Is this the 2010 Tesla Model S?  We can only hope!  Road and Track has the scoop on the Model S, which is set to debut at the next Geneva show.

The vehicle will be an all-electric four-door luxury car, with a base price of $60k, a range of 240 miles on a charge, and pleanty of muscle on the road.  And, if this pic turns out legit, it will be one heckuva eye-catcher.

[Image courtesy Road & Track]

We know: the Volt is a polarizing vehicle design.  Either you long for the days of the electric muscle car concept, or you realize that the actual vehicle looks the way it does because of the technology and aerodynamics.

The head of the Volt design studio, Bob Boniface, had a chance to voice his opinion on the design.  Speaking to the Plain Dealer (out of Cleveland, plaindealer.com) Boniface mentioned how proud he was of the vehicle.

It doesn’t look like a pony car any more. There were probably a small number of people expecting the electric Camaro.

Concept cars are relatively easy to do because you’re designing without constraints.

I’m more proud of this car than I am of the concept car… To make the car still good looking after putting on all of these restricting criteria was tough, and I think we delivered on it.

Exterior designer Gary Ruiz also spoke about the design, mentioning that there were certain obstacles that the concept vehicle didn’t even come close to adressing, such as the shorter hood and the aerodynamic (commonly referred to by those nitpickers as “Prius-like”) body style.

We know each person will have their own ideas about what they do/don’t like about the car, we know we did.  The vehicle, although not the speedster that the concept made it out to be, is still nicely designed and contains a flair that separates it from the Prius.

We always drew cars thinking one day that carbon fiber would be a viable source of SOME part of a vehicle’s development.  In modern times we have been constrained to specialty vehicles, concepts, aftermarket parts, or under the hood as a way to provide a lightweight alternative to metal.

Well, along comes Toray Industries of Japan to make our dreams soon come true.  They have developed a carbon fiber manufacturing process to considerably reduce the time for carbon fiber molding of vehicle platforms from 160 minutes to 10 minutes.  While this reduction is incredible, it is still not enough to compete with sheet metal parts, which take just minutes to be manufactured and cost much less.  Much, much less.  Much.  Less.

Toray is optimistic that their process, still in development, will lead to even more reduced manufacturing times and comparable cost, which could come as soon as 4-5 years from now.

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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The Talon Performance Street Quad.  There, I said it.  The name is almost as ugly as the vehicle.  In fact, I may have died a little inside staring at the images of this… this THING.

However, I can’t help but smile at the look of this beast.  I’d love to see the awkward glances from passers-by as I park this beauty in front of my local WalMart, all shined and glazed over… like my eyes.

Folks, this design is baaaad.  There are just WAY too many things going on here, like pieces from different jigsaw puzzles (nature scene + Cannoball Run movie poster).  With that said, there are the tiniest bits of cool things inside, from the interesting grille theme that somewhat carries around to the side, to the Pixar Cars’ Lightning McQueen color scheme.  This vehicle COULD be cool, if it was toned down considerably and focused on just a few design elements.  I applaud the folks at Talon for trying something new, though.  Let’s hope that if there is any money left over after this thing’s creation, they create a sequel with less of a Cloverfield look.

But for some reason, we still love it… Like the chocolate-scented felt-tip markers we loved as kids.

More images after the break of this… thing.

[Images Courtesy Talon Performance]

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Frank Stephenson has power.  How much power?  Chew on this:  Since being named the new head of the McLaren auto design world, Stephenson’s first task will be to completely redesign the McLaren P11 super-duper car, which only had a few short months left to be displayed to the public since debuting in sketch format last year.

Stephenson will use his super-human bond villain resources to completely redesign the vehicle’s skin and still have it available early-to-mid 2010.

We’ll stand back while the sharks with frickin’ laser beams go to work on the reskin.

Pictured: Last Year’s Theme Sketch

The Woodward Dream Cruise brings out lots of cool car and great parties.  This year I got the chance to drive a new “09 Dodge Ram RT.  From a distance the new Ram doesn’t look crazy new, but is more of an evolutionary design.  This is fine since the Ram has the most character of all the full sizers out there.  No need to ruin that.  Major points of interest come from the leaning , “Raming” stance and the crisp lines which make the truck look as if it has been working out during the “off-season.”  I didn’t have a camera handy so here are some pics pulled from around the web.

The exterior is a nice improvement but the big jump is on the inside.  The all new interior design is the best in all of Chrysler’s lineup.  Read more

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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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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