we have today. Modern car design is bound by all manner of restraints, from production budgets and engineering to Euro NCAP, and that's no bad thing.

So is this all a result of rose-tinted glasses, or have we already experienced the most beautiful cars we'll ever see and that's that?

My highlight of 2008: return of the Scirocco

2008-01-01T08:00:22Z

Here's what I’m looking forward to in 2008 – VWs with style.

I could say I’m looking forward to a Civic Type R with suspension, or Fernando Alonso’s third F1 title – but frankly, I don’t think either is very likely in 2008. So I’ll settle for a Volkswagen with style.

It should come in the shape of the new Scirocco, which should turn up at one of 2008’s top motor shows with styling that bears more than a passing resemblance to the Iroc, first seen at Paris in 2006.

For too long VWs have been worthy on the road (particularly the Golf GTi, of course) but, well, a little on the dull side visually. I’ve fond memories of the Scirocco from my childhood, and even the stocky Corrado wasn’t a bad looker. So I’ve been frustrated at the lack of flair.

If Wolfsburg can finally match something that drives as well as a Golf GTi with something that actually looks sporty – and price it reasonably – then it could kick-start the small sports-coupé market all over again. And with entertaining dynamics at its core – isn’t that something worth waiting for?

Technorati tags: Volkswagen Scirocco, IROC concept, McIlroy

A Jag that's even more gorgeous than the adverts

2007-11-27T15:39:41Z

I did my bit as a media commentator last night, by appearing on Radio 5 Live, which was picking up on Jaguar's announcement that the first XF rolled off the production line yesterday.

Radio 5's questions were revealing of the state that Jaguar has got itself into. The first one was "is it a good car?". I find it interesting that, in 2007, the metropolitan media think that a car-maker may actually turn out a bad, or even uncompetitive, car.

The second question was more depressing, suggesting that Jaguars are still really cars for football managers and the like. This shows just how much Jag's 1970s image has managed to stick around. I suppose the TV series Minder didn't help, and the phrase "the Jag belt" (describing an area that is both affluent but very conservative and middle brow) is still occasionally heard.

Of course it was that image problem that the "New Jag Generation" ad campaign, followed by the much-copied "Gorgeous" series, aimed to dispel.

The problem was that Jaguar's advertising was well ahead of its products. Just what was appealing to younger drivers about the X-type, S-type or XJ?

It's been a long, hard struggle for design boss Ian Callum, but the 1960's XJ mould has finally been smashed with the XF. I spent two hours talking to Callum in Tokyo last month, and another 30 minutes while standing around a real XF at the Autocar Awards the other week, and it's clear just how much effort has been expended on pushing the styling into a new century.

One of the things that will sell this car to sceptics is the view you get following it down the motorway. The rear three-quarter angle is just outstanding, especially as it reveals the car's pronounced barrel sides. The XF is destined to stand out on wet day on the M40.

However, even before the XF rolls into the showroom, Jaguar and Land Rover will be sold, probably into foreign ownership. Newspaper reports say that the Trades Unions are backing the bid by Indian car-maker Tata, and I'd join them on that. And with The Fiat Group waiting in the wings "to offer assistance," there could finally be a large light at the end of the tunnel.

Will the next-generation Maserati Quattroporte be based on the aluminium XJ chassis? Stranger things have happened.

Technorati tags: Jaguar, Tata Motors, XF, Holloway

XF in the metal

2007-11-14T10:53:00Z

I had a chance to see the Jaguar XF for real at our awards on Monday. I've also seen about 40 photos of it so far, and not a single one of them does it justice.

You might spend a whole day in Florence taking happy snaps of Michelangelo's David, and not get one that sums the whole thing. Well, the same is true of this car.

Best of all, when I sat in the back of it there was plenty of room. And yes, there were people in the front at the same time.

Inside Nissan's 'imagination factory'

2007-10-23T18:07:00Z

It’s not often that we get to see the inside of a modern design centre, but Nissan threw open the doors of its ‘Imagination Factory’ to journalists the day before the Tokyo motor show.

Nissan’s Advanced Technology Centre is located in a semi-rural area, nearly two hours drive from Tokyo, and looks like any ultra-modern building should. Inside, its airy spaces are trying to meld advanced engineering and advanced design into one synchronised stream of new ideas.

Running the length of the main building is a wide, wooden floored area, which is called the 'info-street'. Here there are exhibitions of ‘hot trends’ in product design, exhibitions of new Nissan technology, displays of ‘high-profile’ rival cars and magazines and books to peruse.

Nissan also dismantles rival cars into individual parts and puts them on display. It seemed quite happy for us to examine the guts of a Lexus GS hybrid that it had laid out (left).

Nearby is the brand new design centre which features design studios as well as large halls for full-scale clay modelling and full-size mock-ups to be built. The designers have their own well-stocked library (above), which looks like a Scandanvian primary school; it's called the ‘info-kitchen’.

Technorati tags: Nissan, design centre Tokyo, car designer, Holloway

Audi LED running lights? No thanks

2007-10-17T14:27:00Z

I'm going out on a limb here at Autocar, because I think I'm pretty much the only one in the office who doesn't like Audi's new LED daytime running lights, as found on the R8, A5 and posher versions of the new A4.

I'm all for the notion of having some lights on during daylight hours (especially given the increasing number of people who seem to forget to put lights on even at night), but these things are vulgar, plain and simple.

They are the expensive equivalent of the inappropriately-used foglights beloved of Saxo VTS drivers in baseball caps.

And yes, I know that makes me sound snobbish, but seriously, what is the point of these lights? If there were also rear daytime lights then it would make a lot more sense, but there aren't.

Of course, there is a solution - deep within Audi's rather effective MMI system, there's an option to switch the lights off.

On the automotive ugly duckling

2007-10-11T15:04:00Z

Given that this section encourages me to break one of my few self-imposed editorial rules – don’t pass comment on styling because it’s too subjective - I shall gladly make an exception. So, here's a list of cars that, to me, looked ropey at first, but now, for some weird reason, look rather appealing.

1) BMW 5-series. I know this has been written about a thousand times or more since the current Five was launched, but I still find it fascinating. In Sport trim, I think this car looks absolutely superb now, and yet I hated more than I could communicate back in 2003.

2) Seat Leon. I thought Steve Lewis and Seat's other design boys had been at the Rioja (and an unusually potent vintage) when I first clapped eyes on this intriguing-looking little hatchback. Now it makes all its rivals look tired and derivative by comparison. Go figure.

3) Porsche's Cayman. Dumpy thing in 2005; now I’m a fan. Perhaps I've unconsciously put a positive spin on the way it looks just because it’s so damned good to drive; whatever the reason, I'm convinced that this is a fine-looking sports car.

And then there's the cars that sit at other end of the automotive spectrum; the ones you like at first, only to go off 'em. In here I'd put the Audi R8, which I like less and less as the days pass, and the Lotus 2-Eleven, which now makes my guts roll.

Feel free to add and annotate this list accordingly; be interesting to see how the recurrent compliments and condemnations stack up.

Technorati tags: Seat Leon, BMW 5-series, Porsche Cayman, ugly duckling, Harris

My Mini revelation

2007-10-08T10:15:00Z

Have you ever had one of those moments where you finally catch a glimpse of a car you’re determined to hate and think – realise – that perhaps the manufacturer has got it right after all?

For me, this happened with most BMWs about 18 months ago, primarily as Chris Bangle’s ‘flame surface’ styling was refined. These days, I lust after the latest 3-series coupe, whereas I wouldn’t have given the previous generation a second glance.

And now the same has happened with the Mini Cooper. I don’t ‘get’ Mini, generally; it’s style over substance, a decent drive with virtually no practicality sitting on top of it. And I loathe the centrally mounted speedometer, which is proof that ergonomics were thrown out of the window when it came to reinventing British motoring’s most famous icon.

And yet, last night I drove home in the new Clubman. It had room for a decently sized suitcase and half a dozen bags full of shopping, and if I’d wanted to take a couple of mates along it could have coped with them at the same time. It was nippy, good to drive, and as it sat gleaming under artificial light in the supermarket car park, I actually thought its proportions were quite attractive. There’s some beautiful detailing and engineering to enjoy, too.

It was, I must admit, a bit of a revelation. I still hate the speedo, though; I guess that proves that even the best cars can only redeem themselves so much.

Technorati tags: Mini Clubman, Cooper, Bangle, BMW, design, McIlroy

Jaguar XF: still a Coventry car

2007-10-02T10:50:00Z

Was chatting to Coventry University’s David Browne earlier, advocate and chief architect of the famous Transport Design course, and it seems I made a false generalisation that he didn't like much.

I made the mistake of suggesting that maybe the mould-breaking Jaguar XF shouldn’t now be regarded as a Coventry car, since the company’s new HQ is closer to Warwick than Coventry, and its manufacturing plant closer to Birmingham. It was a big mistake.

What followed was a crisply turned email reminding me that, while under the benign leadership of Ian Callum and Mick Mohan, the XF was designed by Wayne Burgess and Adam Hatton (exterior), and Ed Willis and Alister Whelan (interior). All are proud Coventry graduates, now moving on to projects that build on their XF achievements.

By the same token, there must be cars borne as far afield as Tokyo and California that, penned by Browne's design disciples, fall under the same definition. Few, however, must have the same resonance with the Midlands than the XF, and few would surely draw such quick correction from the man himself.

Just shows you how much influence Coventry's Transport Design degrees continue to have, both at Jaguar and throughout the wider industry, and how much of an advantage they must be to those talented enough to have earned them.

Technorati tags: Coventry, design, David Browne, Cropley