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.”