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.

THE SHANGHAI MOTOR SHOW

Well, it's that time of year again and the wild and wacky Chinese are holding their annual (alternating with Beijing) motor show. This year's extravaganza featured the usual conglomeration of unusual Chinese celebrities and business people intermingling with an international cadre of journalists, motor executives and others -- and why not? China has rapidly become the largest automobile market in the world. Let's take a look at a couple statistics that will truly blow your mind.

In the year 2010, new car sales in the U.S. were around 11½ million. In that same year, new car sales in China jumped to over 18 million units, and they are expected to top that figure by 10-20 percent in the current year. So, if you look at these figures and recognize the astronomical growth that is occurring now, and the growth potential over the next 24 months, you see why China has become the world's hottest car market. And, of course, as established manufactures flock to set up plants and build their cars there, they are clamoring for a share of the market.

It is interesting in terms of what China doesn't have, which is an effective homegrown automobile industry base. Oh, sure, there are many, many Chinese automobile manufacturers in the country, more than I could actually name, but they don't produce products that have a market future, not only outside China, but now that the large manufacturers are coming in, even within their own country. It is a situation in which we could basically say that astronomical numbers of cars are build and sold in China, but very little is being designed in China. Well, let's take a closer look at the show, because every car maker was there with a massive presence, indicative of China’s importance.

My first star of the show is the Mercedes A Class. This car is Mercedes' new target vehicle for small hatchback class, and what made it really stunning was its design, from its unusual grille inset to its dynamic, flowing style. This car really captured the best of Mercedes' new design ethos, without the artificial and cumbersome elements that have disrupted some of Mercedes' more recent vehicles (the new CLS). This car was clean, sculpted, beautiful and dynamic, and deserved the plaudits it got in Shanghai. While the A Class platform has never been sold in the United States, the new A Class, which this car will be based on, will be sold in the United States with a 4 cylinder engine. Let's just hope that Mercedes doesn't dilute the concept when it comes into production. Traditionally, Mercedes has a history of sticking pretty close to their vision-name concepts when it comes to production models, and we hope that the A Class follows this pattern. One note about the A Class interior. The infotainment equipment was clearly the next step for Mercedes after their current command system. It featured a very large pop-up screen that essentially looks like an iPad, and has the same kind of UI and same kind of connectivity; and you can see that, as I predicted so long ago when manufacturers were still fighting Bluetooth connectivity, this is the route all manufacturers are taking, producing cars with high-quality, large-screen multi-media units which handle every conceivable infotainment, information and navigation function, and do it all with great graphics. I know this new system from Mercedes, which I have looked at in other concept iterations, will be a world-class when it comes online.

The Volvo Concept Universe was another interesting car in the show, and this clearly is the first fruit of the new ownership of Volvo by Geely, the Chinese auto conglomerate, which could never produce a worthwhile car on its own, and had to buy Volvo to start making competitive cars. This is a very significant moment in automobile history overall, because, as the Chinese buy car companies because they are so wealthy, what will they do with them?

Let's look at what Geely is doing with Volvo, and I think it’s best illuminated by the Volvo Concept Universe. This is a large, executive style sedan that has a generally modern and flowing look, but has a ridiculously ill-proportioned and bizarre front end that can only be described as Chinese design at its absolute, pretentious worst. The grille, the hood line, and the general front of the car apparently represents what the Chinese consider to be "posh" and "upmarket," while the rest of us could only think it looked atrocious and at the end of the day, just funny. Let's hope that some Volvo executives, before they are replaced by their Chinese counterparts from Geely, have enough influence to prevent this concept from coming into production.

The Audi Q3 was Audi's latest attempt at a small compact SUV. This car is one size smaller than the Q5, which gives Audi a full penetration lineup of Q7, Q5 and Q3. Actually, from a styling point of view, the Q3 is the most successful of the three because it is the sportiest, features the most tapered roof line, and generally provides an upmarket experience in a small, soft roader. I like the Q3, although it is not yet scheduled for importation to the United States. One hopes that Audi will bring it in, because it looks like a very high quality and appropriate vehicle for the times.

The Buick Envision was Buick's latest attempt at a large-scale SUV, and it was rather successful, I thought. The design was fluid and flowing. It featured a beautiful interpretation of a blacked-out B pillar, and had unusual doors which opened for the full frame of both front and rear seat passengers. Of course Buick has long been a big-selling brand in China. Long before the automotive crash of 09 and the massive evolution of China as a car market, Buick was America's largest selling brand in China. This is because the Chinese favor big, luxurious, soft-riding sedans as their primary method of transportation, and of course that is what Buick has always built. So, the Envision looks like a neat concept.

Far more relevant and beautiful was the Peugeot SxC. This was my other Star of the Show. This concept for a small SUV was one of the most dynamic and sporting propositions in the field I have seen. It’s like what the Infiniti FX could have been had it been designed by European designers. It has a low roof, a sporty design, very elegant, very minimalist, very clean, striking head and tail light designs, a very nice new-style Peugeot grille, and had a tremendous wow factor. One can only hope that Peugeot puts this car into production.

The Citroen DS5 was a car I have waited for for a long time. Several years ago Citroen introduced a concept car called the C5 Aerolounger. This was a beautiful example of a five-seat, soft-road car in the mold of the Audi Q5, but much more dynamic looking. Well, Citroen has finally built the car and introduced it as a part of their DS line. It looked good. I was a little bit disappointed in the window line between the C and D pillar, which didn't resolve itself as well as it did in the Aerolounger Concept, but still it was a very good-looking car and it had a tremendously upmarket interior. Citroen is, of course, now stacking their DS model cars with better interiors, but this really was the best I have seen. Hopefully it will be a big hit for Citroen, and we can only praise God that Citroen is back a making innovative looking cars. Thank God for the French!

Finally, the BMW 6-Series coupe completed the line, which had already included the introduction of a convertible. You know, BMW design, after being in the dark ages for so many years now seem to be coming back and certainly seemed to reach a design renaissance with the new 5 Series, which is an absolutely stunning and beautiful sedan. The 6 series coupe continues this trend. It’s a classic European and classic BMW shape that definitely will grow on us with time. Certainly not one of the terrible calamities committed by the Boy Who Couldn't Draw (Chris Bangle), but the 6 Series coupe is a little bland, and I think BMW could be a bit bolder and hopefully their Vision Dynamics Coupe, which is coming soon, can make that statement.

So that's about it for Shanghai. It was hysterical and funny and a pleasure to be involved, and it was certainly a sociological moment. Watching the influence of the automobile cultures of Europe and the United States invade China and seeing the response of the Chinese people is an interesting phenomenon. China really has had no automotive culture of their own. Their automobiles were ridiculous mock-ups of other cars for many years. Now that they are bringing in European and American lines to be built and sold in China, it will be interesting to see how this trend develops.

THINKING ABOUT DESIGN

Now that the Geneva Auto Show is here and we’ve seen the new designs, it’s time to step back and think about design for a few minutes, in light of some of the concepts that have been released, and, more importantly, what people are saying about these designs.

It has become amazing how some car designs take on a life of their own without any reference point to the actual design of the car. I am going to focus on a few cars that really summarize a lot about design aesthetics and the hype that surrounds new designs which can change people's perception about a car. I have already written an entire post about the Ferrari FF, so no need to review, except to say that when I saw the car live at Geneva there was no question that this is not only an extraordinarily beautiful Ferrari, but also a very important car for the marquee, because it really stretches their design aesthetic, allows them to provide a car that really does seat four people+luggage in a way that many of their other GTs have not, and provides a unique niche, not only in terms of marketing, but, in terms of Ferrari design. After all, as I discussed in my post, so many car makers have produced shooting brake concept cars, but very few have ever gone into production, so Bravo Ferrari! The Lamborghini Aventador. I am not normally a fan of Lambos, but I do like this new one, and I like its design ethic because it seems to be essentially a refining of the Murcielago/Gallardo primary theme, where earlier Lambos have attempted to take things over the top merely for the sake of outrageousness. Now, it is clear that under Lamborghini's previous design director, Luc Donckerwolke their cars began to get more integrated in terms of design, but the Aventador seems to summarize all that is special about recent Lamborghini design, and yet refined to another level. It is certainly not a groundbreaking car in any way, but it is a nice re-definition of the basic Lamborghini design ethic at this point.

I also want to give a shout out to the Pagani Huayra, the new exotic super car from Italian maker Horatio Pagani. Whereas the Zonda was a horrible looking car by any stretch of the imagination, the Huayra actually begins to look like (a) a car, and (b) somewhat sexy. Therefore, it deserves a positive mention in this morning's column.

This brings us to the question of why some people can't see what is going on with a particular design. To some degree, the mechanical specification and presentation of an automobile, and in other cases simply the hype about a car, prevents people from objectively evaluating its design. There is no greater example of this, of course, than the McLaren MP4-12C. This car, of course came out before Geneva and has already been reviewed a number of times. I have not driven the MP4-12C, but what is obvious about the car (even the biased and jingoistic British journalists have acknowledged this) is that for all of its technical brilliance and superiority, which it absolutely has to the last degree --- it is not a great looking car. Sorry McLaren. You produced a car that is tremendously competent and brilliantly engineered, and therefore, by all accounts truly exciting to drive, but it is a car whose looks are so out of touch with its mechanical brilliance that it is almost funny. On the exterior, the McLaren looks essentially like a cross between an enlarged Lotus Elise and the Lamborghini Cala concept car that Guigiaro designed some years ago. It really is a very boring, unexciting, uninspiring design. You want proof--just look at the Jaguar XC-75, a design with astonishing beauty and brilliance. Similar for the interior, where although McLaren, to its credit, went for a minimalist approach, they ended up with something that just didn't excite the senses when you get into the car. As I said, if even the Brits are saying this, there must be something to it, and hopefully McLaren will get it right the next time around.

Finally, my last design comment, and one that is most disappointing to write, is about the Alfa 4C, introduced at Geneva. Everyone was hoping that this car would be the spectacular little brother to the Alfa 8C, which was a hugely expensive, limited run, supercar introduced a couple years back, but in fact the Alfa 4C is a horrible mish-mash, evocative of some of the worst things Alfa has ever done. It is funny, because the teaser sketches of this car showed a brilliant, beautiful, clean and simple GT that looked like it would absolutely enthrall the senses, and what we ended up with was a mash-up of a Lotus Elise and a Porsche Cayman that ended up looking neither as integrated or organic as either of those original shapes, and one that has so much unnecessary complication and lack of fluidity and design coherence that it’s truly sad.

Now, Alfa has had a history of designing both brilliant and beautiful cars and truly ugly ones, and unfortunately this falls in the last category. It is ironic, because Alfa's last show car, the Nuevo Duetto Spider, which was just presented last year, was a spectacularly beautiful design. So it just goes to show you, it doesn't matter what country the car is produced in and who does the design; sometimes they’re inspired and sometimes they get it so wrong.

So why does it all matter? Well, it matters because the cars I discussed today, the Lambo, the Ferrari, the Alfa, the Pagani and the McLaren, are all supposed to stir vivid emotionality. They are supposed to make one feel a sense of pleasure, longing and sensual confirmation when you look at the car and sit in it that’s specifically driven by design. It is then enhanced and validated through the mechanical experience of driving the car, but the design itself must take you and grab you in a way that thousands of very good but mundane cars in this world do not. And that is where a car like the Ferrari FF is such a tremendous success. It grabs you immediately. Its impact is great emotionally. You want to sit in it, and when you do sit in it and recognize what a beautiful design it is, you are only more moved and thrilled at the expectation of driving it, whereas the McLaren simply leaves you limp, and the Alfa just leaves you shaking your head and laughing and hoping they do a better job next time out.

THE WAY IT COULD HAVE(AND SHOULD HAVE)BEEN

This morning's hot news certainly is the reveal of the Bertone B99 Concept Jaguar for the Geneva Motor Show. Looking at this concept this morning was very evocative because it reminded me what Jaguar design could have, and should have, been all along. Now, it's clear that Ian Callum has taken Jaguar design in an entirely new, and very much needed, direction with the XF and, more importantly, with the XJ. The XJ really marks a break from all of the previous Jaguar traditions that were embodied by the old XJ Series 1, 2 and 3. This is critical for Jag, as it was stuck in such a terribly mundane, morose and uncompetitive design ethic, based on these older XJ models. So I am happy for that, and the new XJ proves that you can do a really modern car that is a complete revolutionary break with the past, and do it well, and do it very successfully, and make it beautiful.

However, having said all that, looking at the B99 reminds me of all the things that Jaguar could have been during this period. Bertone design director Mike Robinson claims the car is not retro, but, in fact, the car has tremendous flourishes of the basic design themes incorporated in the XJC Coupe of the 70's, yet these design themes are reinterpreted, modernized, and smoothed over into an entirely elegant and fantastically beautiful profile. It's like what you would have imagined an XJC could have been, had it been updated successfully throughout the years.

Also, this concept highlights a couple of other existing observations I wanted to make this morning. The first is that sometimes a modern evocation of a classic design, such as the B99, if it is pulled off successfully and with enough subtlety, ends up doing a couple of important things. It looks new, it looks modern, yet it has an emotional hint of things gone by. It has an emotional linkage to the past through some of its specific design parameters. Now, in the case of the B99, obviously the heavy volume of the body and the wheels compared to the light glass house is certainly the first giveaway, but also the C pillar is very reminiscent of the XJC, as is the overall treatment of the body aft of the C pillar. Yet, at the same time, these are not in your face design themes. They are done subtly as to evoke the past only when looking at it through the present, which is the best way possible.

The last point about this concept is that it once again shows the power of Italian design. Italian design houses have traditionally produced not only some of the most beautiful cars in the world, but also some of the most beautiful concept cars based on cars from other countries, and this include Jaguar. There have been a number of Bertone and Pininfarina concept cars based off Jaguars that have been so much more beautiful than the production Jaguar, you simply had to look at them and wonder why didn’t they build this? In the case of the B99, the only response can be the same.