By now, you'll no doubt have read all about the cars and concepts that you were interested in at last week's Geneva auto show. But if you've still apetite to digest and cogitate, Drew Smith - of the Downsideupdesign blog - and myself are producing a two part podcast with pics to cover all of the major production debuts and concepts, which you'll be able to see/hear in the next few days. For now though, you might be interested in some of the details, elements and irreverant bits and bats that I noticed in the Palexpo last week. So without further ado...
Citroen reimagined the ReVolt from Frankfurt as a racer for the road in the form of the SurVolt (above). Only Citroen could get away with painting it gloss blue, matte grey, pink and orange. But they did. Note these graphics - they were quite fun, a play on PCBs - used to signify the electric drivetrain.
Meanwhile over at Mercedes (above), they'd got wood... (sorry, couldn't resist). The use of wood laminates in this interior was fantastic - it vied with the Pegueot (see below) for concept interior of the show, and previews an altogether more 'light of touch' future Mercedes interior design language...
Peugeot marked its return to form with the SR1 (although special note to the glorious bike also on the stand) - which previews the brand's altogether more acceptable new face (thank god the rictus grin's gone). But it was the interior that really stood out in this car...great work Julien et al:
Speaking of gorgeous things, here's a shot of the superb little Pininfarina Alfa Duettotanta that makes me go a little bit weak at the knees...
Nissan unveiled a strange-looking, oddly-named SUV today. And I love it. Sounds wrong on all sorts of levels? Probably, but the Juke - a segment-busting SUV that's roughly B-car (Fiesta) sized - makes sense for lots of reasons. Retaining the high driving position, butch styling of SUVs that people love, while junking the, erm, junk is a good start. But the best thing about it, is that - for the first time in a long time - a car maker has managed to get a concept car through to production without emasculating it into oblivion (looking at you Honda CR-Z). This is by far the most interesting thing in car design we've yet seen in 2010.
For having the guts to be willfully weird, I hope for Nissan's sake that it sells like hot cakes.
More pics all over the motoring press - Car, for example - my Qazana vid from Geneva last year, below:
I'm sitting here tonight trying to make sense of Ford's belief that the Fiesta Movement campaign is an example of the kind of social media that will translate into a successful Ford.
Here's a picture of what it's all about. A video by Parris Harris and Yoga Army, aka Phashion Army.
Fiesta Movement is getting quite the PR push at Ford right now and it'll only get worse as the December LA show draws near, when the Fiesta is actually launched in the US. What's the product? A car that Ford designed in Europe several years ago and launched there in autumn 2008. It hasn't even gone on sale yet in the US - it'll be a 2011 model year car.
"Revolutions create a curious inversion of perception. In ordinary times, people who do no more than describe the world around them are seen as pragmatists, while those who imagine fabulous alternative futures are viewed as radicals. The last couple of decades haven't been ordinary, however. Inside the papers, the pragmatists were the ones simply looking out the window and noticing that the real world was increasingly resembling the unthinkable scenario. These people were treated as if they were barking mad. Meanwhile the people spinning visions of popular walled gardens and enthusiastic micropayment adoption, visions unsupported by reality, were regarded not as charlatans but saviors.
When reality is labeled unthinkable, it creates a kind of sickness in an industry. Leadership becomes faith-based, while employees who have the temerity to suggest that what seems to be happening is in fact happening are herded into Innovation Departments, where they can be ignored en masse. This shunting aside of the realists in favor of the fabulists has different effects on different industries at different times. One of the effects on the newspapers is that many of their most passionate defenders are unable, even now, to plan for a world in which the industry they knew is visibly going away."
The reality is that this is what's happening right now in much of the car industry. And I fear it's happening in Ford, too.
Fiesta Movement is an ad campaign - nothing more. The philosophy that ever more "sophisticated" marketing can solve problems. Web-savvy, video-producing creative people will transform Ford's brand image and reconnect it with a new generation. Meanwhile Ford, despite thinking it's had a terrible year, has had a lucky one. Both of its major US competitors have gone into bankruptcy. General Motors and Chrysler are probably fatally wounded.
Let's talk about real stuff - well electric cars, which aren't real yet, but will be soon. Even in a world short on EVs and high on rhetoric, Ford's current global 'electric' product range is weak - the company has one star car - the fantastic Fusion Hybrid - and a scattering of dated Escape and Mariner SUVs. The next generation? Ford has been hanging on the fence about which suppliers to use for a Focus EV – and unless there's a big surprise, we're still in limbo on that and much else as Ford insists the numbers don't add up. We're so, so far, from the car Ford really should build - an electric F150 truck. Parris and Yoga talk about Ford reconnecting with the American psyche. But Americans, beyond a few areas on East and West coasts, don't want small cars. Most of them don't even want cars. They want trucks.
But the guys who design trucks are seemingly sitting elsewhere right now, watching a football game. So cars is the only place where innovation is happening. As GM and Chrysler fade away, Ford's key competition in that zone is now global. And be in no doubt that the global competition is about to become truly formidable. Renault Nissan has the boldest strategy of all - we were there to see Renault blow everyone away at Frankfurt in September, with bold plans for four production pure-electric cars by 2011, and Nissan is deadly serious about its mainstream, mass-market Leaf, due in 2011, and undoubtedly the first global car that will shake the Prius out the tree it's got right now all to itself.
And that's just the start. Volkswagen is doing intriguing things with very efficient diesel vehicles, BMW's Efficient Dynamics strategy makes Ford's new EcoBoost petrol engines look pretty conservative. And that's before we talk about Honda, Toyota or anyone else.
I can't help but think that Ford will default to present Renault Nissan as the crazy radicals, imagining an unrealistic future. When the reality is Renault Nissan are the pragmatists, because they and others have the pieces in place to push ahead. They've forged partnerships with entire countries to roll out electric cars, while Ford is trialing 15 electric Focuses in Hillingdon in North London, and in patches around the US.
Right now Ford is not a global car company. It is a multinational car company - in fact the granddad of multinationals - with different product, management and marketing teams on different continents. And it thinks it can treat customers in different places in different ways. Imagine if Apple did that, fobbing off its American customers with a social media campaign, to launch a product it introduced in Europe over 12 months earlier. Advertising guys, dressing up social media as big change, would get nowhere. Customers would see through it right away.
"Imagine if Apple did that, fobbing off its American customers with a social media campaign, to launch a product it introduced in Europe over 12 months earlier."
An SUV-type mini-crossover to replace the B-segment Micra? It could happen. This was one of the stars of Geneva - take a look at the video to see how much is going on in this design.
No one appears to have told Infiniti that there’s a global financial crisis and that (apparently) the world now only wants to buy clean, economical city cars. Not that we’re saying a production version of the Infiniti Essence couldn’t be green(ish) you understand. Autopia is reporting that the real McCoy might even come with a diesel engine, coupled to a hybrid…
But don't worry about that happening - cos it'll never be built. And to be honest, we think that if it was, shoving a diesel-electric unit under the hood would be a bit of shame. There comes a time when you just have to say “stuff it”, and to be honest that’s pretty much what Infiniti have done here. It’s clearly a case of ‘right car, wrong time’, but hey, if you were 20 years old, wouldn’t you build yourself a nice birthday present?
So no, we think that this is one of those cases where a drop-dead gorgeous, large, 2-seater coupe would be just fine with a snorting great V8, thanks very much. In all seriousness, what the Essence could show though, is a way forward for Infiniti’s design language. This car has – frankly – unbelievable body surfacing. It will doubtless have its detractors, but from a design standpoint, the complex surfacing and highlights are incredibly well controlled, and the proportions of the car are pretty much spot-on. All in all, this was one of, it not the highlight of the Geneva 2009 autoshow.
We didn’t really expect it to be Infiniti who would throw caution to the wind and build a “screw you and your economic downturn” supercar concept, but we’re rather cheered by the fact that they did – and that it looks as good as this. See for yourself in the Video (top).
With thanks to Drew Smith – who pointed out the Infiniti, which I had previously missed due to tiredness and stupidity, as one of the stars of the show – and who makes a cameo voice-over appearance in the video. Check out his Downsideupdesign blog, too – because it rocks.
