Design

General Motors’ recent shakeup of its model range has led to cancellations of various vehicle programs designated for the North American market, mostly comprising of large cars, SUVs and trucks. This in turn has caused GM’s American design studios in Detroit to be less inundated with...

Chrysler's new head of design, Ralph Gilles, will officially step into his new position September 1, but already he's brimming with new ideas for the brand's future look. A more natural and fresh theme will dominate, while the 'Edge' look of the current vehicles has been declared dead. Not that...

Taking inspiration from an old design and applying it to a new chassis is nothing new in the automotive world - one need only look to the new Camaro, Challenger and even the Mustang for prime examples. But the combination of C2 corvette body and C6 Corvette chassis envisioned by a company called...

Yacht-companies and carmakers that build premium SUVs seem to have no problem finding commonalities between them, judging by the number of maritime-inspired SUV concepts presented in the past 12 months. Most recently we saw the Touareg North Sails Concept from Volkswagen, and before that there was...

Update: While some may doubt the likelihood of General Motors' upcoming Chevrolet Volt appearing on time, the carmaker’s engineers and designers don’t seem to have the same qualms. In a video for ABC news, GM's exterior design executive director Michael Simcoe gave a preview of the...

For weeks rumors about the Corvette-like car appearing in behind-the-scenes shots of the new Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen movie have been circulating. No one has known for sure what the car is, but the latest report indicates it's a Corvette Centennial Design Concept due for debut early next...

The CEO of Pininfarina, Andrea Pininfarina, was killed early this morning after the motorbike he was riding on collided with a car near the company’s Cambiano design center in Turin, Italy. While details are still scarce, preliminary local police reports claim the car crashed into...

For anyone unfamiliar with Local Motors, it’s a start-up based in Massachusetts that specializes in small-scale automotive manufacturing and design with a skew towards development of efficient vehicle technologies. Over the past year the company has run a number of design competitions for...

The man at the head of Mazda's design studios in Irvine, CA, Franz von Holzhausen, has left the company to lead Tesla's design unit. His first two challenges will include the 'Model S' sedan and an affordable sport compact EV, but after more than three years as the lead designer for Mazda's highly...

Only a few months ago legendary Italian design house Bertone was on the verge of bankruptcy and was reported to be an acquisition target for a number of firms in India and China. Then, in April, the design house gained a new management team headed by former Aprilia CEO Teresio Gaudio. Under the new...

Third-year students of the European Institute of Design (IED) in Turin were given the task of designing the BMW of 2015, with the goal of creating a vehicle that would appeal to someone aged in their mid-30s. The project was endorsed by BMW and a special commission was established by the carmaker...

Just last week we brought you renderings of Luso Motors' LM23 track-day special kit car. The company has followed that up with a design study for a GT, and it comes in three flavors: convertible, shooting-brake and speedster. Like the LM23 the car is being designed as a lightweight sports car...

Volkswagen has launched a new microsite (www.Volkswagen2028.com) designed to preview the carmaker’s future vehicle design through the display of a trio of new concept cars. A video presentation showcases a possible future, describing the different vehicle concepts that VW imagines could one...

Founded in 1968 by Giorgetto Giugiaro and Aldo Mantovani, the Italian design firm Italdesign has been involved with some of the most iconic designs of the past four decades, including the Audi 80, Lancia Delta, Saab 9000 Turbo and the Fiat Panda. The Quaranta concept shown at this year's Geneva...

With the appointment of new design boss Jerome Gallix, Peugeot is set to revise its entire lineup over the coming years with a fresh look and to start the ball rolling the carmaker will debut a brand new premium coupe. In a recent interview, Gallix confirmed that the first model of the rejuvenated...

Indicating a future design direction similar to, though in some ways very different from, that taken by rival Ferrari, VW Group's design director Walter De silva recently revealed the path Lamborghini will take in the years ahead. A new, lightweight V12 supercar and a continuation of the design...

As Detroit's Big 3 see sales figures plummet, closing factories and design centers has become a nearly monthly event. Kia's U.S. operations, however, haven't felt the punishing blows of high fuel prices and a weak economy as keenly, thanks in part to the company's relatively small and...

Unlike many concept cars that throw practicality out the window in an effort to achieve fuel economy or light weight, the Hungarian-designed Antro Solo manages to fit three adults while returning excellent fuel figures and highway speeds. Built almost exclusively from carbon fiber composite...

Tightening EU and U.S. fuel efficiency and emissions rules are pushing Volkswagen to find any way it can to improve its fleet's figures, and it has decided lighter weight cars is one of the best options. The entire VW Group fleet, from Bentley to Skoda, will be affected by the move that hopes to...

As a strategy to help keep sales high through a model's lifetime, Ford is moving to a three-year restyling cycle. The first indication of Ford's new short program is the freshening of the 2009 Ford Flex, which is already underway. That's right, the Flex is not even on dealer lots yet and it's...