Beautiful Mercedes-Benz Advanced Studio in Como, Italy, the facility started in 1998 and specialized in interior design.

The images were published at the end of 2010 for the 125th Anniversary of the brand, while the document reported below was released for the presentation of the new Mercedes-Benz B-Class.

Image galleries of the other studios – Carlsbad, Tokyo and Sindelfingen – will follow in the upcoming days.

The Advanced Design Studio in Como is led by Michele Jauch Paganetti and is located at Villa Salazar, close to the banks of Lake Como.

It is part of a group of five Advanced Design Studios around the world, which develop solutions for a long-term future (50 years from now) and employ a total of 60 designers – who join the around 440 designers working on series models.

From the official Press Release:

It has always been a prime location: it was at Villa Salazar, situated close to the banks of Lake Como, that Italian fashion designer Gianni Versace produced neckties and cravats before Mercedes-Benz opened its Advanced Design Studio there in February 1998.

With its contemporary painted ceilings, long suites of rooms and contrasting floors of terracotta and wood, the villa, which was built in 1750, is extraordinarily inspirational to the entire staff of around 20 designers.

The same can be said of the region itself: the famous triangular region defined by the cities of Como, Milan and Turin is home to the furniture and fashion industries.

A high value is placed on traditional craftsmanship there – making it an ideal setting for the Advanced Design Studio.

These diverse inspirations are reflected in the interior design concepts for vehicles – which is what the Advanced Design Studio in Como specializes in.

The designers can give free rein to their ideas without having to immediately consider series production, even though that is the actual objective of their ideas and ruminations. An example is the free-floating, streamlined screen in the new Mercedes B-Class.

And it is also a new approach developed in Como by Mercedes-Benz which is why this model series has achieved a new dimension of high quality in the compact class.

The designers use an “appreciation model” to bring their ideas to life initially and then look for a way to include these ideas in series production. This produces a more harmonious and higher-quality result than if the interior had been retroactively enhanced.

The tasks of the creative forces in Como are plentiful. They conduct general research, create drafts and build models – and are always looking out towards the horizon so that they can develop the car interiors of the future. A certain lack of respect for old traditions is desired in order to find new approaches.

“We don’t follow any fads,” said Professor h.c. Gorden Wagener, Chief Designer at Mercedes-Benz, “instead we try to sniff out long-term trends that will enhance our brand’s value over decades. Ideas that meet the highest demands in technology, performance, comfort and safety”.

That is why a designer needs to “live in the future” and think at least two to three vehicle generations in advance.

One of the first visible and tangible results of the Advanced Design Studio in Como was the interior of the Mercedes-Benz F 400 Carving research vehicle (Tokyo 2001).

It was followed in 2002 by the Vision GST – a predecessor of the Mercedes-Benz R-Class – in Detroit, and in 2003 by the F 500 Mind research vehicle in Tokyo. In 2005 the Mercedes-Benz bionic car was introduced to the public in Washington, D.C., and the F 600 HYGENIUS appeared in Tokyo.

For the Mercedes-Benz F 700 research vehicle introduced in 2007 the interior specialists in Como relied heavily on cork and Alcantara.

With its sister studios in Carlsbad (California), Tokyo, Beijing and Sindelfingen, the Advanced Design Studio in Como not only regularly trades ideas but creative staff as well.

Mercedes-Benz Design Center in Sindelfingen, Germany, located in a building designed by Renzo Piano Building Workshop.

The Sindelfingen-based Mercedes-Benz Design Center was designed by Christoph Kohlbecker (Gaggenau) and Renzo Piano Building Workshop and was completed in 1998.

The 30,000 square meters facility employs more than 400 people from over 20 countries.

The Design Center coordinates and directs the activities of the different Advanced Design Studios in Carlsbad, Tokyo, Como, and develops the design of the Group’s production models.

The shape of the building resembles an open hand, in which each element has a different function: design, CAD drafting, model making, prototyping and presentation of full size car models.

The doubly curved roof is made of segments consisting of patches cut from a toroidal surface.

In a special area, a controllable, semi-transparent light wing ceiling allows the presentation of new vehicles under simulated daylight conditions.

Check the full gallery here or visit the other image galleris from the Mercedes-Benz Advanced Design Studios in Como (Italy), Tokyo and Carlsbad.

CPP will produce a modern version of the Jensen Interceptor, a Beautiful concept in 2012 and to go on sale in 2014.

British automotive group CPP has been commissioned to finalize the development of the all-new Jensen Interceptor by HSCS – Healey Sports Cars Switzerland Ltd), owner of the brand’s assets and intellectual property.

The design of the sportscar was created by a team of Coventry-based design consultants employed by HSCS, while the development will be completed at CPP’s new production facility in Coventry.

The new Jensen Interceptor will be based on an all-new aluminum chassis and handcrafted aluminum body.

 It will debut next year as a concept and is expected to hit the market in 2014.

The car echoes the four-seat grand tourer layout of the original model, which was built between 1966 and 1976 and featured a V8 powertrain and technologies quite advanced for the time, including all-wheel drive, ABS and traction control.

Brendan O’Toole, founder and co-owner of CPP, commented: “The Jensen design team has respected and honored the great heritage and attributes of the original Interceptor, while injecting a contemporary edge and advanced technologies that will ensure it appeals to the passionate, discerning motoring enthusiast of today.”

New Concept Design Jensen Interceptor due by 2014

The original Jensen Interceptor was a uniquely styled four-seat grand tourer which was built between 1966 and 1976. The Interceptor was Jensen’s most successful model, and a total of 6,408 were produced. Today Interceptor’s are a rare sight – well they always were – but their cult status has only improved with age. Now CPP, a British specialist automotive group, has been appointed to resurrect the Interceptor by Jensen’s current owners, Healey Sports Cars Switzerland Ltd (HSCS).

CPP acquired the highly respected 4×4 marque Bowler earlier this year, and in the near future they’ll take control of the Dutch supercar manufacturer Spyker. So they’ve got plenty of well-seasoned automotive engineers to call on for help in bringing back a legend.

Thankfully, the new Jensen Interceptor is going to be an all new car from the ground up. It’s not going to be composed of some kit-car like steel chassis covered with wavy fiberglass panels, nor will it be based on it’s predecessors aged platform. It will be based on an all-new aluminium chassis, and the bodywork will be made of the same stuff.

CPP are tentatively scheduling in a public unveiling of the new Interceptor for late 2012, with deliveries to customers beginning in 2014.  Annual production numbers and pricing are yet to be confirmed, but will be fixed to ensure ultra-exclusivity.

Brendan O’Toole, founder and co-owner of CPP, said of the car’s return: “I started my career by restoring bodies and components for classic British sports cars, so for CPP to take the lead role in reviving this iconic brand is very exciting for the business, and for me personally.  The Jensen design team has respected and honoured the great heritage and attributes of the original Interceptor, while injecting a contemporary edge and advanced technologies that will ensure it appeals to the passionate, discerning motoring enthusiast of today. This work is at an advanced stage, and married to CPP’s expert coachbuilding, craftsmanship and engineering skills, the new Interceptor will be an exceptional example of British automotive excellence.”

Liam Cardiff, director of Healey Sports Cars Switzerland, added: “CPP is the perfect partner to revive the iconic Jensen Interceptor.  With the Jensen design team integrated into an organisation with much greater resources and broader expertise, our dream of seeing the Jensen and Interceptor badges once again adorning the bonnets of beautiful, modern, British-built GT cars has come closer to reality.”

At the moment there aren’t any details on the car’s drivetrain, equipment or engineering. The only clues as to the new Interceptor’s styling come in the form of these two sketches, but seeing as the two images are of two slightly different cars, it’s anyone’s guess at the moment what the final car will look like.

Designer Tata Nano Gold, emblazoned with 176 pounds of gold worth $ 4.6 million

“Tata Nano Gold” is the 80kg gold-plated cars and various other precious metals. This gold-plated car became the most expensive car in the world 225 million Indian rupees, or $ 4.6 million.

Previous known as the Tata Nano is the most inexpensive car priced at $ 3,000. Thanks to the gold that stuck to the body of this car makes “Tata Nano Gold” became the most expensive cars in the world.

Apart from 22-carat gold wrapped as much as 80 kg (176 pounds), “Tata Nano Gold” is also wrapped with 15 kg (33 pounds) of silver, and precious stones as many as 10,000 eggs.

“Tata Nano Gold” is on display Tata Group chairman Ratan Tata Motors Tata Theatre in Mumbai India, and will be touring around India.

Show Up Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG E-Cell body shell Beautiful Design

Mercedes-Benz showcased body shell SLS AMG E-Cell at the Frankfurt Motor Show 2011. This order will become a future car to be produced for the brand to the world automotive market.

Mercedes designed the framework of this car as light as possible and will be equipped with advanced technology to become Mercy latest generation sports cars. With a frame like this, Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG E-Cell latest generation can have higher performance.

Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG E-Cell will use four electric motors are placed near the wheel so that a four-wheel drive model with 571 HP power.

With that much power Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG E-Cell later claimed to accelerate from 0 to 100 km / h with only takes 3.7 seconds.

Beautiful Citroen C5 Airscape Concept

If you know the designs of Citroen, you also know how they create stunning cars that stand out of the crowd.

This new C5 Airscape model is no exception to that rule as you might see from the pictures below.

The Airscape is a new Concept car from Citroen, but it is a car that really holds up to its expectation, just look at thos great lines of the body work.

Looking at some pictures you can also see that the car was build for High Performance and the specs alto tell you that it is enviroment frendly.

Even with its V6 HDi engine with a particulate filter and the ability to run on biodiesel.
Also the UrbanHybrid technology garanties low fuel consumption and CO2 emissions.

But I must also admit that I really don't like the brown interior, not even in the combination with brown tan cover...
Black would have made it a better design for me, than agian, design is an art and a personal view.. you like it or you don't.

A New Car Blog Section

 

In the last couple of monthes I have been working real hard on learning more about Blogging with Joomla!
Still my main blogging platform is WordPress, but I found out that a blog with Joomla like this one is not that hard to do.

However, using a layout like this is not the best option, and als there are some extra components I want to integrated in the future.
If you look at the site now, you will find a new section and menu on Car Design Blog where there will be blog posts on af course Cars and Design.

Enjoy the updates on Design, Concept cars and Supercars and lots, lots more!

The Concept of Citroën C3 Retro and Furture Concept Cars

The 2CV Charleston was a special edition at the 1980 Paris Motor Show.
The Art-Deco inspired version featured a Black – Red Delage color scheme with white linings.

Citroen-2CV-6-Charleston-1985--68

In 1982 Citroën included the 2CV Charleston in the standard model line-up, where it stayed until the end of the model production, in 1990.
 
 

Citroen-C3-Pluriel-Charleston--680

Charlestons were popular in Italy, Great Britain and Holland adcn so were the new Charleston C3 from Citroën.

The C3 Charleston from Citroën was alos a Blig Hit among Citroën Lovers and it brought back memories about the CV age.

 citroen-c3-red--680

 Personaly I rahter have pne ot the new cars like the Red Line...

citroen-ds3-serie-noire-680

Of course the Black Line which looks really awesome!

The Car Concept Toyota A-Bat

 The Toyota A-bat concept Car is build like a Pick-Up, but uses a lot of smart features ot turn it into an every day usable car.

 

Beautiful Smart Forspeed Concept Signals New Design Direction

Smart will unveil a new concept at the forthcoming Geneva motor show that signals a new design direction, hints at future product and confirms parent company Daimler's renewed commitment to the brand.

Car Design News was granted early access to the concept, baptized Forspeed, at a secret photography studio in Stuttgart last week and heard the head of advanced design, Steffen Kohl, explain how the two-seat, electric-powered vehicle prefaces design themes in both the next Fortwo and the revived Forfour, which will be launched in 2014.

 

 

"The fullness of this concept's exterior surfaces is important and will be reflected in future production models," said Kohl, "Smart will still be short, spacey, agile, and with wheels at the corners of the car, but with an added sporty and emotional design and without losing all the brand's iconic elements like its ‘plastic fantastic' aspect and the safe and hi-tech modular tridion shell assembled with all these changeable body parts. And on the interior, it will simply be more valuable, using more precious parts. I'm sure it will be an unbeatable combination."

Look beyond the Forspeed concept's similarity of package to the old Crossblade – it is also roofless, windowless, and sporting a mini-windscreen – and there is a car that is wider, a bit longer and much fuller in its volumes, especially on its sides, witness the curve on the contrast-color section by the rear lights as just one example.

Kohl said all Mercedes' global studios contributed to the proposal – up to 50 designers were involved at the outset – with the concept and strategy ultimately led out of its design HQ in Sindelfingen, Germany.

Compared to Smart's current models, the exterior grille has become bigger and more elongated and features a much bigger badge within it, instead of on the hood above. The grille itself features variable-sized 3D hexagonal holes that could also make production as Kohl added: "It's one of the solutions we are following, although we haven't finished it yet. It fits the shape of the solar cells on the windscreen and it's a very good tool to show these alternative powertrain situations. It does not mean it will look exactly like this though."

The striking 'ring-and-highlight'-shaped headlights are also new but due to the limits of current legislation and LED intensity will not feature in future production Smarts in this form said Kohl. However something like the rear lights – that echo those seen on the recent eScooter concept at 2010's Paris motor show – could.

Inside, is arguably the biggest difference for Smart, with an array of high quality touches and finishes, including the natural brown leather wrap around the contrasting shiny white plastic steering wheel and matte metal gearstick plus an iPhone dock that can be angled within its own separate passenger cowl.

All these details send the message that Smart intends to move upmarket as a brand and offer more Fiat 500 and Mini-style customization options through its just announced Smart foryou program. But not at the expense of jettisoning its 'everyman' appeal as Kohl continued: "This show car is the high-end story, but we will also keep the idea that Smart is a car for the people, although never cheap in execution and technology."

After years in the doldrums – when Smart shrunk from a multi-model brand including a roadster, coupe and even the radical stripped-out limited edition Crossblade back to become a single model brand – the expansion plans would seem to be back on track. Smart sources also unofficially confirmed the brand will launch production versions of its recent electric scooter and bike concepts from early 2013 so that when the Fortwo and Forfour arrive by 2014, it will again be a four-model brand.

New Italdesign-Giugiaro Provides Services for Complete Project Development within three Main Areas

During its 42 years in the automotive service field, Italdesign-Giugiaro has worked with many international carmakers and has been responsible for some of the world's most revered concepts and production vehicles. In May this year, the firm became part of the VW Group, marking a new era in its growth.

Italdesign-Giugiaro provides services for complete project development within three main areas: styling, engineering and testing and prototyping, which all operate autonomously within the organization. The company's aim is to work in synergy with its clients, which is why they constantly investigate and evaluate emergent technical solutions.

In search of new solutions

Italdesign-Giugiaro, for example, was the first independent service provider to implement a Virtual Reality Center in-house in order to offer 1:1 scale virtual reality design and style services.

And now, to harmonize the design process – and improve integration between styling and engineering – Italdesign has started several pioneering pilot projects with Dassault Systèmes to investigate 'clay digital modeling' (concept/free form modeling), as well as high-quality surface modeling.

"Innovation and creativity are key factors for facing the market changes and competition. Many of our suppliers have changed or do not exist any longer, while our partnership with Dassault Systèmes has been ongoing for 20 years," says Italdesign CIO Giuseppe Savino. "Dassault Systèmes has always been the right partner to leverage innovation and this is why we are looking forward to deeply investigating emerging design solutions like CATIA Imagine & Shape."

Combining technology with hand craft

While most famous for their products' iconic styling, the Italdesign-Giugiaro philosophy stems from an approach of ensuring technical feasibility first, creating designs that meet all technical requirements, ensuring workable solutions.

During Giugiaro's design process, the first virtual surfaces are created following the selection of a design proposal. Rendering, animation, virtual and physical modeling techniques – all handled interactively – support this research and presentation phase.

At this stage, the 3D data of the model can be useful for engineers to conduct the first feasibility studies and for the workshop department to mill a 1:1 scale physical model. The modelers' manual skillfulness still plays an important role in the finishing and touch-up phase, but technology goes hand-in-hand with the high manual skill of the craftsperson and their utmost attention to detail.

As this process illustrates, styling – and experience hand craft – is still a primary and fundamental part of the Giugiaro approach. However, over the last decade, industrial design has rapidly evolved from the traditional design-by-hand approach to the use of the most advanced technological tools, with which Italdesign has ensured its leadership in the field.

New challenges, new solutions

This approach has hidden challenges: a lack of integration, difficulty in data exchange and different UIs in various software systems present serious complexities of management. Moreover, a modified model often has to be re-created in the different systems along the lifecycle.

New tools, which boost creativity and are easy to use, are needed in order to allow designers to 'concretize' their ideas immediately. From Italdesign's perspective, the modeling tools used in the automotive field should draw inspiration from the ease of use of the entertainment applications, while integrating control and analysis tools required by the engineering domain.

New Mercedes-Benz GLC Small Crossover 2014 Concept

2014 Mercedes-Benz GLC Small Crossover, Keep in mind once the Mercedes-Benz item portfolio was restricted to only two sedans-the S-class and 1 beneath it-and the occasional unique design, such as the SL roadster? Alright, perhaps you do not. Which was, in the end, a while back. Quick ahead to these days. Are you able to title each and every design line presently provided by Mercedes? (Here is a hint: You will find thirteen accessible within the U.S. by yourself, and 3 much more in Germany.) Much better begin memorizing now, simply because it will not get simpler: The brand name is about to broaden its portfolio by a minimum of two much more designs, each of that are derived from your front-wheel-drive platform with the subsequent A- and B-class.

The Title Game

1 of them will probably be a four-door sedan that is touted as a “small CLS” by Sindelfingen designers (see spy pictures of that 1 right here); another, proven right here in artist’s renderings, is a compact crossover that can be known as both the BLK or GLC (the latter will not stand for “great small car” because it did using the aged Mazda compact). Internally, it’s frequently known as the SUC (little utility cruiser), but, for apparent factors, we do not believe this letter mixture will probably be caught around the small ute’s posterior.

So whilst the last designation continues to be a mystery, the parameters with the car are pretty apparent at this time. The crossover will probably be accessible with front- or all-wheel-drive, and it’ll be driven by a new era of turbocharged four-cylinder engines. The gasoline models will displace one.six liters and make 120 or 154 hp; a one.8-liter diesel will probably be provided in Europe. Mercedes also options to put in its ubiquitous two.1-liter turbo-diesel, and also the brand name could also provide bigger and much more potent turbocharged gasoline engines. Energy will probably be transmitted for the wheels via a six-speed manual or a seven-speed dual-clutch automated.
Natural Styling Within and Out

The styling will not be boxy and angular such as the GLK’s, but instead softer. It will likely be punctuated by a large amount of flowing and twisting lines, not all of which make feeling at first-or even second-glance. Within, you are able to make sure the brand new design will activity the most recent variations of COMAND and Mercedes’ numerous other security and telematics technologies.

This new Benz crossover aims squarely in the BMW X1 and also the Audi Q3, however the Mini Countryman and also the Assortment Rover Evoque will probably be powerful rivals also. It is an more and more difficult section by which to run. Will Mercedes be successful? We’ll see when this small front-driver is introduced in late 2013 as a 2014 design, and U.S. availability continues to be around the table.