car design thread

Again, there may be an Agnelli connection but no Fiat connection.
Where the new Ferrari is headed is the sixty four dollar question. Fiat is unloading a huge amount of short term debt on them and it looks like production will have to rise (a new lower priced Ferrari?) to cover it.

 

You happy how the final submittal models came out? Were you able to bring in some professional modelers to work with the students? The pros are so much better at the finesse than students why they are a pro.

Jeff

 

John,

As a currently practicing instructor what is your take on his viewpoint?

Jeff

 

After reading this I looked at some photos of the car. They may not be great photos so my read of the surfaces could be flawed.

First, a whole lot of words to justify the result. That is scary. If it works it is self evident. If it doesn't then no amount of justification can compensate for being wrong.

As for the car itself. Probably one of the better efforts by Nissan of late. We are not taking great but a whole lot less bad.

Nissan Design: I can't figure them out at all. The recreation of the 510 was a very good effort. Sadly the only one of recent that is positive. The others range from mediocre efforts to abominable. The amount of incompetence when it comes to grasping design is mind boggling. We can se that this incompetence is at the highest portions of the company because someone gave the OK for production. The question is how far down the entire organization and how far into design management does it go. Nissan Design International in La Jolla used to do some spectacular work. Did HQ decide to abandon them? There was some superior talent there.

Jeff

 

Ferrari will not be fully independent. Piero is not selling his piece. Angelli (Elkan)/FCA is still holding the reins.

Will Gilles, as an American, get some oversight over Ferrari? I suspect so. But it could be really at a stage of reviewing who is the head of Ferrari design and if they are performing well. Ralph is going on the FCA board of directors (equivalent thereof).

I share the sentiment of trepidation of Ferrari being spun public. Publicly traded means ever increasing sales and profits. They can tweak some more volume out without devaluing the brand but that is only so much. A couple more theme parks around the world would generate profits. As I see it there will be a point where they will remain very profitable but with limited growth. Even a resurrection of the Dino concept is going to come with limitations since it still needs to be a premium over a mere car to be "special". And what does that do to Maserati and Alfa? At some point the FCA side may limit the down market aspirations of Ferrari.

Another possibility is that the public float is only a short term deal. FCA takes the Ferrari cash to get their act funded. If it works they slowly start buying back more Ferrari shares until they own it again. If FCA can't be saved then the Agnelli/Elkan family cashes out of FCA and uses that to fund making Ferrari their own private holding.

 

This has been gone over repeatedly elsewhere so instead of rehashing all that let's leave it at that as a publicly traded company Ferrari's future is not guaranteed.

 

He's now put all of his photos up on a new website and there are some spectacular cars. I wish they were all identified but ...

Here's a good one off shot of the Zagato Maserati and I must say it looks good in this shot.

Doors closed!

Here's the link for his photos: Untitled Page Where the photos are a bit higher quality.
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My wife just said she thought it was butt ugly! LOL.

It is somewhat reminiscent of the Costin coupe, also black, which I got to see a lot of for a couple of years when it resided in the area around here.

That car I did not care for the styling.

Some of the cars on that villa d'este link of Jack's are spectacular. Makes the Greenwich Concours look like a local cars & coffee event and there WERE some very nice cars there. But then Greenwich isn't Lake Como.

 

I just returned from a week in Michigan. I had the opportunity to have dinner with John (JM2) whom I had only barely met in person at the LAAutoshow a couple of years ago. We had a nice dinner with great car/design conversation. John has an awesome wealth of entertaining design knowledge and it was a great pleasure to spend some time with him. I highly recommend it to anyone who has the chance.

 

Sounds good!

 

,,,,,by Sudden Resignation of Award-winning Designer Luc Donckerwolke

The memory of Bentley EXP 10 Speed 6, which was exclusively designed by Luc Donckerwolke and under his tireless supervision, winning the “Design Award for Concept Cars & Prototypes” award during the occasion held at Villa D’este Concorso D’Eleganza is still fresh in the minds of auto-lovers. However, it is now apparent that the Belgian designer has decided to part ways with the British car manufacturer and the entire Volkswagen Group. However, there was no citation or reasoning for this decision.

Though his run at Bentley was merely for a period of three years, he had a long stint at Volkswagen, working with Seat, Lamborghini and Skoda. Some of the greatest designs have been contributed by this man, which includes the Lamborghini Murcielago. Also said to be behind the creations of Octavia and Fabia models, the Belgian was the mastermind behind the award-winning Lamborghini Gallardo as well as the Audi A2.

During his work at Bentley, a total of three cars were developed under his supervision. The much-anticipated Bentayaga SUV, the award-winning EXP 10 Speed 6 as well as the next generation ultramodern Bentley Continental GT were some of the models, which made headlines during his stint at Bentley.

Bentley has named Stefan Sielaff as the new director of design for the company. Sielaff will start his work as the new designer from July 1st. he will also maintain his position as the Head of Volkswagen Group Interior Design and the Director of Design at the Volkswagen Group. Sielaff is not a new face in the business and has been in the industry for over 25 years. He has been involved in a couple of Audi projects, along with leading a team, which had 350 designers.

Wolfgang Dürheimer, the Chairman and CEO at Bentley Motors said, “Bentley is entering one of the most important phases in the company’s history, with significant plans for new models. With his experience, creative vision and passion for the Bentley brand Stefan Sielaff is perfectly placed to lead the design of our future models.”

© cartrade pubs


(loved the interior esp of the Speed 6....) Bentayga..........................................................not so much, beginning with the name!

 

I think he should go to China where he can help copy his own designs -
Donckerwolke Doppelganger Design Werke!

 

Great if he goes to Lincoln, they Desparately need someone new.....although I can hardly see the division continuing. They seem to really have lost the plot....

If the Apple rumor proved out, it would be very suggestive of a new future track for Apple.......Given Steves' attitude about cars when I worked with him, it would represent quite a vector away from "the old days".....

 

Sweet!
I would love to see the original image.

 

I know he was a student intern (while still a teenager!) on the Q-car, a Stingray coupe looking clay model that would have called for a transaxle, but in his own book, Brock says he helped design the '59 Stingray race car. that preceded that. But since he left GM soon after, and went out to the Coast (where he met Shelby and all that Cobra stuff started) I still give credit to Larry Shinoda for the Corvette design for the '63 Stingray. When I visited Larry he showed me lots of his drawings and there was no mention of Brock. Not that I am trying to detract from PB's accomplishments (his 250K and Samurai are two of my favorites of cars he designed) but I feel that Larry Shinoda should be mentioned with originating the '63 Stingray. By the way Larry was a West Coast hot rodder before he ever went to Michigan