The world is not all doom and gloom, unlike here in the US.  Aston Martin has just released this image of a new $2 million dollar car called the One-77.  Someone has some money out there, well I guess 77 people do.  So what do you get for $2 mil?  One of 77 cars produced (hence the name), carbon fiber chassis with an aluminum body reducing weight to hit 60mph in just 3.5 seconds and a top  speed around 200mph.

This all comes wrapped in kind of a sleeper package.  Aston Martin’s are beautiful cars but are not jaw dropping super cars like a Lambo or Ferrari.  You don’t here little kids saying they want an Aston.  No sir this is a car for sophisticated taste.  Just not the Rolls Royce kind.  So search those cushions and save up that loose change…

Without amazing styling to show off its huge sticker price, what would you expect out of car worth this much money?

Everyone wants an electric car now, yes we know.  Too bad they all look like poopy (as stated in one of our past post) except for Tesla.  Although working over a Lotus package is bound to set you up for something good.  Now that Franz von Holzhausen will be leading the Design way Tesla has the opportunity to blow right past the competition.  FvH must have had enough of the “man” neutering his designs on the way to production.  For it is a bold move to leave a huge corporation like Mazda with a successful career and go to a start up company.  Obviously he has seen the future with Tesla.  A company without the political stronghold of the big OEM’s.

There is a good chance now that some truly unique and dare I say inspirational vehicle design could come our way.  Start ups always have the benfit of taking risks and not worrying about the majority.  This is what sets them apart from large corporations.

Fueling FvH’s creative juices will be a new design facility and team.  Sadly there are a lot of car designers looking for work these days which gives FvH a large pool to choose from when building his new design team.  This is some very exciting news in the midst of the falling auto industry.  I really hope Tesla gives him freedom to do some truly unique design and jump start the static industry.  Good Luck!

CarDesignNews has an exclusive article on the new move.

Who is tired of hearing their company talk about innovation but not really doing anything to show it.  The word Innovation is being thrown around like the word “Green” and a dead bird in a dogs mouth.  Will the lack of visible innovation discredit all the companies that market this attribute?  What companies out their are showing innovation??? besides Apple.

Bruce Nussbaum from BusinessWeek puts it like this:

“The truth is that the backlash is against the fad of innovation, not the fact of it. The backlash is against CEOs who get up and shroud their companies and their reputations in the rhetoric of innovation while continuing to sell out-of-date, poorly designed products and services. Consumers know this is fake and realize that the talk about innovation is not authentic.”

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Here is this weeks dose of inspiration.  Try out some of these when the Friday meltdown kicks in after lunch.  In honor of a Cobra Rally I will be in this weekend I will start with this.  (No I don’t have a Cobra darnit)

Here is a great loose sketch using mixed medias.  Love the energy in it.

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With all of the Camaro love lately, as well as our article on the evolution of the Batmobile, we thought it fitting to introduce the vehicles of another forthcoming film: Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen.  We know, the title totally sucks.

The great thing about Transformers is that they appeal so well to the kid in all of us (Designers).  The creations themselves are more product than vehicle, relying on their vehicle form to scoot around planet Earth unseen (sorta).  We decided to take a look at this GM-centric vehicle cast of TF2.  Reminder:  These are the KNOWN vehicles, and can be changed without notice by the TF2 production team.  We hear Director Michael Bay is playing his cards awfully close for TF2, possibly putting things in to the public eye to throw the spoilers off the scent.

Which of the vehicles/characters are you most looking forward to?

Autobots

Bumblebee: 2010 Chevy Camaro

While not the VW bug we all grew up to love, Bumblebee was well utilized in the first film.  We expect him to be just as cool in TF2.

Read on for more images

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What kind of car design blog would we be without our own slew of Camaro pics. We didn’t want to be the only ones left out, so we headed over to Royal Oak, MI where there was a rumor that the Camaro would be out for show after the official unveiling at the GM Tech Center. Sure enough there she was with a crowd of people drooling uttering the word, finally. This is one great looking car that America should be proud to show off. There couldn’t be a better time to boost morale with the way things are right now.

On the design side, the car is clean and fairly simple. No tricky flame surfacing here. The interior also has a fresh look to it. Simple lines creating a nice flow of surfaces combined with great details push this interior to the top of all GM cars. There is also great attention paid to the start-up experience. Ambient lighting reacts to the ignition when starting the vehicle. You can check out a demo of it here.

Pricing has not been announced, but if they can keep the entry level around 20 g’s the Mustang will have a lot to worry about. As for the Challenger, this is not the same buyer so there is not much of a comparison. Fat and bloated compared to athletic and taught usually doesn’t win over. We also appreciate a new design with an innovative interior rather than a reskinned, regurgitated design and a poor interior.

As tired as we are of hearing about this new ride it is one of the few bright spots in the industry. It will be fun to see how fast and well this car takes off. Check out all of the pics in the gallery.

Due to the summer being a typically lackluster time of year for new vehicle releases (unless you’re Chevrolet) design studios tend to branch out and, err, TRY a few things.  It is this time of year that we see all manner of products come from these studios, usually as a Design House in collaboration with some other product entity.

We’ve seen LaCie’s Porsche-designed hard drives, watches from Ducati, bobsleds from Lotus, and even foosball tables from Audi.  While this has been a regular part of the design world for decades, we are seeing the current crop become all the more “in our faces” as the automotive market remains in a lull and the studios look to work outside of the auto industry.

Which brings about a great question:  When is it too much?  Or, is it EVER too much?  Should auto industry studios be MORE involved in the rest of the design world, spreading their talents into areas where Design is sorely missed?

Let us know in the comments, and click the link for more images.

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So this weekend I had the privelage to drive a 2004 BMW M3 SMG which my brother had just purchased.  This M3 is pre flame design and some would say the last good looking Beemer.  Styling aside the real hoot with this car is the almost infinite settings to drive it.  Currently we are bombarded with NAV, radio, HVAC,…..settings to customize our driving experience.  But what about actually driving it?

Many cars now have the “automanual, or triptronic” transmissions to allow you to “shift” when you are in the mood.  The shifts are usually slow and better off just leaving it in D mode. Read more

This weeks WOTW (or should we just call it “WOW”?) is Yanko Design. One of the top design sites out there, I’m amazed that we haven’t really posted much about it in the past. Yanko is focused on Designers showcasing their own work. By sending an article, info about your design, or images over to the crew, Yanko posts it or posts about it. The fantastic thing about that is its constant influx of Design-related information: Yanko typically gets information about a product before anyone else.

Think of it as a way for Designers to pimp themselves. Get on Yank = instant notoriety for you or your product.

Great site, great product design focus, and great way to kill an entire Friday afternoon.  Check them out at www.YankoDesign.com