The Cayenne, Porsche’s first SUV, is still in its third generation since being launched in 2017. During the past 5 years, there have been improvements in areas related to the powertrain, chassis, design, equipment and connectivity. This is usual for any carmaker as feedback from real-world usage by owners is received at the factory and measures are taken to address issues, while also improving the product in overall terms.
Occasionally, there are numerous improvements made with many new technologies and it is necessary not just to calibrate or tune many systems but also test them for durability and reliability. Prototypes are now undergoing rigorous testing – called ‘complete vehicle testing’ at Porsche – to ensure the operational stability and functionality of all components and systems as they interact – in situations that the customer experiences and far beyond.
Over the years, the Volkswagen Beetle represented many different things to many different people. It was a classic example of German ingenuity, a symbol of the counterculture movement, and a reminder that the simplest of things can sometimes be the best. It was truly a car for the people, compact, economical, reliable and durable.
The Beetle was a boom car for affordable transportation in Europe and elsewhere and, by 1952, it was sold in 46 countries. Eventually, it would be built in 14 countries, including Malaysia, and more than 21.5 million were sold before the final, modern-generation Beetle left the line at the factory in Mexico in 2019.
The original Beetle retained its form for many decades, becoming a familiar shape on roads all over the world. Its attributes which kept it in demand were not easily replicated and so it continued n production even after the Golf arrived as a successor in 1974.
Although it may seem that Volkswagen did not consider redesigning the original car, starting in the early 1950s, it had design proposals from time to time. There were more than 70 potential replacements, but none seemed able to match what the Volkswagen represented. Here are some of the proposals that never made it to production.
When people think of Mazda’s MX range, the MX-5 Miata would come to mind. Or, those who keep up with auto news will know that the company now sells a model known as the MX-30 which is the brand’s first mass-produced fully electric car.
However, long before the MX-5 – which became the bestselling 2-seat convertible sportscar of all time – there was another Mazda which had the ‘MX’ designation. This was the MX-81 Aria, a concept car displayed at the 1981 Tokyo Motor Show. Designed by Marc Dechamps for coachbuilder Bertone, it was the first Mazda MX and now, 40 years after its unveiling, Mazda Italy has carried out a restoration of the small wedge-shaped coupe.
To create the MX-81 Aria, Bertone used running gear from the 323, which was the first generation with front-wheel drive. On this platform was placed the futuristic hatchback form. With its gold paint, huge glasshouse and pop-up lights, it stood out at the motorshow.
The concept car had futuristic features, some of which would find their way into production models in later years. Back then, the features gave the cabin a radical look with the recessed square steering wheel, TV screen and side swinging front seats. Exterior ideas like high-mounted tail lights and pop-up headlamps were adopted in Mazda models too.
Discovery in a warehouse
While many prototypes and concept cars have been destroyed (or ‘lost’) after finishing their round of displays, the MX-81 was kept in a warehouse at Mazda’s headquarters in Hiroshima. In 2019, Nobuhiro Yamamoto – the former 4th generation MX-5 programme manager and rotary engine developer – found the concept car and proposed the idea restoring it.
It was supported by the company and shipped to Mazda Italy, where it has been painstakingly restored by SuperStile in Turin. Fittingly, the completion of the restoration was celebrated by the recreation of the original press images of the MX-81 in front of Milan Cathedral.
Mazda’s connection to Italian designers
However, the connection between Mazda and Italian design celebrated by the restoration of the MX-81 actually started even before the MX-81 was displayed. 20 years earlier, in 1960, a young automotive writer by the name of Hideyuki Miyakawa travelled to Italy and the Turin Motor Show where he met Giorgetto Giugiaro, then Head of Design at Bertone. He also met his future wife, Marisa Bassano – a Japanese-Italian translator with a passion for cars. During Marisa’s study trip to Hiroshima in 1961, Miyakawa met then-chairman of Mazda, Tsuneji Matsuda, and the pair discussed the importance of design in the Japanese car industry.
Back in Turin, Hideyuki and Marisa began working as intermediaries between the legendary Italian design studios of Bertone, Ghia and Pininfarina and Japanese car manufacturers. The collaboration between Mazda and Bertone they helped to facilitate led to Giugiaro designing the Mazda Familia and Luce models of the 1960s, plus the R130 Luce Coupe of 1969. The relationship with Bertone continued even after Giugiaro left to work for Ghia, and the restoration of the MX-81 Aria is a celebration of that partnership.
The MX line begins
However, the Mazda MX-81 was only the beginning of the story of the MX badge, which has actually been used more than a dozen times across a broad spread of production, concept and racing Mazdas. After the MX-81 was the MX-02 concept car of 1983. This was a larger 5-door hatchback design with large windows, aerodynamic rear wheel covers and flared-in door mirrors. Unique features included rear wheel steering and a Head-Up display projected on the windscreen.
The one-off theme continued with the 1985 MX-03, another radical looking car. This sportscar concept was proposed with an exciting powertrain – a triple rotor 315 ps engine. The low-slung was very futuristic, with a cabin that featured an aircraft style yoke rather than a steering wheel, plus digital displays and a Head-Up Display. It showed off a lot of advanced technology like 4-wheel steering and all-wheel drive, while the long low body had wind resistance of just 0.25 Cd.
While the MX-02 and MX-03 shared some of the same futuristic design cues, the MX-04 was completely different. Displayed the 1987 Tokyo Motor Show, the MX-04 was a front-engine rear-wheel drive sportscar that had removable fibreglass panels. These allowed the car to switch from a glass dome-roofed coupe to a beach buggy style open-sided roadster. Powered by a rotary engine this ‘shape-shifting’ sportscar was never considered for production.
But little did outsiders know that Mazda was already developing the MX-5, which would come 2 years later. Other production models to have ‘MX’ were the MX-3 and MX-6 production coupes.
MX in racing
In the 1990s, arguably the most radical car to have the MX badge was the Mazda MXR-01. After the rotary-powered Mazda 787B took victory in the 1991 Le Mans 24 Hours, the FIA promptly banned rotary-powered cars, leaving Mazda looking for a new car for the 1992 World Sportscar Championship at very short notice. A solution arrived in the shape of the MXR-01 prototype racing car.
Based on the previous season’s Jaguar XJR-14, the British firm’s withdrawal from sportscar racing, allowed Mazda to adapt this radical Ross Brawn-designed prototype and fit a Mazda-badged V10 Judd engine. Famed for its incredible grip and downforce, just 5 examples were built. But sadly, the collapse of the World Sportscar Championship at the end of 1992 spelt the end of Mazda’s world motorsport programme and denied the MXR-01 the chance of success.
Into the 21st century, the MX badge has still appeared on concept cars – the 2001 MX-Sport Tourer/MPV; 2002 MX-Sport Runabout; 2003 MX-Sportif; and 2004 MX-Flexa. The MX concept car that really started Mazda on the road to another success story was the 2005 MX-Crossport. Inspired by the RX-8 sportscar, this was a sporty looking SUV concept with sculpted wheel arches, slender headlamps and bold shoulder lines. It would be the basis for the model that that became the CX-7, which established a lineage of SUVs that lead to today’s CX-5, CX-30 and MX-30.
To know more about Mazda models available in Malaysia, visit www.mazda.com.my.
Concept cars, studies and prototypes always excite the public as they are often futuristic and contain advanced technologies that may one day be available. However, many such vehicles are kept behind closed doors, and sometimes even when they are no longer of use, they are not revealed.
Over the decades, Porsche has obviously developed many prototypes to study new concepts for its future sportscars. These have typically been secret although some have been shown to the public. Now, for the first time, the carmaker is showing some of its secret design studies from 2005 to 2019. Besides revealing these models, Porsche also provides an insight into the design process – from the first drawing to the finished production model, if it got that far.
“The timeless and innovative design of our sportscars inspires people all over the world,” said Oliver Blume, CEO of Porsche AG. “Visionary concept studies form the basis for this success: they are the pool of ideas for the Porsche design of tomorrow and combine our strong tradition with pioneering future technologies.”
The design process
The design process begins with a sketch, followed by a 3D model. As soon as an idea is to be further developed, small models on a scale of 1: 3 and finally solid models on a scale of 1: 1 follow.
“The virtual world is the first step, but it is precisely the unexpected models that you have to experience in reality in order to understand how small, big or surprisingly proportioned a car is,” explained Michael Mauer, Head of Style Porsche.
In contrast to the development of a production model, in which several models with different styling themes are developed, some projects only have one vision model initially created as the protagonist of the central idea.
“Porsche intentionally has just a single design studio – located in the direct proximity of development,” said Mauer. “Weissach is our epicentre. Instead of opening advanced design studios in the distant metropolises of North America and Asia, our designers come from all over the world to Porsche in Weissach in order to create the latest production sportscars and automotive visions at the heart of the brand.
“More than 120 designers, experts for interior, exterior, colours and materials, model builders, modellers and study engineers work in the Porsche Design Studio,” he revealed.
The design studies
“When it comes to the visions we develop, it is not about bringing every car onto the road. Instead, it is more a question of establishing creative space and a relationship with the future,” said Mauer when describing the design process. “There are two possibilities for continuing to develop as a brand: either you improve your products from the present, that is to say step-by-step. However, it is difficult to be really innovative in this process. Or you give free rein to your creativity. The idea is to let your thoughts jump to the day after tomorrow, and to then move back from there to tomorrow.”
Based on this idea, Porsche develops the product and brand identity which characterises and secures the appearance of all models in the long term. The design language for future models develops from the long-term vision.
In this process, the higher-level goal is to combine the Porsche design DNA with state-of-the-art vehicle engineering. On the one hand, this secures the innovative capability of future Porsche models and, on the other, also provides an evolutionary reference to the rich history of Porsche.
Visit Porsche Malaysia to know more about the models available that you can buy
Carmakers must be very optimistic about continuing their business in the distant future, with Porsche having designed a starship in collaboration with LucasFilms. Now, Lexus has revealed a vehicle for use on the moon, joining an elite group of design industry luminaries selected to contribute a suite of design concept drawings to Document Journal’s prestigious portfolio.
For Document Journal‘s issue No. 15, the art & fashion magazine invited a selection of the culture’s most compelling architects and designers to imagine human life on the moon for The Lunar Design Portfolio. How shall we live? What will it look like? What will we wear? What will we drive?
ED2, the European Advanced Design Studio for Toyota and Lexus dedicated to advanced concept proposals and groundbreaking design, was selected to contribute a lunar mobility concept. Drawing on the just-released LF-30 Future Concept vehicle, the studio created a series of 7 concepts from 5 different designers, all ready to tackle the lunar landscape.
”When Document Journal approached us about the Lunar Design Portfolio, our team was working on the LF-30 Concept, which represents the ‘Lexus Electrified’ futuristic vision for the brand. The design team was already looking beyond near-term production and ahead to how advanced technology will change the way we interact with vehicles,” said Ian Cartabiano, President of ED2.
“The lunar project came at the right time, halfway through the LF-30 development. It gave the team a chance to dream further out, and then apply some of the design language from the LF-30 interior to their lunar proposals,” he added.
Zero Gravity, the concept sketch selected to appear in the print issue of the magazine, is a single rider vehicle that evolves the LF-30’s ‘Lexus Electrified’ vision to incorporate Magnetic Levitation technology. The design reinterprets the signature Lexus spindle grille and uses the motorcycle-style of driving to employ the new concept of Tazuna (which mean ‘reins’ in Japanese): the fundamental human-centered philosophy. Inspired by how a single rein can be used to achieve mutual understanding between horse and rider, the steering control provides active driving enjoyment created by the direct communication between human and machine.
The other proposals are the Lunar Cruiser, a multipurpose vehicle that can provide a smooth ride over rough lunar terrain and the Cosmos, which has a lot of glass for a panoramic view. The Moon Roller is a rotating vehicle while the Moon Racer could be the future Lexus LX for exploring the moon. The Lunar Mission is a transport vehicle to take earthlings to the moon.
Visit www.lexus.com.my to know more about Lexus models you can buy in Malaysia today.
Having a mid-engine layout was always part of Corvette’s destiny.
The all-new 2020 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray unveiled recently is the culmination of 60 years of mid-engine experimentation. While the eighth generation of the iconic sportscar marks a radical leap forward in terms of capability from the seventh generation, it also incorporates lessons learned from past engineering exercises such as the Chevrolet Experimental Research Vehicles (CERVs) I-III, the Aerovette and others.
Zora Arkus-Duntov, considered the ‘father of the Corvette’, first encountered early mid-engine vehicles in his youth, including the Auto Union Types C and D Grand Prix racing vehicles. Duntov had a wealth of propulsion knowledge and thrived as an auto racer and engineering consultant in automotive and aeronautics. He was attracted to GM by the original Corvette concept, which he saw at the 1953 Motorama in New York City.
Pursuit of mid-engine from the start
Duntov started working at GM in May 1953 and helped Chevrolet chief engineer Ed Cole turn his proposed Small Block V8 into a viable technology for Corvette later that decade. He became Corvette’s first true chief engineer and pursued the mid-engine layout through various concepts, including the CERV I, which debuted in 1960.
CERV I was outfitted with seven different engine combinations in its working lifespan, but its original engine, a Chevrolet Small Block V8, and its lightweight aluminium core are both modernized on the latest Corvette Stingray. Duntov described it as ‘a design without limit’ and an ‘admirable tool’ to instruct Chevy on ‘what to put in Corvette’.
In 1964, Duntov’s team debuted CERV II, which was envisioned as a challenger at Sebring, Le Mans and other races. With torque converters in the front and rear, CERV II employed the first-ever mid-engine 4WD system, for which Duntov held the patent.
The most recent attempt at a mid-engine vehicle was the 1990 CERV III concept, built in conjunction with Lotus Engineering to explore future levels of performance. CERV III, more of a road car than a track performer, was intended as a development vehicle to evaluate mid-engine structures. CERV III was powered by a 5.7-litre, 32-valve dual overhead cam Small Block V8 with twin turbochargers. It produced 650 bhp and 888 Nm of torque.
Drawbacks of a mid-engine layout
Duntov, who retired from GM in 1975, saw the mid-engine layout with the engine located ahead of the rear axle as the optimal configuration for weight distribution, excellent handling and forward visibility. Despite the layout’s innate performance benefits, its implementation in the scheme of mass manufacturing proved problematic.
The previous mid-engine Corvettes were relegated to concept status by issues including engine cooling difficulties, limited passenger and luggage space, loudness and the inability to produce a convertible variant.
Advances in development, aided by computer-assisted engineering and virtual reality, helped the current Corvette team carefully plot out the 2020 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray’s architecture. The engineers worked closely with designers to ensure that the vehicle’s form met all of the necessary performance benchmarks, while preserving the Corvette legacy. Having a mid-engine layout was always part of Corvette’s destiny.