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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BAM! The pics of the 2010 production RS Camaro reveal were picked up early by our friends at CarTribe, and are about to break the internet.

We’ve seen the concept at the NAIAS, and the mules on the road.  Now, we get to see this beauty all fluffed up and purrrrty!  Strictly focusing on the styling, this car is excellently designed.  From the aggressive retro design, to the tight lines, to the graceful tapering of forms, this design is memorable and instantly iconic.  The individual groups of dual tail lamps are done well, although it would have been nice to space them apart a little more.  The front end follows the trend of modern muscle cars to have the wide horizontal break-up with inset head lamps.

The only real issue I see here is thecrazy section of the side where the surfaces door, windows, and body all come together in an awkward corner.  It creates a slightly forced cut line there.

The interior is all Camaro, placing (sometimes needless) gauges everywhere.  The dual guages in the IP are a nice design touch.  The seats are exciting and fresh.

Overall, I have a hard time disliking this vehicle.  This is the peak of modern muscle car design, and will remain a great design for years after.

Full pics after the break.

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No, this is not the Aquada water car. This is the Luso Motors LM23.
Luso, not generally known for exciting new concepts, released the first images of their LM23 roadster to the public recently.  Our first thoughts were “this car is Product Design, not Automotive Design,” but after a second examination we had a different opinion.

First and foremost, the vehicle images are still just glossy renderings, not actual prototypes.  This instantly takes away credibility from a new product launch — so much more to a vehicle’s appearance relies on the build, as things can change drastically from data to sheet metal.

The vehicle is a giant graphic, thanks to the horizontal color separation from color to black along the sides.  The details are interesting, as the twin exhaust pipes are up high.  The slits along the back behind the seats are an interesting feature, but overall are used to just break up the space.  There is a lot of geometric form language on the vehicle, with no real elements to tie it all together.

Overall, this vehicle has an aesthetic rating of: “meh”.   It’s a departure from traditional vehicle designs, but not in the “OMG I WANNA BUY IT” kind of way.  Nice little details could be carried over into other LM vehicles.

Click the link for more photos renders.  All images courtesy Luso Motors.

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For a Mercedes, this is a pretty sweet looking car that speaks more to the “I am an enthusiast crowd” rather than the “old and crusty crowd.”  Now is it still good looking with a price of $300 g’s?  As Borat would say, Not so much.  If I am spending that much money, I want a car that is unforgettable on the road, aka Lambo and Ferrari.

I always appreciate a wide body kit and this one looks decent.  The rear could be sculpted into the body side better.  The combination of crisp intersection into soft gooey light catcher is a little rough.  I would like to see the rear view showing the hard top roof and wing.

With only 200 coming to the states you will probably never see one, but kudos for Mercedes to come out with such a car and actually sell it.

For more info check out this article via Autoweek after the jump.
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The Big 4: General Motors, Chrysler, Ford, and… everyone else?  Over the last 10 years there has been an incredible amount of new American car companies being born, each taking aim at capitalizing on the niche growing market of alternative fuel vehicles.  Although they currently cannot compare to the sheer size and sales of the OEMs, they respectfully comprise their own market and combined can be considered a 4th entry into the league of American car companies.  They are the ‘Wii” to the Big 3’s XBox 360 & PS3: filling a demand that the consumer did not know they needed.  It mimics the booms of the 20s, 30s, and 40s.

With this boom also comes the growing pains of finding the right design aesthetic to help define this new market.  Does it remain traditional?  Do all vehicles need to be either micro-cars or roadsters?  Swoopy shapes or edgy?  Futuristic or modern?

This is where you come in.  In the comments, let us know what you think about the aesthetic design direction for these new vehicles. We’ll incorporate the comments into a future podcast.

Looking for inspiration on what to comment on?  After the jump we’ve posted images of vehicles from several US-based companies.

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Tesla may have some competition in the emerging alterna-fuel roadster/supercar category of vehicles.  Ronn Motors, of Austin “Yeehaw” Texas, has crafted their entry into the emerging category.  The Scorpion incorporates a “hydrogen-on-demand” system (provided by HydroRunner) incorporated into an Acura 3.5L V-6 Types S Engine (the same from the 2008 TL TypeS).  The system allows for the injection of hydrogen into the car’s air/fossil fuel mixture, allowing for less usage of sweet, sweet crude.  Ronn claims this gives it about 40 MPG.  The Sorpion’s power ranges from 289 HP to over 450 HP, depending on options.

The vehicles basics include Recaro seating, which seems to be the fall back option for all high-speed vehicles, HID Xenon lights, 20″ rims, and for the Miami Vice afficionado: neon lighting in the interior and engine bay.

The Scorpion’s design focuses on sexy forms, soft curves, and minimal cut lines.  It looks slippery and slick, as if a melting bar of soap had been skidded across the surface of a pool… but not in a bad way.  It’s definitely sexy, in that Carmen Electra kind of way.  Key design elements are mostly graphic, as the headlamps and taillamps look like the snappy curves of some Web 2.0 logo.  The version you see above includes a nice two-tone color combo, minimizing the goldish color to frame the vehicle’s perimeter.  The GINORMOUS intake on the side is one of the first things you’ll notice about the car, and probably make this the first vehicle to swallow puppies and small children on a regular basis.

We like it.  Simple, sexy, and American (mostly).  We also like the fact that Ronn is pushing to have the vehicle available by the end of 2008.  Get in line now, only 200 of these carbon fiber beauties will be built at first run.

Click here to go to RonnMotors

More sexy rendered images after the break.

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Korean automotive companies aren’t necessarily known for their design prowess (yet).  That could all change with the introduction of the Kia Forte.

Your first impression will probably sound like this: “Hey, isn’t that a Honda/Subaru front end with a Mazda/Nissan/other OEM name body?”  Yeah, it probably is.  But, Kia has managed to do it very well, culminating in a product that can change the consumer’s mind about the little company.

Since we initially only have exterior images to look at, we’ll crit this.

Read on for the full crit/examination of the car…

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This week, Alfa took the wraps off of its highly-anticipated production car, the Me Too MiTo.  How does this little baby stack up to competition from Mini and the Fiat 500?

First and foremost, the vehicle  won’t be overly powerful.  While a 6-speed manual will be a fun necessity that the vehicle brings, it will only come at 78-, 120-, and 155-hp variety of engines.  Hey, it’s a small car… not a racer.

How do the aesthetics hold up?  Read on for the full crit…

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Recently, we at CDf  have been making the rounds at various art & design schools for their annual shows, often fondly remembering the days when we “used to design cool cars”.  We’ve been ogling vehicle designs, sketches, models… secretly critiquing, and always wondering if the student concepts could foretell the future design direction of some giant automotive OEM.

While not a said gaint OEM, Local Motors has emerged as a way for students, designers, and enthusiasts to create compelling vehicle designs that may one day actually make it to market as an LM product.  Utlizing a crowd-sourcing concept, LM has created a community (heavily designer-centered… yay!) where individuals submit work to their pre-defined competitions (such as the recently completed California Off Road Machine).  The winning design receives a monetary award, with the possibility to sell the concept to LM for an additional sum.  We will do a full deep-dive of Local Motors very soon.

To find out how you can enter the latest competition, and to see entries from the previous competiton, read on!

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We sure fetish some hot sketches, so here are some new ones of the V-Dub Scirocco. It is bad enough that we are not getting it here in the states, they don’t have to tease us with more images of it. There are some rumors running around that the new North American manufacturing plant may have room to build the Scirocco. So there is a chance…..

These are some great old school sketches. No digital color here, just good old markers and pastels. When is the last time you used those?

Enjoy the sketches after the jump… Read more