2010 Ford Confirms Fiesta Hatchback for the US

Ford unveiled the all-new Fiesta hatchback earlier this year. At the time Ford confirmed that a version of the Fiesta would indeed reach our shores, but it was expected to only be a sedan version of the small car.
Now Ford has confirmed that the US is also going to get a hatchback to go along with the sedan when the Fiesta arrives in 2010.

Kia Pop concept

Kia Pop concept

We talk, wistfully at times, about cars that capture the zeitgeist. This is what Kia has done in Paris. It's yet more evidence that, under Peter Schreyer's watch, Kia is a force to be reckoned with. One also suspects that some of the conceptual thinking evident here could only come from the young, tuned-in design team that has been nurtured in the Frankfurt studio this concept heralds from.
It's not completely original. We've seen electrically powered, sub-three meter city cars before. Yet ones whose development is design-led, successfully creating a 'lite' aesthetic of the brand's design language, junking big-car complexity and avoiding the realm of the toy-like, are rare.
The decisively none-automotive form language courts a generation of urban dwellers questioning the cars of today and the social baggage that goes with them. Instead of 'big-car' features, there's a strategy of clarity and simplicity. The lozenge theme of the DLO, windscreen (which flows back to form the roof) and door handles carries into the interior with a minimal IP featuring an advanced transparent-OLED display. Simple stop-go pedals underline the delivery of a simple "twist'n go" driving experience. This underlying simplicity of the interior highlights the flourishes – purple upholstery, asymmetric bench front seat inspired by 60s furniture design, etc.
After the resolutely symmetric aesthetic of the front and profile view, the asymmetric rear window (base tapering at an angle inverse to the top of the bench seat backrest) neatly indexes the offset number plate and is flanked by simple, pointillist arrays of LEDs which form the rear light graphic. They're not equal either – six LEDs deep one side, eight the other.
Finished in dark chrome, were it ever to see a city street, the Pop would acquire the kind of patina that would enhance, rather than detract from the car's character over time. All told, we observed not only a very appropriate car for today's city, but one that's a lot more relevant than what the French firms (long time bottler of the small car genie) are presenting at the show.

2011 Infiniti IPL G Coupe

2011 Infiniti IPL G Coupe Official Photos

2011 Infiniti IPL G Coupe Interior View

2011 Infiniti IPL G Coupe Wheel

2011 Infiniti IPL G Coupe Exotic Sports Car

2011 Infiniti IPL G Coupe Dashboard View

2011 Infiniti IPL G Coupe Rear Side View

2011 Infiniti IPL G Coupe Brakes

2011 Infiniti IPL G Coupe Seats

2011 Infiniti IPL G Coupe Exhaust

Renault Twizy

Renault Twizy

Renault offered two surprises today at Paris Show: a revised version of the Zoë concept and the production version of the electric Twizy, both originally shown at last year's IAA show. Many people wondered if Renault could translate the Twizy 1+1 electric tandem into a credible production vehicle, but the result seen here today appears very successful.
The biggest change is the use of four 13-inch conventional wheels with 145-section tires rather than enclosed wheels, but the rest of the design manages to retain the essence of the concept theme. The other big area of design change is the front face, where the pixelled information screen has been replaced with a miniature version of the new Laurens van den Acker Renault face, with the lozenge logo sitting in a black recess, surmounted by a pair of simple round lamps.
Happily, the rotating doorbars are retained, with the only modification being the addition a Plexiglass panel in the lower area to provide some protection from puddles, although the upper area remains totally open except for a small fixed wind deflector section at the front. There's no window at the rear but instead a highly-visible oblong slot housing the red taillamps, as on the concept, with the direction indicators mounted lower down in the blue-gray chassis area, as at the front.
The three cars shown were still prototype models with mock-up interior parts but it was clear to see the elliptical IP and minimalist instrumentation. While the driver gets a proper seat and seatbelt, the rear passenger gets a more rudimentary seat pad with a surprisingly low seating position behind the driver.
Finally, a big part of the Twizy marketing will focus on the various graphic treatments available. The three examples were finished in graphic schemes entitled Dot Dot, Circuit and Totem, with a further nine liveries shown on the surrounding displays. The Twizy will go on sale late next year.

Renault DeZir concept

 

Renault DeZir concept

As the first concept under Laurens van den Acker's stewardship of Renault, the DeZir is the first of six 'stages' (read 'show cars') of reconnecting people with the brand. The DeZir, as the name suggests, is designed to make people 'fall in love'.
Van den Acker's brief to lead exterior designer Yann Jarsalle was simple: design a sensual car, based around the brand's new design language. In a rather obvious, but wholly understandable, move the result is a two-seat sports car with passionate lipstick red coachwork.
"To me, passion is the opposite of creating through lines," explains Jarsalle. "When I started sketching, I wasn't drawing lines, but merely reflections." Indeed, the DeZir, alongside the Jaguar C-X75 concept, marks a resurgence of design through volume. The result is a biomorphic, almost human quality to the voluptuousness of the DeZir's bodyside surfacing, where the search for seductiveness has been most successful.
The polished aluminum side blade (Audi R8 references are unavoidable) either precisely dissects or bludgeons its way through the leading rear fender surface depending on your perspective. Jarsalle sees it as offering a clear representation of the side surfacing, while its metallic finish is a clear visual identifier to its mechanical layout.
This panel's perforations are an unusual graphic treatment that, to some eyes, has the unfortunate appearance of a cheese grater. The recurrence of the perforated graphic in the car's DRG is more successful and offers a welcome derivation from more conventional LED use.
Its interior, accessed through asymmetrically-opening doors, continues the sensuous theme, with a stylized bench seat that appears to float above floor finished in a similar, quilted white (wipe-proof?!) material. The almost clinical aesthetic is literally blown apart by its IP, which splits open to reveal its driver interface and red lighting, which bubbles away beneath the surface of the driver's seat. With all the talk of sensuality, it's hard not to see the floating center console as a direct reference to the female form...
As a marker in the sand for Renault's new design direction, the DeZir offers a refreshingly unaggressive, very human take on the well-trodden sports car path. Its DRG is a direct indication of the next Clio's, while Jarsalle insists a Renault sports car is on the cards.

Lamborghini Sesto Elemento concept

 

Lamborghini Sesto Elemento concept

Lamborghini is not the first to enter the murky waters of the ‘greener' supercar. Ferrari got there first, in conception, with the Millechille. But proving one-up-manship is alive and well in northern Italy, Lamborghini is the first to put their money where their mouth is and produce an actual car, concept though it may be.
From a materials perspective, there's a great deal of innovation to be found, all of it purposed with reducing weight to a scarcely believable 999kg. A forged carbon fibre composite is used to form the tub into which the seat backs are integrated, braided carbon is used to build strength into the sills while the epic exhaust channels are formed from a glass-ceramic mix. Everywhere else you look, there's traditional pre-preg carbon fiber; even the wheels are formed from it.
The interior is radically minimal, building on (or is it stripping back?) themes first seen in the 2007 Toyota FT-HS. We were taken with the stunningly raw steering column mount and pedal box. From the perspective of color and trim, the abundance of satin-finished grey — inside and out — could lead to a rather muted overall impression, but the magenta/red used as a counterpoint is so beautifully judged that, in this aspect, the car is hard to fault.
What's not so difficult to take issue with is the overall surface treatment of the exterior, which came across as Reventon v1.2. There's no doubt this car exhibits some dramatic graphical elements, particularly around the rear where surface is removed to reveal the underlying structure. Yet while it lacks the relative subtlety of the earlier car, it's also left sorely wanting for unbridled drama — either proportion or surface — which would make for a truly groundbreaking new car.
Lamborghini design suggested to more than one member of the CDN team that we had been particularly unimaginative in our reading of this car, both conceptually and thematically. We're prepared to stand by our assertions, feeling that the opportunity to not only own new territory in the supercar market but to also push the brand back into owning extreme and extremely sensual design has been lost.
Judging by the reactions of the design community at large, we're not alone in thinking it's not us who are lacking in imagination.

Jaguar C-X75 concept

30 Sep 2010

 

Jaguar C-X75 concept

The C-X75 is both a celebration of Jaguar's 75-year history and a design showcase for the company's hybrid turbine technology. It would be easy, with a brief so charged with historical reference (the last British turbine car, the Rover Turbine screamed onto the scene in the ‘63 while the XJ-13, considered the watershed in terms of Jaguar's design history, appeared in ‘66) to resort to a lazy retro pastiche. No such luck here.
The powertrain – a pair of turbines spinning at 80,000 rpm – allowed the design team to create a proportionally simple and elegant form full of volume and suppleness. Along with the similarly fully-surfaced Renault DeZir concept, it suggests we're moving away from an era of line-based exterior design and towards an aesthetic built on surface.
The French connection doesn't stop there; the long tail, flat deck lid and thin wraparound taillamps are reminiscent of the GTbyCitroen concept from 2008. Indeed, on first acquaintance the C-X75 doesn't speak overtly of Jaguar, certainly not with the saccharine sweetness of yore, but nor does it eviscerate Jaguar heritage as comprehensively as the XJ. At last, heritage and the future have become happy bedfellows. The only weak element is the DRG, which has a pinched, somewhat derivative sports car look.
The interior is arguably more impressive. A spare material palette of chrome, aluminum, leather and textile combine with layered surfaces and fixed seat design to offer something unique; a delicate balance between luxury and sparseness.
The presence of vanes and air-ducting speaks of an attempt to build a language around the propulsion system. Other highlights include the unique HMI, the individual, blue-lit hexagonal speaker units inside the door and the roof-mounted starter console that reinforce the cocoon-like cockpit feel Jaguar's designers were so keen to create.
For a long time Jaguar has had the potential to deliver a convincing vision for its future, building on its storied history and the wealth of passion for the brand. So often it has flattered to deceive, but the C-X75 finally delivers on the promise and is a candidate for star of the show.

Citroen Lacoste concept

 

Citroen Lacoste concept

Citroën showcars fall into two categories: either complex, slightly overworked concepts with a strong intellectual back story or else purer studies that reduce the car to its component parts and re-examine the automobile in terms of materials and construction. The Lacoste falls into this latter category and follows in the spirit of previous Citroen concepts such as the widely-admired C-Cactus and C-Buggy with its minimalist and care-free personality and is all the more interesting because of it.
First impressions are that the car is bigger than appears in photos, due to the massive wheels and tires used, but the tie-up with the Lacoste sports brand is nicely evident in the color and textures used throughout. The pearl white exterior with deep blue ribbed wheelarches and bumpers has contrasting white cotton seat covers with a weave closely resembling that of a polo shirt, while the cabin is dotted with bright yellow-green accents on grab handles that are finished in soft rubber, with a tennis ball-like texture. A 'square relief' motif is used on the hood cowl, floor and undershield that resembles parts of a tennis net, as does the alloy wheel design. The simple two-spoke dished steering wheel will also be recognized by anyone familiar with older Citroens, as is the single strip dashboard with information displayed in oversized pixels, like the digital scoreboard used in tennis or an early 1980's Pong game. The windscreen also slides neatly down over the cowl for a fully open mode.
Several designers here at the show spoke of some similarity in feeling to the Visteon Q-e concept from Beijing – mainly due to the snub nose, the upright screen, and color palette used – but that doesn't detract from the appeal of the Lacoste, with its minimalist approach and lack of proper roof or doors. Instead, it has a central roof bar from which an inflatable yellow-green soft top emerges and small steps that emerge from the sills below the Lacoste crocodile logo to allow rear passengers to simply hop over the sides onto the rear seat.