xcel
02-22-2009, 02:23 AM
http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/2/European_Union_Flag.jpg Like the Phantom Corsair, future cars may have exiguous daylight-openings, leaving designers free to do dramatic things with the body sculpture. (guardian.co.uk/culture/2009/feb/22/automotive-industry-cars)
http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/501/1938_Phantom_Corsair.jpgStephen Bayley – Guardian (guardian.co.uk) – Feb. 22, 2009
1938 Phantom Corsair
I doubt we will be driving anything like that at any time in the near future ;) -- Ed.
The great age of car design has been and gone. Past peaks included the fabulous vulgarity of innocent Americana; the gorgeous craft of Italian artisans who made metal sing; or that inventive, improvisatory genius that produced the simple-but-desirable Citroën 2CV and the Mini...
It says the electric car. And, aesthetically, the electric car says you have to suffer. To drive the equivalent of a hair shirt. First generation hybrid-electrics from Toyota and Honda were wilfully ugly, a testament of penance. The second-generation Prius from Toyota achieved a sort of idiosyncratic charm, so much so that its successor introduced at the Detroit car show in January imitates it. And so too does the forthcoming Honda Insight. Of the all-electric G-Wiz, little that is positive can be said...
Just maybe. I asked that question of Renault's design chief, Patrick Le Quément. And he showed me a photograph of the 1938 Phantom Corsair, a fabulous one-off by Bohman and Schwartz for Rust Heinz, heir to the beans and ketchup fortune.
According to Le Quément, the first thing that will go in new generation car design is glass. A car's windows are heavy and they cause thermal gain: so big glass means you hump around unnecessary weight and need to run the energy-sucking air-conditioning...
... In the future, you won't have to plug in and charge your electric car, you'll swing by a service station and swap the battery pack in less time than it takes to pump 50 smelly liters of diesel… http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/2009/feb/22/automotive-industry-cars
http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/501/1938_Phantom_Corsair.jpgStephen Bayley – Guardian (guardian.co.uk) – Feb. 22, 2009
1938 Phantom Corsair
I doubt we will be driving anything like that at any time in the near future ;) -- Ed.
The great age of car design has been and gone. Past peaks included the fabulous vulgarity of innocent Americana; the gorgeous craft of Italian artisans who made metal sing; or that inventive, improvisatory genius that produced the simple-but-desirable Citroën 2CV and the Mini...
It says the electric car. And, aesthetically, the electric car says you have to suffer. To drive the equivalent of a hair shirt. First generation hybrid-electrics from Toyota and Honda were wilfully ugly, a testament of penance. The second-generation Prius from Toyota achieved a sort of idiosyncratic charm, so much so that its successor introduced at the Detroit car show in January imitates it. And so too does the forthcoming Honda Insight. Of the all-electric G-Wiz, little that is positive can be said...
Just maybe. I asked that question of Renault's design chief, Patrick Le Quément. And he showed me a photograph of the 1938 Phantom Corsair, a fabulous one-off by Bohman and Schwartz for Rust Heinz, heir to the beans and ketchup fortune.
According to Le Quément, the first thing that will go in new generation car design is glass. A car's windows are heavy and they cause thermal gain: so big glass means you hump around unnecessary weight and need to run the energy-sucking air-conditioning...
... In the future, you won't have to plug in and charge your electric car, you'll swing by a service station and swap the battery pack in less time than it takes to pump 50 smelly liters of diesel… http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/2009/feb/22/automotive-industry-cars