FRANKFURT REFLECTIONS

Well, the Frankfurt Auto Show has just concluded, and certainly this is one of the biggest, car shows around the world.  Remember that Frankfort alternates with Paris on a yearly basis, and because of concentration of power within the German motor industry itself, the year the Frankfurt show is held always provides for a very significant extravaganza, and this year was no different.  There was so much going on at Frankfurt this year that it is really impossible to cover it in one post, so what I am going to do is just reflect on the cars that I found to be interesting, significant, and worth talking about.

THE NEW 911

I wanted to just make a note about the new 911 because it seems like the car, while so anachronistic and so completely outmoded in engineering terms, is finally looking better from a design point of view.  By this I mean, because of the slight movement in the rear axle, and the positioning of the engine and the rake of the front windshield, I feel like the car finally has a more integrated look, and it actually looks somewhat more modern now that these changes have taken place.  The overall stance is better and, again, the proportions provided by the changes I have mentioned give the car a better-balanced stance.  The other element in design that contributes to the better look of the 911 is the front wings, which seem to rise a little higher, almost in Dino-esque fashion, providing a nice design element for the 911, while the front trunk line plunges slightly, helping the overall effect.  The 911 is still an acquired taste, but it is a better looking one.

BMW I-8

This car is significant because it certainly heralds a somewhat new design ethos from BMW, but also because of its unique propulsion methodology.  I wanted to comment on the design, to say that this looks like a very nice evolution of the current BMW design themes, and I hope that we see this in more BMWs.  I feel like the current BMWs were a reaction to the “emperors’ new clothes” designs of Chris Bangle.  The current line is somewhat blander and more generic as a response to all those ugly cars, and now the I-8 begins to take BMW into a new design direction which looks very positive and potentially quite elegant.

JAGUAR CX-16

This is Jaguar's new sports car and somewhat smaller than the XK, and it was presented conceptually at Frankfurt, although it will be in production soon.  I think the car overall came off as a significant success.  From a design standpoint, the grille was certainly an improvement on the current XK, and the overall stance and line of the car was fluid and nice.  I like the side-opening rear hatch.  I like the haunches over the rear wheel arches.  And really, this car is a further statement to the fact that Ian Callum is not only a brilliant designer, but one who essentially knows how to design a coupe that looks right.  There were no superfluous body surface treatments, and the car was clean and well sculpted, and I think it will be a beautiful production car.  Another big design success for Jaguar following its revolutionary XJ sedan.

MASERATI KUBANG

I was glad to see the Kubang, in the sense that Maserati needs desperately to increase their model range if they are going to be financially successful and a long-term player, and therefore the Kubang was a welcome addition to the Maserati line.  As a design statement, though, to my eyes, and to those of most others, it was significantly lacking.  What was strange about the Kubang and was disappointing, especially compared to its Giugiaro predecessor, was that this Kubang, while having good general proportioning, lacked the design flare it could have, should have had, and desperately needed.  The car sat extremely high off its wheels, which made it look awkward to begin with; but even if we set that aside for a moment, the overall specific design of the car was just not innovative enough.  It had the traditional Maserati mouth in the grille area, and an attempt at sculpting haunches both over the front and rear wheels, but as an overall design it just did not grab you enough, and I was really disappointed in that.  The car will probably drive well, and hopefully the interior will be a strong selling point additionally, but one had hoped for more from Maserati's first SUV concept.

MERCEDES BENZ F125

The Mercedes Benz F125 was really just a technical exercise designed to show the potential for hydrogen fuel cell vehicles in the future, but once again it continues in a line of Mercedes Benz concept cars (the F130) that preview the look of future S-Class generations, and Mercedes continues to develop the look of their next S-Classes through these concepts.  It was clear from looking at the F125 that the development of the S-Class aesthetic continues along these lines, with a lower glass house around a primary coupe silhouette, and a very large, encompassing grille, with smaller headlights positioned above at the outer sides of the body.  It is clear that this is the direction for the next S-Class, and one can only hope that when we actually see the car in the metal, it turns out to look good.

Mercedes has a lot of innovative developments in the pipeline, and certainly hydrogen power is one of them, as well as the next generation command system, which will be much more interactive, more Internet-based than the current one.

KIA GT

This clearly was one of my two stars of the show, and I was knocked out by this concept, even though it's a Kia.  I have to tell you that the designer, Peter Schreyer (formerly of Audi) did a magnificent job of presenting his vision of an ultra-modern four-seat GT car.  But what makes this car so unique in design is it channels and enhances design elements from the Lamborghini Espada of the 1970's so incredibly successfully.  You can see this in the turn of the C pillar, in the flattening of the rear window, and the proportioning of the roof.  If you look very hard, you can see that the Lamborghini Espada was the true inspiration for the Kia GT, and it is all the better for it.  It looks smashing, it looks dynamic, it looks exciting to drive, and it is about time that someone picked up on the themes that were so beautifully expressed by Bertone in the Espada and translated them in a more modern idiom, which Schreyer has done with this car.  Let's hope this makes production.

PEUGEOT HX1 CONCEPT

This is a large Peugeot concept for a large crossover, and it is notable because of Peugeot's attempt in again refining their design ethic, and they certainly have done this more so with the HX1 concept.  For an ultra large crossover, the car looked very nice and had many innovative features in and out.  Once can only hope that Peugeot doesn't water this down when it gets to production.

SEAT IBL CONCEPT

This was my other star of the show.  This car is what any brand new Alfa Romeo should look like.  This is a beautiful, clean, harmonious design of a mid-sized sedan that really was striking in its cleanness.  As a matter of fact, it reminded me of earlier Bertone Alfa Romeo styling exercises because of the angularity of aspects of the design, especially the lower kink in the C pillar, and the way the headlights and rear tail lights were small and fluted in, the way we have seen on Alfa Romeo concept cars before.  This really is a spectacular car.  The glazing was perfect.  The proportioning was really balanced. Most of all, something that is missing  from so many of today's cars, the sculpting was clean, fluid and simple, highly industrial, with no problematic lines whatsoever, yet the car managed to retain an athleticism and a dynamism that you often don't see in these concept cars.  Part of that had to do with the crease at the line of the door handles throughout, running the full length of the body.  Part of it had to do with the dramatic kink of the small window cut-out in front of the C pillar.  Part of that had to do with the integrated tail spoiler, which was so dynamic.  Part of it had to do with the general rake of the windscreen angle.  So for me, in terms of design, this car was a smash hit.

There was a lot of attention to electric and alternative propulsion at Frankfurt, and I wanted to mention that everybody had a different take on it.  Certainly, in Europe, as opposed to America, not only hybrid propulsion has become the norm, but electric propulsion is also becoming a very, very clear option, and we should see these cars entering production now and become more mainstream in the very near future.  I love the Audi A2, which is a full electric version of a small Audi city car, and the world would not be such a bad place if we all end up driving cars like that for our daily commute.