Automobile design 2008 trend report

Automobile design 2008 trend report
Mobility for the future – new personal transport conceptsWhat does the mobility of the future look like? Manufacturers have approached this question from two opposing angles. First are the many studies that focus on solving traffic problems in the city centres of highly motorised and technology-oriented societies. Second are concepts that address how societies in threshold countries can be further motorised.A boldly futuristic attempt to develop environmentally friendly solutions for city mobility came from Toyota, which presented a three-wheeled concept study for personal mobility.Innovative approaches are also evident in the Opel Flextreme, a concept that boasts a storage system underneath the trunk for a pair of electrically driven personal Segway transporters. They are for use in traffic-calmed areas where cars are banned, and thus extend personal mobility.How can the global masses be further motorised? The answer to this question comes from India in the shape of the Tata Nano. With a retail price of no more than 1,700 euros, the Tata Nano is a pioneering vehicle in the new field of mass motorisation in threshold countries.The design of ecologyPredictably, climate protection and environmental conservation were important themes in Geneva. There are hardly any manufacturers not feverishly working on research and development in this area. Among the debuts in Geneva, seventeen featured alternative engine designs. Dynamic, sporting, elegant: this is what energy-saving environmental cars of the future look like.A truly expressive design concept within the compact class came from Saab in the form of the 9-X BioHybrid, a model with very short overhangs and an arching roof line. Inspired by the Aero X Coupé, a red dot: luminary award winner and red dot award: design concept submission that Saab unveiled two years ago in Geneva, the 9-X BioHybrid features a body without visible door handles or side mirrors, a wraparound windshield and a deep front grille.Can a sports car satisfy demands for environmental integrity? Swedish sports car manufacturer Koenigsegg answered this question with its CCXR: With over 1,000 HP, the CCXR has a top speed of 400 km/h and runs on bio-ethanol. This E85 fuel is refined from grain and sugar beets and thus is produced from renewable resources.New types of vehiclesWhat happens when companies run out of genuinely innovative ideas? Many manufacturers try to overcome this problem by continuously looking for new niches and developing special hybrid forms. These efforts are not always successful. Currently the trend is towards fusing the cross-country vehicle with the coupe. The designs are characterised by sturdy front ends and coupe-like sloping roof lines.One elegant solution came from Land Rover and its LRX Concept: the vehicle has the elegant profile of a coupe, yet a bold, aggressive form owing to the low roof line and the wide, deep front.In contrast, a truly negative example of this kind of design was the Hummer. Checking the Hummer against the four basic qualities a well-designed product should fulfil (quality of function, quality of seduction, quality of use, and quality of responsibility), it is clear that the Hummer study is socially incompatible: a secularised version of Star Wars brought to the road.

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>>Picture gallery “Mobility for the future”
Car personalitiesThe common design denominator in all classes could be characterised as aggressive. Even compact cars no longer follow the scheme of childlike design motifs, but take on the looks of little monsters boasting pseudo-aggressive elements. Gigantic cooling air inlets, black grids and overstated headlights and taillights aim to convey strength, superiority and speed. Such stylistic devices are used more and more often, lending the cars an increasingly uniform and interchangeable appearance. While a few years ago one could still distinguish individual brands at a glance even from a distance, today one often has to check by looking for the marque’s emblem.Exaggerated lights wrap around the edges on both the front and rear of the cars; some backlights even extend beyond the C-pillar. Modern LED lighting technology is used to design headlights and taillights that are almost sculptural.
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>>Picture gallery: “Car personalities”