https://www.caradvice.com.au/707792/mazda-design-digital/?fbclid=IwAR0pyVGfqO-MmdNh3COP54P_qa5zk4UC2fK6vlb3GO19Ogcb_PTZOdEQGoA A focus on clay is to thank for the swoopy new Mazda 3 design. Mazda says its design language is focused on originality and the art of human creation, eschewing the current trend for a more digital design process, which it says leads to most modern cars looking similar. Speaking with CarAdvice at the Los Angeles motor show, Mazda design boss, Ikuo Maeda, said continuous focus on becoming a more premium offering in the mainstream market has forced the brand's design team to raise its game. “[The concept of] premium, we define slightly different from German premium.” Maeda said. “Because first, we have to raise the level of craftsmanship and quality, but on top of that we have to debut the standalone originality unique to Mazda. "In that sense I think that our biggest weapon is the beauty of the form and design, so we would like to sharpen this more and more, and I am hoping that people will say this is premium, looking at this [level of] beauty.” According to Maeda, Mazda doesn’t follow today’s car design trend of full digitisation early in the development process, instead starting primarily with slower, more time-intensive hands-on clay modelling. “One of the reasons is that todays car designers, how they are educated and the tools they use are more focused on the efficiency. So for the mainstream design maybe tilting in that direction is rather reasonable," he mused "Maybe it’s because those designers grew up with TV games and familiar with digital tools... we would like to go up in a different direction than mainstream.” Ultimately, Maeda says Mazda is ‘less of a digital’ design company, instead employing ‘more of a handcrafted’ approach. “If you design a vehicle using a digital tool... digital is about the numbers, so we don't want to do complicated things using digital tools," he said. "It’s about the numbers, so when you create some form using a digital tool, the end result is very simple form. But if you look at our vehicle design like that [new Mazda 3], there is no two same sections, even if you try and find it. "So if you really want to create this kind of design using digital tools you really have to be a master of it to be able to do it.” Nonetheless, Mazda does of course digitise its clay models, as that is the only way to get them ready for mass production. However it uses the clay models that have been digitised to create yet another clay model to further enhance the form. “When we create a clay model, the first thing we do is to think about how the light is captured on the vehicle surface, and how it is reflected on the vehicle surface. However the hand made clay models alone cannot achieve this design still. “So what we do is first we handcraft the clay model and after that we get digital data and do the digital simulation and check out how the light is reflected on the vehicle surface and then we make this data reflected in another clay model and we repeat this laborsome cycle.” All in all, there were more than 30 clay models of the new Mazda 3 produced before the final form was okayed for production. Do you see the design of modern Mazda vehicles as more unique and ‘premium’ than its Japanese rivals?
True, but Loewy seemed to go completely off the rails... Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
I absolutely love the design language of Mazda at the moment, they're more shapely and organic than other brands, unique, and the aesthetics are premium. Their interiors are fantastic. The only reason we didn't consider a Mazda for our current car was because we didn't like the engines. We wanted a ~3½ liter naturally aspirated V6, which is what we got via Ford. Mazda's engines on the competitive model were 2½ liter turbocharged 4-cylinders. Forced induction was a problem on engines we've had in the past as they aged and the test drive of the Mazdas felt a little anaemic relative to the V6. Ford's EcoBoost engine is comparable to the Mazdas, but we didn't like that engine either despite a hard sell on it as great technology by the Ford dealerships. My sister wanted to buy a second Mazda (her husband drives a Mazda 3), but couldn't get the right deal and ended up going with a specced up Honda CR-V AWD instead of the CX-5. All the best, Andrew.
http://www.autoconception.com/hankook-unveils-futuristic-concept-tyres/ Image Unavailable, Please Login Tyre manufacturer Hankook has revealed two new futuristic product concepts at this year’s Essen motor show. Developed around a theme of “Extending Future Life Beyond Mobility”, and envisioned specifically for autonomous vehicles, the concept tyres have been designed in collaboration with students from the Royal College of Art in London. The first concept – dubbed “Aeroflow” – is a tyre created principally for motorsport applications, and whose design is therefore all about maximising downforce. To achieve this, the wheel has been widened through a separable tread and the tyre grip has been optimised. The wheels are also equipped with turbine rotors that pick up air during driving in order to generate additional downforce. The latter is a factor not generally taken into consideration during tyre development, says Hancook. The second concept, on the other hand, which is called “Hexonic”, has been created for regular passenger cars. Described as an “intelligent tyre”, it is primarily designed to optimise passenger comfort. As such, the Hexonic supports the vehicle’s efforts to offer maximum driving comfort by scanning and analysing the road in real time using a collection of seven separate sensors. This enables it to record road conditions such as grip, temperature and surface profile, which in turn allows the tyre to adapt its treads accordingly. “This project is part of our effort to find creative and efficient solutions for mobility of the future,” explains Klaus Krause, head of Hankook’s European R&D centre. “We are very pleased to be presenting creative contributions that demonstrate the out-of-the-box mindset that we also promote in our employees.” The South Korean brand has also previously designed concept tyres in partnership with Germany’s Pforzheim University.
Sort of but they need to quit trying to graft a corporate nose to the body after the design has already been done. All the flowery words by the Mazda head of design sounded nice but all he is really describing is the traditional process of developing a design through the clay process. Now, if he is talking about how the drawings are not about stitching together surfaces with intersecting lines then that would mean a return to old school drawing. That would be great for us dinosaurs! Mazda isn't out wandering in the wilderness like Nissan, at least.
https://www.hagerty.com/articles-videos/articles/2018/12/04/chryslers-mid-engine-viper-became-the-ford-gt Mid engined Vipers?
I'm too lazy to search, but I stumbled across this web page some might find interesting. Sorry if a repost. http://www.tom-tjaarda.net/
Then there's truck design of late....... https://jalopnik.com/we-need-to-talk-about-truck-design-right-now-before-its-1830860270
https://jalopnik.com/audis-senseless-grille-escalation-may-be-at-end-1830768840 Even Audi is rethinking their grilles Image Unavailable, Please Login
Not trying to hijack the thread. This was in the comments section of the above Jalopnik link and was too good to pass up on the subject of grills gone wild: Image Unavailable, Please Login .
Add a 6-8 inch lift kit to destroy the center of gravity for cornering, huge black wheels to add unsprung weight, with chunky mudding tires that'll obliterate any chance of a successful emergency stop on tarmac, and you have the perfect vehicle for the macho overcompensating American male. It's no fun driving a sportscar in Alabama. These redneck status symbols are such monoliths lumbering down the road that the beer-fuelled pilots cannot see anything on the road with a roofline below 5 feet. They'll change lanes without warning (haven't figured out signaling), without seeing you next to them, and it's seen as the responsibility of anyone driving something too small to see to keep themselves out of the way. It's one of the main things that made me want an AWD SUV instead of an AWD sedan - it simply has enough size to be visible. And the 2nd Generation Escalade or 2nd Generation Ford Edge both look small on the road down here anyway. Newer trucks even tower over my Dad's 2005 F350 Dually, since my Dad actually uses his truck as a workhorse instead of a status symbol and it isn't lifted. I'm sure truck designers themselves are aghast at what they're churning out, but they are meeting the demands of a market that has clearly lost its collective mind. Well, that's a small step in the right direction. The links in that article for the Camaro and Avalon look ridiculous. In the case of the Avalon, you can clearly see that 75% of all that grill space is fake and actually blocked off. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login It's insane. Who would want to drive that? All the best, Andrew.
https://sportscar365.com/features/videos/video-corvette-c8-r-spied-testing-at-sebring/ I must say the proportions look terrific, and some of the details not too shabby either...
Although "Retro" seems to be a dirty word around here, Hemmings has an interesting article today about the Ford Forty Nine concept car. Personally, I'm glad this did not make it to Job #1. However, one interesting feature is the chrome air intakes in the front wheel wells. In its press release for the Forty Nine concepts, Ford acknowledged the hot rod and custom car cultures that its cars spawned and that inspired Foose, noting that “The Forty-Nine Concept harkens back to the romance of a Friday night at the drive-in or bowling alley, listening to rock-and-roll and cruising in a chopped and channeled custom car.” Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login https://www.hemmings.com/blog/2018/12/07/fords-forty-nine-concept-promised-a-mainstream-retro-future-for-the-blue-oval/?refer=news
I liked the Forty Nine concept. I liked these, too... Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
The blue car is cool, sort of like a 1961 Lincoln Continental sedan. The SUV crowd would not take to it though. The second car looks like a 1992 T-Bird that Gene Winfield reworked. Why does that horizontal body crease stop at the doors on these cars and then continue on down the body again ??? Looks like something that had a replacement door from the wrecking yard after it got T-Boned. Still the paint work looks way way better than an Earl Scheib paint job!
If i recall, the silver Coupe was supposed to be a 2 place Lincoln. That's when Mr. Mays had hair & baggy suits!