Futuristic concept cars that are going to be on the road next year.
The anti-minivan that is “the next big thing.”
Mature design rather than automotive weaponry.
Trucks and non-trucks.
Again this year, the Chicago Tribune asked top designers to comment on trends that will be showing up on the roads soon. This is what they said:
More reality than concept
An amazing number of production vehicles introduced at the Detroit Auto Show made their debut just one or two years ago as concepts, vehicles meant to test public reaction to design cues or new technology.
In the past, concept vehicles would frustrate consumers as much as intrigue them. Showgoers would get excited over a concept so exotic it could never be manufactured.
Increasingly, concepts are thinly disguised production vehicles. What goes around the auto shows is more likely to come around to dealerships.
That is only one trend our panel of top designers noted.
Three examples from General Motors that moved quickly from the auto show to the showroom are the Chevrolet SSR roadster/pickup, the Cadillac XLR roadster and the Hummer H2.
First shown as concepts in 2000, the Hummer will be in showrooms this summer, followed by the others early in 2003. Expect that to continue as long as Robert Lutz is General Motors vice chairman of product development and chairman of GM North America.
Lutz, who came to shake up GM design, signaled his philosophy of “from concept to reality” when he introduced those production vehicles and three new concepts in Detroit.
“Concept vehicles shouldn’t try to reach 30 or 20 or even 10 years in the future,” Lutz said. “They should tease the future, certainly; but they should never leave the realm of understandable possibility.”
Some vehicles this year didn’t even reach 15 minutes into the future. Chrysler introduced its Pacifica as a concept, while announcing it would be in showrooms in 2003 and would look very much like the concept.
Because automotive development time has been compressed and competition has increased, everything automakers show must gauge public reaction, said Tom Semple, president of Nissan Design America in San Diego.
“It’s not Disneyland anymore; this isn’t playtime, this is pretty serious.”
The numbers of concept cars is an indicator of industry optimism and automakers’ desire to stay on the forefront of design and product, said Kevin Hunter, vice president of design and studio operations at Toyota’s Calty Design Research Inc. in Newport Beach, Calif.
“It’s easy to crawl into a shell when the economy takes a downturn, but it’s vital to look to the future.”
New design language
Designers are seeing new languages being spoken by automakers. One is Cadillac.
“The sort of `edge’ look that General Motors has been pushing on their show cars the last two or three years is becoming a signature,” said David McKinnon, vice president of small, premium and family vehicle design at the DaimlerChrysler studio that is developing the Crossfire and Pacifica concepts for production.
That design language has been on Cadillac’s concept vehicles beginning with the Evoq in 1999 to the Vizon to this year’s Cien–and it’s showing up on production Cadillacs, he said.
The Ford F-350 Tonka show car, McKinnon said, “is a sneak peak at the direction they are going to head with their F-Series. It’s very bold. It was hard not to look at it.”
Pontiac’s Solstice show car–a Pontiac without cladding–telegraphed where GM is heading with production vehicles.
“The message I would take away from that is that Pontiac is trying to clean up and simplify their design,” Hunter said.
J Mays, vice president of design for Ford Motor Co. in Dearborn, Mich., says the Avantissimo concept shows where Audi is headed with its next-generation A8.
“It was elegant, sophisticated, very sporty and the interior craftsmanship was exactly what you would expect from Audi.”
The next big thing I
Whether they are called sport-tourers, crossovers or tall wagons, these anti-minivans are seen as “the next big thing.”
Automakers unveiled three of these concepts: the Chrysler Pacifica, Mercedes-Benz Vision GST (for Grand Sport Tourer) and Volkswagen Magellan.
The most significant was the Chrysler Pacifica, according to these designers.
They are not as tall as minivans or as low as station wagons, and they don’t have the high ground clearance of sport-utility vehicles. Yet they share features of all three: all-wheel drive; car-like comfort, ride and handling; six-passenger seating; and third-row seats with seat backs that can be lowered for cargo-carrying versatility.
With its higher beltline, it has a new proportion of the upper to the lower that differs from minivans and sport-utilities, said Tom Peters, vehicle chief designer of the Cadillac XLR at General Motors Tech Center in Warren, Mich. “It’s very handsome, not wacky in its theme. Look at the Cirrus and Stratus, those cars are very handsome, very tailored, but with a lot of spirit and flair. This is a logical progression.”
“This six-seater concept is an alternative to a luxury sedan,” said Peter Horbury. “The side was higher and the windows are more car proportion instead of large like those in a minivan. It’s allowing that type of vehicle to take on a more up-market appeal.”
Pacifica’s 2 plus 2 plus 2 package breaks out of the stigma of minivans, Mays said. “This is sort of a minivan that’s been squashed down, if you will, to accommodate one less person. But it’s still an incredibly practical package.”
Retro endures
Not only did we see the future with “the next big thing,” we also saw “the big things from the past.”
“There was still a little bit of retro,” said Toyota’s Hunter. “Ford had the GT40, which I thought was a beautiful execution, but it looked like a GT40. No surprises. And GM had the Bel Air. The companies are still trying to dig into their treasure chest of icon cars from the past and trying to bring them forward.”
Ford’s race cars that won in the 24 Hours of Le Mans in France in the 1960s provided a starting point for the high-performance GT40 sports car. There is plenty of opportunity to mine the rich heritage cues–the flair and personality–that American car companies have, said GM’s Peters.
But there has to be balance with an eye to the future. “Some of the retro stuff just doesn’t translate well to these modern times.”
Sport-utility vehicles
Though America’s love affair with the truck is hardly over, only a couple registered with these designers.
Ford’s Mays was intrigued by the packaging of the Honda Pilot. “It has room for eight people. Everybody had their own quite comfortable dedicated position to sit.” Because of the proportion–its width and stance–he thought it was good-looking.
DaimlerChrysler’s McKinnon liked the XC90 from Volvo. “It looks like they are looking for something other than where they’ve been before; and it isn’t the squared-off boxy look that they had done on some of their wagons.”
The next big thing II
The Jeep Compass might be “what’s next” in the sporty car category for young people, said Toyota’s Hunter. “I thought the body theme had a little new twist of surface taste–the way that the wheel flares were developed and worked out.”
Hunter says that there is a market and that some company will produce a vehicle like the Compass that combines sporty car styling with a tough, off-road image.
Design is maturing
Several designers said design seems to have matured.
It isn’t quite as desperate as in past years; it’s calmed down, according to Nissan’s Semple.
“People are looking at proportions and what the car will actually do for people more than at how you torture the sheet metal to make it look new.”
“It’s not as brutal as last year,” said Volvo’s Horbury. “There’s not as much automotive weaponry.”
Honest design is a trend GM’s Peters saw, typified by the Dodge M80, a small, affordable truck geared to youth–in Detonator Yellow. “Some people will put on airs and pretend to be what they are not. It becomes obvious pretty quickly. I think it’s the same for vehicles.”
The styling of the M80 is very functional, which keeps it from being trendy, Peters said.
“The fenders are fenders. The grille is a grille. The box is a box. It also has a personality. It seemed to be DeWALT power tools meets LEGO because it had a component feel about it with the gray fenders. It looks tough; it looks right-size, it looks fun.”
Japanese manufacturers are showing more originality instead of copying American or European styling , said Volvo’s Horbury. And Nissan is becoming one of the leaders.
“The Nissan Quest reflects true Japanese design,” Horbury said. “That sort of sharpness. Even at a Japanese restaurant you don’t have a round plate, knife and fork. You get a square box with two sticks.”
Though this year’s show seemed to showcase everything from the past to the future, something was missing, Horbury said. That is the beautiful car.
“Rather than trying to surprise one, rather than trying to change the idea of what a beautiful car is, I’d like to see a few more of what we used to expect from Pininfarina and Bertone in the old days,” he said. “Something that I would call stunningly beautiful to look at.”
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The designers:
David McKinnon, vice president, small, premium and family vehicle design at Chrysler Group based in Auburn Hills, Mich., the studio that is developing the Crossfire and Pacifica concepts for production.
J Mays, vice president of design, Ford Motor Co. in Dearborn, Mich.
Kevin Hunter, vice president of design and studio operations at Toyota’s Calty Design Research Inc. in Newport Beach, Calif.
Peter Horbury, design director of product design, Volvo Car Corp., Goteburg, Sweden
Tom Semple, president of Nissan Design America, San Diego
Tom Peters, vehicle chief designer of Cadillac XLR, General Motors Tech Center in Warren, Mich.
