Design
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Late last year, London Mayor Boris Johnson and Transport for London (TfL) picked two new designs for a modern-day Routemaster double-decker bus for the UK capital’s public transport service. More than 700 design submissions were evaluated and at the end of the day two designs, one by Aston Martin and architectural firm Foster and Partners, and another by Capoco Design, were picked. While the Aston Martin designed bus is nowhere near as enticing as some of the company’s sports cars, by bus standards there are still some very interesting elements. The design envisages a...
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Chris Bangle to open own design studio
Earlier this month automotive designer Chris Bangle announced that he planned to quit the auto industry to pursue his own design-related endeavours. The American-born designer is yet to reveal exactly what his future plans will entail but a senior executive at his former employer, BMW, has revealed...
Kenneth Hall -
Volkswagen releases aero kit and accessories for Golf Mk VI
The new Mark VI Volkswagen Golf may not look much different from its predecessor, but VW is already working on offering a range of accessories to help spice the new car up and make it unique for each owner. To that end, it has released images of its new Sport & Design appearance options today. Two...
Alex Kaufmann -
Porsche Design releases new P'9522 mobile phone
Car-themed phones are nothing new, but phones designed by Porsche's Design Group are less common. Today Porsche Design announced a second phone in its 9000 series of communications products, the P'9522. The first Porsche Design Phone, the P'9521, was a flip-style phone, but the P'9522 is a...
Alex Kaufmann -
Rafael Reston imagines the Viper if it had been born in 1967
Flights of fancy in the automotive design world are common, if vain, but occasionally they yield some treasure that shows what might have been. Rafael Reston, a Milanese designer, has done just that, capturing a Viper that might be from a parallel universe where the car made its debut in 1967. The...
Nelson Ireson -
BMW design chief Chris Bangle quits auto industry
One of the most recognized automobile designers in the world, Chris Bangle, has announced today that he plans to quit the auto industry to pursue his own design-related endeavours. Bangle is the controversial designer behind recent BMW design traits such as ‘flame surfacing’ and the...
Alex Kaufmann -
With the 2009 Tokyo Auto Salon now good and over, we now have all the details about the latest modifications prepared for Nissan’s popular GT-R like this latest kit from Shadow Sports Design. Decked out in red, the custom GT-R features a number of aerodynamic modifications designed to improve downforce and handling. At the front, the car features a new carbon-fiber front spoiler with integrated ducts to help cool the brakes. There is also a large carbon-fiber rear wing for added downforce on the rear axle, although the Nissan GT-R's already impressive aerodynamic ability will be hard to...
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Volvo C30 ‘Racer’ envisaged by Sweden’s Vizualtech
Vizualtech, a Swedish design firm that specializes in constructing virtual 3D models of cars and boats, has just released a new set of images of a race-inspired Volvo C30 hatch. The focus when designing the car was to create something that could compete in the DTM touring car series or possibly a...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
Luso Motors reveals working LM23 prototype
Despite a plunging global economy and tough economic times for the car industry as a whole, there are small bright spots where innovation and development are still burning brightly. Luso Motors appears to be one of those, as it has recently unveiled a working prototype of its LM23 mid-engined...
Nelson Ireson -
ASMA releases 'Perfectus' Mercedes-McLaren SLR
Production of the Mercedes-McLaren SLR supercar may soon be coming to an end but that appears to have no affect on the number of modified versions of the car being released by the world’s big-name aftermarket tuners. Late last year we saw the introduction of the Hamann Volcano, and then on...
Alex Kaufmann -
European trademark filing reveals Nissan 370Z Roadster sketches
Europe's Office for Harmonization of the Internal Market (OHIM) maintains a trademark database that helps to ensure a minimum of conflict and easy filing for claims. That same database also lets slip basic sketches of car designs before their official unveiling on a regular basis, and this time the...
Nelson Ireson -
Video: Cobra Venom V8 design study
The latest concept creation of budding automotive designer Jamie Martin is the modern Cobra Venom V8 based on the original AC Shelby Cobra. In fact, the design depicts a possible successor to the original 1960 Cobra and if built would be powered by a Ford V8 engine. This new video rendering of the...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
Engineering firm Johnson Controls has unveiled a new concept at this year’s Detroit Auto Show that is described as a preview of technologies we can expect to see in future small cars. Combining intelligent packaging solutions with sustainable motoring concepts, the compact show car is one of the most comprehensive vehicles at this year’s event and is important to the design and evolution of vehicles from almost every major carmaker. The goal of the new concept car, which is named re3, was to offer more room in less space, more amenities in a value-priced segment and more...
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Austrian design students envision range of KTM concepts
Students of the FH Joanneum University of Applied Sciences in Graz, Austria have designed a set of six KTM-inspired concepts. Using the edgy, futuristic design language made famous in KTM's motorcycles and X-Bow roadster, the students have styled a high-performance buggy, an...
Nelson Ireson -
Report: Hyundai not considering convertible Genesis
Ever since the sleek new Genesis Coupe hit the scene, speculation about a possible convertible version has been brewing, but today Hyundai shut down all hopes, stating flatly that there are no plans for a drop-top Genesis. Miles Johnson, manager of product public relations for Hyundai Motor America...
Ralph Hanson -
More Details On Splinter Wooden Supercar
The Splinter, a wooden car designed by a group of college students, has made the rounds to the recent International Woodworking Fair, where it met with acclaim, and now the project is nearing the final stages of development. It is being run by Joe Harmon Design and North Carolina State University...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
edo Competition creates fashion car with designer Christian Audigier
Fine fashion and fine cars are a popular combination, the element of design being the uniting force between them. To draw on that synergy, edo Competition has teamed with noted French fashion designer Christian Audigier to build a five-car limited edition Murcielago called the edo LP 710 Audigier...
Nelson Ireson -
GM speeds up powertrain development with new simulation software
In a bid to reduce development costs and bring vehicles to dealerships sooner, General Motors is using simulation software to develop software control systems for all of its future powertrains. This method of development allows GM to emulate control systems before being stuck with expensive...
Ralph Hanson -
A pair of engineers have come up with an innovative way to reduce carbon emissions and encourage drivers to slow down - all by simply reworking the humble speed bump and updating it for the 21st century. Jae-yun Kim and Jong-Su Lee have developed a new speed bump that can vary its height according to the speed that drivers are traveling. The system uses a special damper fitted inside the speedbump that allows the bump to flatten when drivers are travelling at less than 19mph (30km/h). If drivers are travelling greater than this speed, the bump will remain in place, slowing down the speeding...
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Studiotorino Converts Mercedes SL Into CoupeTorino Concept
What do you get when you combine German engineering with Italian design? One example is the stunning CoupeTorino, a re-design project by Alfredo Stola of StudioTorino. Based around the Mercedes SL, the CoupeTorino takes a solid platform and turns it into a work of art. Submitted as a proposal to...
Alex Kaufmann -
Racer X Design shows off RZ Formula study
Insanely light, handling-centric track day vehicles have boomed in popularity in recent years, as evidenced by the rise of Ariel's Atom, the KTM X-Bow, and the plethora of Lotus 7-inspired roadsters. Now Racer X Design has revealed its RZ Formula design study, tilting the design of track day toys...
Kenneth Hall -
JE Design takes on the VW Scirocco coupe
The Volkswagen Scirocco is proving to be popular with tuners, with famed German performance shop JE Design also releasing its own hotted-up version of the svelte sports coupe. JE Design’s work on German cars has been well documented, especially some of its more outrageous creations based on...
Alex Kaufmann -
BMW first carmaker to implement Microsoft's multi-touch Surface
The customer experience at BMW - especially when taking delivery at the factory in Europe - is a unique one, soon to be made more unique by the inclusion of Microsoft's Surface, a multi-touch screen capable of some rather impressive maneuvers. BMW is the first carmaker in the world to implement the...
Nelson Ireson -
Lewis Hamilton designs ultimate F1 circuit
The youngest Formula 1 World Champion in history, Lewis Hamilton has no shortage of talent behind the wheel. Now that the 'silly season' has arrived, however, he's taken to a more conceptual field, and designed his own personal take on the ultimate F1 circuit. Though the track is thus far nothing...
Kenneth Hall