Is Toyota following GM’s footsteps?  How many brands do you want under one company?  It is obvious from what GM is going through that less is more.  Toyota, Lexus, Scion and now Prius.  The first three brands are all very unique brand wise from each other not so much when it comes to the actual cars.  Why have one fuel efficient brand, don’t you want all your brands to be leaders in technology and fuel efficiency?

The worst part of this is that under the Prius brand there would be more…Prius’s.  Not something I am looking forward top seeing on the road.  I am all about supporting the environment but not at the expense of a poorly looking car leaking NIMH all over the road creating a dead zone.

Anyway, in an attempt to go along with the inevitable bad decisions in the auto industry we have come up with some future Prius models to fill out the lineup.  Check them out and see if we are on to something.  Hopefully we are not.

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With the LA Auto Show fast approaching, Design LA has just released the information on the entrees in its annual Design Challenge.  This year, the theme is “Motorsports 2025″.

For those unfamiliar with the Design Challenge:  Each year for the LA Auto Show, Design LA holds a competition inviting studios to submit an automotive concept based on a theme.  The concepts spread the gambit from conservative to wild.

This year’s entrees:

• Audi R25
• BMW Hydrogen Salt Flat Racer
• GM Chaparral Volt
• Honda Great Race 2025
• Mazda Kaan
• Mitsubishi MMR25
• Mercedes-Benz Formula Zero
• Toyota Lemans Racer
• VW Bio Runner

We’ll have all the entrees up this week for your viewing pleasure.

Until then, take a look at last year’s entries.

For more info: http://www.laautoshow.com/DesignChallenge.html

We’ve got to hand it to Renault:  those crazy French owners of Nissan (okay okay… “strategic partnership”) have some of the most eclectic new designs and concepts in the industry.  Always pushing the bill, they often bring out great creations (like the Megane concept).

And so, at the Paris show this year, they are set to debut the Ondelios concept.  The vehicle, while not extremely attractive, is also not extremely unattractive.  Therein lies the Design merit: the vehicle as a concept contains several interesting features and resolutions, while wrapped in an awkward egg-shaped body.

Quick hit review after the break. (In other words, read on for more pretty pictures.)

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We have heard about a “minivan” running around Europe but who would have thought it would look this good.  At first glance this has real potential.  A little bit of HHR/ Groove/ Traverse all mixed together.  At least they mixed ingredients from the same brand.  I think GM is really on track for this thing we call brand identity.  I am starting to see it.

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We like the future.  We like cars.  This usually makes it a natural decision for us to watch TV programs about cars of the future (unless you include that semi-decent “FutureCars” program that Discovery ran last year, which was a big fat “meh” on the excite-o-meter).

Well, Discovery takes us Back to the Future (sorry, REALLY bad pun!) and revisits what cars of the future could be.  Instead of sitting and preaching about all things green, sustainable, etc that we tend to find with other articles or programs about the future of the industry, NextWorld: Future Cars does a great job of focusing on the design possibilities of what our vehicles of the future will be like.

We highly recommend the viewing to any Designer, and look forward to Future Flight and Future Ships coming down the line.

EPISODE: FUTURE CARS
Get in the driver seat of the fastest, smartest and most high-performance cars of tomorrow. See the supercars that will reach speeds unimaginable with today’s technology. They will operate on voice command and drive without a drop of gas.

Repeat airing on Sunday, 07 Sept at 9AM (check your local listings).

Click here for the NextWorld website.

Continuing Mazda’s “Nagare” (Wind) design language, the company is set to debut their first passenger car with the theme in mind, named “Kiyora”.

From the sketches (see below) it’s apparent that the design language is evolving into a more plausible, production-oriented aesthetic.  That’s not a bad thing.  Rather, it shows that the Mazda aesthetic is adapting and becoming more realistic, and in the end closer to debuting on some production cars.  The front end, especially, has that certain “CX-9″ look to it.

The sketches have that “Photoshop filter” appearance to them: clean yet dramatic sketches, high contrast, with a filter-y background.  The proportions are nice in the sketch, and although the lines tend to flow a tad bit too much without too much reason behind them, they still manage to make this a sexy city car.

Although toned down from previous Mazda Nagare designs, the Kiyora still manages to fit in with its siblings.

Follow the link for more images of the Kiyora

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Andrea Pininfarina, famed designer of some of the greatest Ferraris the world has ever known, a leader amongst Italian Design, and an heir to several generations of car designers, died in an accident early Thursday.  We at CDF share our deepest sympathies and prayers along with the rest of the Design and Automotive world.

Pininfarina was responsible for some of the most iconic designs in Automotive history.  Follow the link below to take a look at Jalopnik’s list of some of their favorites.

Andrea Pininfarina, you will be deeply missed.

Click here for Jalopnik article

Hot sketches?  Check.  Giant wheels?  Check.  Aggressive styling?  Check.  Production vehicle?  Check..?  Yes, CHECK.

Local Motors has released information on their first build, the “Rally Fighter” by recent winner Sangho Kim.  The concept was born of true open-source thinking via LM’s Design Process community section of their website: Designer creates concept, community critiques concept, designer refines concept, community critiques again, and so on.  To designers, the process is reminiscient of every college design course (and every succesful design studio) we had, with weekly critiques of our designs in efforts to make it better.  (We’ll have more on the Design process in a future article).  Kim’s concept was one of the first to utilize the Design Process, and did so effectively, evolving over the summer into the vehicle that you see in the images below.

The vehicle, although it will have to slightly morph to fit today’s safety and manufacturing standards, is a take on the stylish not-so-off-road genre that BMW, Audi, and even Hyundai are starting to take a look into seriously.  Dubbed a “larger lighter-weight” car that is fuel-efficient, the Rally Fighter had it’s roots as a BMW-inspired concept, picking up the look of the X6 and eventually evolving the proportion and form language to become more unique.  While not as outlandhish as many concepts we see come out of other design competitions (and other start-ups) the Rally Fighter has a clean, modern aesthetic that will aim to help define the Local Motors brand language.

If the final vehicle retains much of the “sketch on wheels” appeal of Kim’s concept, then the Rally Fighter will be a winner.  With the help of LM team members such as Ben Messmer (Lead Designer at Local Motors) and their engineering staff and community, the project looks promising, and will be a nice way for the design communityto showcase itself in the increasingly open-source world that we live in.  Congratulations to Sangho Kim, who’s having one heck of a summer!

Official press release (and a few more images) after the break.
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Not really. Mopar Enthusiast magazine did some fan service to its readers and mocked up a conceptual 2010 Plymouth Roadrunner concept. While probably-maybe-definitely not going to happen, it raised some great questions about what to do with the Challenger platform next, as soon as the Camaro and the next Stang hit the pavement.

Sketches looked great, and there are some nice design elements, but that rear end has to go (too boxy for our tastes).  The article explains that they took their inspiration from the early 70’s model years.  My dad would be proud.

Take a look at the latest issue of Mopar Enthusiast, and check out images at ChargerForumz.com

Yes, that teaser header is from yet another HOT Mazda concept. This one, the Kazamai, is set to debut at the Moscow Motor Show in just a short while. However, Mazda graced the intrawebz with its presence a few days early, showing off some sexy images.

First and foremost from a design standpoint, Mazda is doing some incredibly exciting things with their concepts. The “wind” theme direction hasn’t gotten old, only BETTER.  The Kazamai excels on all aspects of the form vocabulary: bending, shaping winds criss-cross each other playfully, while at the same time redefining and resculpting the vehicle’s surfaces as they move across.

The vehicle proportions, although a little snouty, have a fresh, muscular look.  This car looks as if it will fly past you on the highway, guaranteed.  And you will be caught staring (also guaranteed).  The vehicle design is pure emotion AND motion.

While only a concept, Mazda is getting closer and closer to reality with their theme.  And although the Kazamai looks like it will speed past anything on the road, the next gen of Mazdas can’t come fast enough.

Click the link to see more images.

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