2013 Volvo Coupe Concept Knows Its Sausages

THIS SWEDISH company has defined itself on not being German, so the appointment of two Volkswagen designers, Thomas Ingenlath and Max Missoni, might seem unusual. Yet the result is a striking three-box coupe that will remind many of the Audi A5. This third box is an important feature: a low, flat deck, ending in a chamfer, resolutely eschews the diminishing tails on cars such as the Mercedes-Benz CLS, and keeps the proportions outlined by the P1800 in check, and indeed the BMW E9, which shares a similar centre-line. 

This Teutonic association continues in the details, especially the rear corner where the lights from the Volkswagen X1 concept are mirrored. It is a compatible theme with the iron badge, however, and the lights appear like sections through metal beams, especially the T-beam DRL at the front. Here, the Coupe Concept is classically premium: the lights are kept separate from the grille, and intricate details lift simple forms. The grille itself is exceptional, featuring a strong chrome band and vertical bars subtley concave, kept separate by a shadow gap.

Along the bodyside, purists are already recoiling from the broken curvature of the door-section, a Volvo trait lauded as a literal reflection of Swedish furniture. This easy-to-understand characteristic was compatible with the family-orientation of the products. That broken section has been expertly realized, however, planting the crease on the curvature, rather than using it as a break. The positive swell that runs along the shoulder is kept tense in section by sandwiching it between two tight negative fillets. It is telling that Volvo has steered away from using a wagon to hail in the new era: a three-box coupe is ideally suited to bend its themes to many more bodystyles. German solidity has been achieved in an unorthodox manner. It may not be familiar, but it is a design that will outlast the decade.

Volvo clearly has aspirations beyond being known for safety, but such is the dominance of the German premium brands in conveying premium-ness, it is hard to avoid lifting cues to do so. It highlights the quandary faced by many designers: how much brand equity can you sacrifice to become more attractive. With the Coupe Concept, there is enough Volvo DNA to keep cynics quiet, and the successful translation of the themes to the next XC90 has now been proven. With that in mind, perhaps those Germans ought to start worrying.

2015 Mercedes-Benz F015 Luxury In Motion Concept Shows The Value Of Enterprise

AN INTERIOR where anyone can sit anywhere, and where anyone can drive: this is the potential of autonomous driving. The car avoids accidents, so one need not wear a seatbelt. If you do have an accident, intelligent airbags inflate where required. The steering wheel is detachable, and can be passed from person to person to take control. Dashboards become less complex, buttons are fewer and screens are irrelevant because we all carry on our own device. Materials and quality and customization become even more important. It is a relaxing, open place to spend time and enjoy the company of others or the peace of solitude.  Mercedes hasn't gone quite that far with their latest concept, but in producing the F015 they have made a memorable start. 


Here's the message in two steps: fat seats suggest luxury; seats facing each other implies autonomous driving. And now Mercedes owns the image of luxurious autonomous travel. Nevermind that the rest of the interior looks like a set from Star Trek (screens do not an interior make), in terms of communicating a message the Mercedes is faultless. 

Faults are saved for the exterior instead, and here one sees the challenge designers face in providing an attractive shape while providing head-room over rear-facing front seats. It would be unfair to criticise the exterior too harshly, though, as it was always the interior that we are meant to see, but it does point to an interesting communications strategy. You won't see many poorly resolved concept cars from BMW or Audi, but Mercedes is willing to compromise design to gain an edge for innovation, which begs the question Does design or concept do more to reinforce brand image? 


Cars are the ultimate industrial design overachievers: throw a new market at it, introduce new legislation, tighten emissions and threaten congestion charge: so far every obstacle has strengthened the breed and cars are more capable than ever. It proves the desirability of the concept of private transport, a demand that shows no signs of withering. Underlying the success of the car is its supreme adaptability: A thirty year old Peugeot will drive on a road built last year in Pakistan by someone who was not born when the car was designed using fuel bought today.

But autonomous driving is more than taking your hands off the wheel and turning the front seats around; it is an opportunity for designers to redefine the relationship between man and machine. Traditionally this was done mechanically, through the steering wheel and gearshift and ride quality. Now, in an electric age, everything is assisted, and what we feel is largely artificial. We are in a peculiar purgatory between old-world interaction and a future where the car is simply transport. 

This is an indisputable trend, and it is your fault. You liked it when in 1951 Chrysler introduced power steering on the Imperial. You raved when gears silently shifted, and rejoiced when windows wound themselves: autonomy and anaesthetised cars are the culmination of many years of smaller innovations. We kept buying them, and maybe we are the last generation to know that a car used to provide feel. 

1951 Chrysler Imperial

That’s why I drive an older Mercedes. I want to smell leather, to view the road through untinted glass, and hear those colossal doors slam. It is one of the ironies of electric cars that their success coincides with the sales increases of those soulful classics. In the past cars felt mechanical simply because no alternative existed; now, with so many options available to designers we must be careful to do what is right, and not just what is possible.

2014 Audi Prologue Concept. I said, THE AUDI PROLOGUE CONCEPT

THERE ARE 15 trillion good reasons why grey is the new black, each one green-backed. Youth unemployment, stagnating wages and high personal debt means it is aging baby-boomers who will drive economic growth. You can bet your bottom dollar there will soon be myriad products designed specifically for the silver surfers. A Porsche Design stair-lift is closer than you think.

Age cannot be mentioned without health. The ‘internet of things’ means you can be sure your behaviour is being analysed. If you fail to use your Zojirushi I-Pot kettle in the morning to make tea, a relative is informed, just in case. You may not realize it, but your car is watching out for you too. It may not be pressing your hand, rolling up your sleeve or asking you to cough, but a car is fast becoming even more central to our lives, and indeed life.

A car is already a cage in which we shield ourselves to protect us from harm. Big steel pillars sealed with glass separate us from the vigour of our surroundings. Occasionally, they keep other bits of steel and glass out too. Volvo watches your eye movement: blink to often and a small coffee icon chimes to encourage a pit-stop. GM has experimented with sensors that immobilize the engine should you be over the alcohol limit. Brakes know when a wheel is slipping: if ever you’ve been caught in a downpour, traction control has been your guardian angel. Pity the Lincoln Sentinel missed exemplifying the virtue of its namesake.

So a car already does its best to keep you alive, now the goal is to improve your wellbeing. Massaging seats are just the start. They will also rise to meet you, swiveling to accept your corpulent buttocks. Augmented reality will improve visibility, and don’t worry if you never got the hang of touch-screens, buttons will fatten for rheumatic paws, or disappear in favour of voice-control. There is a long list of features that cars will have to tick-off if they are to remain relevant for an aging demographic. But what is the OAP aesthetic? Nissan Juke designers are already used to seeing their creations driven not by sk8erboiz, but by middle-aged women off to the garden centre. The raised H-point (seat height) helps: easy to get into for creaking limbs. But I wonder how many billions playful styling will garner from the trillions available. There is also the challenge of getting Gatoraded designers in the mindset of port-swilling retirees.

So how about the Audi Prologue concept? Of course it is really an A9, a name to draw Audi upmarket to target retired dentists in upstate New York. The designers are the same age as those in Nissan, but the non-niche classicist aesthetic looks suitably elitist and discerning. Over cigars at a dinner party, the A9 would be talking about campaign funds while the Juke juggles the bread rolls.

Having introduced you to my SLC earlier, I am inclined to draw comparison between it and the A9. Naturally, thirty years has brought a sea-change in proportions, but beyond this the thing that strikes you is that Audi has scored a coup with the C-pillar: the SLC’s louvred windows has been re-interpreted as the filler-cap. Audi also uses chiseled swells above each wheel to highlight Quattro provenance, but for both cars I see similarities in the classical proportions with generous brightwork that conventionally lures mature customers. Plus ca change, plus c'est la meme chose. But so far no car can stop you from driving at 15 mph in the gutter with the left-indicator blinking.

2015 Opel Range Is Too Good To Be True

GM Technical Centre, Warren, MI

GENERAL MOTORS is about to go chasing after Dacia. That's the latest news according to the US company as it attempts to increase profitability at Opel and regain market share in Europe. That means a cheap hatchback and a cheap SUV either entering the current Opel line-up or being put within a parenthetic sub-brand. 

Meanwhile, Opel's are styled as though dropped in from a higher price point. The Astra and Insignia are handsome, well-sculpted cars with some expensive-looking detailing. The Monza concept took that to another level, with a sophisticated bodyside and tremendous stance. 

The previous Astra got it right too: a clean, machined and neatly detailed design with each element interlocking with the next. It looked expensive, and also simple. Look at the past two Golf generations, and it is easy to see how Opel could have carried this precise machined aesthetic across the range. Instead, Opel abandoned clearly defined boxiness and chased emotive surfacing to pursue premium-ness.

Here's an easy way to define premium-ness: which car looks the most expensive? Now divide perceived price by retail price and you have an equation for defining value. Parallel to this, however, is the matter of expectations. Do you expect an Opel to look pricier than an Audi? This scenario doesn’t allow much room for authenticity, which is problematic for two reasons. Authenticity is confirmation that the product delivers what was promised. 

Thus, authenticity is trust, which builds relationships. By producing affordable cars that look too good, Opel risks creating a mismatch between customer and product. Only they haven’t: a new Vauxhall Astra costs $30,000. You could by an Audi for that. 

2015 Opel Karl

I believer in using existing consumer behaviour to define strategy. But Opel is tricky. Not even emotive designs can alleviate the dire un-sexiness of the brand, denting prospects for private ownership. Price and products are not going to be enough to sustain. There is, however, an unlikely silver-lining their large customer base in the rental market. Instead of pursuing design-led exclusivity, Opel could harness car-sharing inclusivity with emphasis on service as much as product. DriveNow and Uber show how is being done. Until then, the Opel Karl will have to do.

2016 Audi Q7 Has Weight Of World On Its Shoulders

2016 Audi Q7

THREE WORDS make-up the marketing mantra:  consistency, consistency, consistency.  It helps brands build recognition by relentlessly consolidating identity. Never deter. Momentum mounts, a rising tide of inevitability and permanence befitting premium-ness. Audi has practiced this for twenty years, with frequent brand-boosting concepts such as the Avus. Each car builds upon its predecessor with ever-enhanced proportions and quality. Investment in LEDs asserted the brand further, championing the role of the detail designer. Underlying all of this is perfect stance, Atlas' shoulders for planet Audi. But in developing the new Q7, Atlas shrugged.



That Audi kept the same sketch of the out-going Q7 and used it for the new model is not the issue: the translation to 3D is. How did such a poised and slick design become so leaden? The new Q7 has always been a heavy car, and now looks it. Slab-sides span high shoulder and low rocker: no black-out here or deep shoulder to carry the mass. Surfaces hang heavily, like soaking sheets. All the depth of the bodyside has been used for chunky arches, leaving the shoulder a peculiar frown of creases. The greater Audi's efforts, the greater the car bears down on its wheels. Audi must re-find its spirit.

2015 Nissan Murano Takes A Grilling

HOW DOES Sir like his steak? Rare, medium or well-done? Semantically, steak is easy to understand. Aesthetically, steak is powerful and indulgent. In this way, a tenderloin Audi A8 and a T-bone Dodge Ram might be considered automotive steaks. Different cuts maybe, but clearly defined products from established breeds. Things get harder as you move down the food-chain. Nissan, for example, does without the R&D diet of Audi or the Dodge pedigree. They have the odd prime cut in the range, such as the beefy GT-R, but also cars like the offal Datsun with its gristly safety record. So thank Heavens for the burger trend.

This uncouth sandwich has infiltrated every high street, drawing stampedes of customers seeking artisanal patties served by chaps in beards. The guilty pleasure of the Golden Arches has been gentrified, and we witness the cultural paradox of burger connoisseurship. It has saved the bacon of brands like Nissan.

No longer does the success of a company depend solely on the quality of the meat. The patty of the Nissan Murano blends comfort, reliability, flexibility and efficiency to compensate its middling pedigree. The quality might be quotidian, but it stays appealing thanks to the presentation of the platter, using busy design language to distract. Good materials, like good meat, costs money, and designers, like baps, are relatively cheap. Nissan knows that the first bite is taken by the eye, but I prefer something rarer.

2016 Jaguar XE Is Sincerest Form Of Flattery

IT ALL started with the XF. Out went the long, low silhouette with spring-board like rear end; in came conventional architecture with full hood, fast windscreen and tall trunk deck. Everything you would find on any other mid-sized saloon. Purists baulk at the thought of a Jag being pumped up to an SUV; truth is Jags already are pumped up. This metamorphosis permitted the CX-17 concept, and has now been used to bear the XE. (You try creating a long, low short, tall car).

Despite the glamour of the F-Type (and Jag, like Merc, is a brand that just has it), sales are not up to Land Rover heights. The XE aims to rectify that, so if it looks like a BMW 3-series, don’t be surprised, Jag is targeting that discerning only-a-German-will-do customer with a vengeance.

The front looks like it would avenge. It also mimics a 3-series. Why? Because that's where the eye rests most when looking at a car. Rest your eyes on the rear, however, and Audi will spring to mind before any feline associations (marketing has requested both a leaping cat and JAGUAR spelled out in case anyone draws similar conclusions). 

It is at the back however that you will find the closest link the car has to any other Jaguar. The tight fillet blending cabin to shoulder and trunk deck faithfully apes the Mark II. It is a useful little feature than means there is more sky-facing surface to break up the volume and reduce the visual height of the car. It may be a bit snick-snacky with the swage-flare, but it is distinctive, and distinction is hard to find in a class whose values are so convergent.

Speaking of convergence… the interior. Sorry, but Jag really needs to sort this out. The basic counter-sunk volume is fine (the dashboard sits below a wrap-around cowl), but the detailing and organization of the vents and switchgear and trim is just so underwhelming. A lot of this has to do with money: there is only so much, and engines, new platforms and marketing will have eaten great chunks of Tata’s dowry. But spare a thought for the place where you sit. Indeed spare a thought for Jags of yore with wood and chrome, not cheap leather with miserly scrim. I don’t want to sound bearded: the BMW i3 shows how this can be done in a contemporary manner.

Maybe there could have been more sculpture; maybe a little –just a bit –more originality, but this was always going to be business case first, designer whim second. It doesn’t matter. Nepotistic British press will ensure the car sits (wins!) in every group test, and there is enough Bavarian to lure the rest.