I agree with the concept, but a smaller Lithium battery would be the outcome of a larger ICE motor Hybrid. Thats a win as lithium production is filthy and destructive. Also need to make automobiles a lot smaller. Every EV I see is huge, that's the real reason I think some Americans even think about buying an EV, they love huge cars.
I need a huge car for work. The Ford Edge I've got now is really the minimum size I can get away with. Next SUV is likely to be a little bit bigger and higher end. I often have clients in it, signs, cleaning equipment, trade/networking show tables, etc. For my client demographic (more luxury market), having a pickup truck is not the right image and I can't afford to buy/insure/store both a luxury car and a truck, so a luxury SUV is really what I need to buy. All the best, Andrew.
5000 lbs Pillarless minivan with a lot of party tricks additional reading : https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/the-zeekr-mix-is-the-volkswagen-id-buzz-that-we-wanted/ar-AA1sNLNU The Zeekr Mix is on the Geely SEA-M Platform, which is shared with Waymo's self-driving car Base price is $39,278 (279,900 CNY).
How about a Navigator? Distinctive and not many others on the road. Image Unavailable, Please Login
I'm not really keen on the interior... Image Unavailable, Please Login Non-integrated tablet stuck to the dashboard. Ugh. All the best, Andrew.
Good article on the GM Design Center on Dezeen.... https://www.dezeen.com/2024/10/30/gms-tech-center-mid-century-saarinen/?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Daily%20Dezeen&utm_content=Daily%20Dezeen+CID_406a902011c9135c953763f5dfd8e39c&utm_source=Dezeen%20Mail&utm_term=Mid-century%20designers%20and%20engineers
https://observer.com/2024/07/inside-general-motors-new-pasadena-design-studio-where-concept-cars-are-built/ GM California Design Studio
2025 Hyundai Initium Concept Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login On Instagram today
A Juke-R take might've been action-packed - maybe joint venture w/Mallett ...? Image Unavailable, Please Login
Automotive Color & materials design Image Unavailable, Please Login Jamie L. LaReau Detroit Free Press Image Unavailable, Please Login This novel design and other touches are the creations of General Motor's design team of five women, led by two who came to GM with unconventional backgrounds. Kapsis, who grew up in Australia, has a history of designing homeware — furniture, linens, utensils and decorative items in a home. goes on sale by year-end, will start at $52,895 — a price tag that draws in customers likely to be interested in style. Inspiration in everything One look at Kapsis and Lopez and it's obvious they have an eye for design and a taste for statement. On a Wednesday in October, the two sat chatting in the library inside GM's Saarinen Design Center located at the company's Global Technical Center in Warren. Lopez was in a stylish black blazer and matching skirt with black tights. A classic business look minus the classic pump heels usually worn to complete such attire. Instead, Lopez sported daring black military-style ankle boots with thick rubber soles, a nod to bold fashion-forward businesswear. Kapsis put her twist on the pantsuit. She donned a pantsuit topped with a pale aqua vest rather than a traditional long-sleeved blazer in a conservative color. But the two would rather talk about how they dressed the Optiq than their own fashion choices. “We take inspiration from any and all sorts of sources (for the car), whether that’s fashion, interiors, architecture — we’re in a beautiful architectural example right now," Kapsis said, gesturing to the high ceilings in the neo-futuristic style of architect Eero Saarinen. "And, of course, our brand is really important. So with Cadillac, we’re also looking at what are the brand’s statements? What are the heritage cues?" Strate School of Design, CMF is "an industrial design discipline that focuses on the chromatic, tactile and decorative character of goods and settings." In other words, it is applying the right colors, feel and texture of materials to a designed item — in this case, a vehicle — to highlight its beauty and evoke an emotional response from a consumer. A fashion designer for a car Lopez, 35, is color, materials, finish design manager for global Cadillac. She grew up in Hyeres, France, which is between Marseilles and Nice on the Mediterranean Sea. At 18, Lopez headed to Paris to study at top design school, Creapole. Lopez went there initially wanting to design for the auto industry. But she quickly changed her mind. "It's too big," Lopez said of designing automobiles. "What you learn in the design school is you have to comfortable with the scale of the object." She chose to focus on shoes, handbags, luxury furniture and lamps over the next five years in school. She did internships at high-end retailer Hermes, where she organized events. Then, at luxury Paris retailer Jack Russell Malletier, where she designed luggage and handbags, then at fine jeweler Mauboussin, where she designed jewelry and finally at architectural studio Andree Putman, where she designed furniture. But right before graduation, in 2012, an automotive supplier came to the school and presented what was then a new area of study: Color, materials, finish for vehicles. The school did not offer that curriculum when Lopez had started, but now more design schools are offering it, she said. "I just fell in love with that idea to become a fashion designer for a car," Lopez said. "If you are a fashion designer, you have a model. What clothes are fitting that person the best to reveal her appearance, spirit or soul? It’s the same way with a vehicle to me. We have a vehicle in a specific shape and what is the best way to dress the vehicle in and out?” American Hardwood, the tulip trees that make up the light, soft wood with streaks of color known as tulipwood, are grown exclusively in North America, including in Michigan. Image Unavailable, Please Login GM spokeswoman Whitney Lewis said GM's supplier for the recycled newspapers sources its supply from Spanish kiosks that sell all of Spain’s newspapers plus foreign newspapers from Germany, England, France and the United States. Unsold or uncirculated newspapers are piled at the end of every day in every kiosk in every city there, picked up and returned to a recycling hub where it is taken directly to the paper recycling and pulp processing centers. The chemicals and energy used to recycle the newspapers have "a negative environmental impact," Lewis said. "We take pallets of this paper and mix with our wood to later build a one-of-a-kind decorative surface and most sustainable veneer." called LMNTArt, when she first started working in the auto industry about a decade ago. The car interiors used a lot of leather and she quickly learned that a small amount of leather is frequently wasted as the pattern is cut to specifically fit a seat or instrument panel. Then there were "off cuts" of the leather that could not be used because it was scratched or had a flaw that was often tossed out, she said. “I am in love with materials. I love the colors, I love the texture, I love the softness," Lopez said. "So I was saving them, saving some of the materials we were losing. I was taking away some stuff that was valuable to me. I didn’t do anything with it for years." sold on Etsy, range from $20 to $75. “I was just doing jewelry for fun, just for myself, until some people asked me if I could make some, and little by little … I started LMNTArt" in January 2020, Lopez said of her online shop. An extension of home Kapsis said the designers focused on color pairing in the Optiq to evoke an emotional response from a driver. For example, they paired a sort of tannish orange leather, called Autumn Canyon, throughout the vehicle, with a lighter cinder gray with white accents on the wood. “It’s all about the combination. What we’re looking for in an interior is a balance," Kapsis said. "It brings in this white accent into the fabric and you can see the gray continue on to the seats. The combination is all around creating that balance, finding that harmony and then creating variation.” Image Unavailable, Please Login Navy blue leather pairs with a blue version of the textile fabric, as another example. All of this, Kapsis insists, is "critical" to a customer, even though most customers don't know it. "Our role is to create something where people feel invited into their space and that they have a sense of personality in their space," Kapsis said. "It’s an emotional response. They may not know to pick that exact detail out, but because it is in harmony, that’s what gives you that sense of calm in that space.” Lopez said color, materials, finish will be applied to GM's other brands using the materials and colors that match the demographics of the customers for those brands would respond to. “Our goal is to do everything we can so they (the customer) can feel like it’s an extension of their house," Lopez said.
"“Our goal is to do everything we can so they (the customer) can feel like it’s an extension of their house"; and there in lays the problem. I like to think that most of the people on this site don't want their caar to feel like their livingroom. I believe that most people will value a degree of differentiation between driving enviroment and couch -
Image Unavailable, Please Login Audi debuted a new design language in China this week. Talk about walking away from Audi heritage. This is not the Audi's of yesteryear, that's for sure. carmagazine Audi sets up new brand in China, also called Audi Today in Shanghai, Audi announced a bold new venture with SAIC that aims to bring premium electric cars to Chinese customers, who are generally younger and more tech-savvy than customer in the rest of the world, it says. First up? The AUDI E concept - a sleek electric GT, minus the iconic four-ring emblem. What do you think of this all-caps, four-ring-free approach? Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login View attachment 3762125 View attachment 3762125
