Inside job

Alfa Romeo. The name tends to illicit one of two responses; either unreliable, temperamental cars prone to latin histrionics, or soulful dynamic antidotes to Germanic predictability. As an impartial Alfa owner (3rd and counting..) i’m loving the latest photos of their latest C-segment offering, the Giulietta. It’s worth remembering that this is up against the VW Golf…an impressive and well-built car, but one which has no distinguishing design flourishes and certainly appeals to a more rational consumer.

You can read the specs elsewhere but revel in these details…

Beautiful headlamp detailing..with signature LED stack..just don’t ask what a replacement costs;

Clearly Alfa intends to milk the 8C’s influence-why not, it’s a beautiful car.

Flamboyant rear LEDs…

Not sure about the square sat-nav growth but the rest looks stunning. The single body-coloured strip running across the IP is a first for Alfa;

The console shots below highlight the emotional vs rational contrast between Alfa and VW. The VW has a very consistent ’solid’ theme, with minimal colour breaks, chunky gearshift and a calm, flowing feel. Very straightforward, nothing unexpected. The Giulietta, by contrast, looks highly technical, almost machined.. with metallic touch points and an emotive, retro gearstick. Whether you like it or not, it’s hard to deny that it looks like it’s from a more expensive car.

If Alfa can make this car drive as good as it looks they’re on to a winner.

Flotsam

MINI recently showed the world their latest concept, the Beachcomber. Previewing the forthcoming Countryman (ever get the feeling they’re running out of names..!) this compact SUV activity vehicle pushes the MINI brand into new markets.

Gert Hildebrand, MINI’s chief-designer sites ‘dog-ownership’ and Japanese garage standard door-height as being key package-definers for this car; MINI owners need more space and Japan is a key export market, essentially.

There’s a lot of blog traffic about this car, in a nutshell bemoaning the fact that it’s not really a mini anymore. Cos it’s so big..but we need to be real here, currently the MINI’s under fire from all sides. Fiat’s 500 has made customisation a little more affordable and it’s chic in a way the MINI used to be, Kia’s Soul is shooting for the urban-tough niche and comes in a variety of MINI-esque flavours, and cars like Toyota’s iQ and Aston’s Cygnet are championing the affordable and not-so affordable miniturisation market. So MINI needs to diversify.

Here’s a great render of the concept;

According to Hildebrand, the production version will be pretty much as the concept + doors, so with a bit of Photoshop,  something like this;

As long as estate-agents and energy-drink companies aren’t allowed to buy this, MINI might have a hit on their hands. Otherwise they could be in trouble….

Flying lunch break

Autocar magazine’s Steve Cropley was on site yesterday hosting a presentation; the magazine co-sponsored a competition to discover what today’s students think the next automotive revolution will be. Amongst the finalists some good stuff, the winning entry was the idea of in-wheel piezo-electric sensors that generate current as a vehicle’s wheel turns.

As a little perk for the winners we’d laid on a few test-track rides, which yours truly duly researched;

Been in a few quick cars in my time but the GT was neck-strainingly rapid. Sounded like a distant thunderstorm, kicked like a mule. Awesome.

They also had the original Escort Mexico rally car from 1971. The actual car from this snap…..the guy driving rang its neck, and to be fair it felt like being in a tin-can in a washing machine. This thing only had 220hp but it weighs about as much as my shoe, hence it felt and sounded seriously quick.

The guys running this event had pretty sweet jobs; they maintain Ford’s heritage collection of historic cars, take them around the world for shows and rallies, and drive them like they stole them.  Not a bad way to spend your retirement!

Gorgeous Ghost

Rolls-Royce’s new Ghost has been out for a while now. This is the Phantom’s smaller brother, though ’small’ in RR-speak means it’s still over 5m long. I wasn’t that amazed with the initial shots of this car, but having seen the latest hi-res promo photos I think it’s a stunner. Yeah, I know it’s not exactly the future of Eco-motoring, but hey, variety is the spice of life.

Apparently there was a core theme of refined performance delivered in a manner designed ‘not to raise the pulse’ …which Ian Cameron the chief designer  translated perfectly into the incredibly calming exterior design. The simplicity of the bodyside is brave, there are no distracting swage lines to take your eye away from the mass of the car. There’s a subtle light-catcher groove that runs from behind the almost non-existent wheelarch down to the sill and along the bodyside… but that’s about it; it’s incredibly pure.

Love this rear-end shot – I think the combination of the contemporary (the integrated exhausts)  with classical elegance (the chrome detailing) works so well. It manages to look almost a little futuristic too, can’t explain that one, but it’s like something out of Batman!

Only thing I’m not 100% convinced about is the Aluminium-look bonnet/hood. Need to see it in the flesh. It adds fussiness in my opinion, but it’s possible that without it the Ghost would be too menacing for the customer base…bit too Mad-Max. I’m sure  someone’s going to get one of these things Matt-blacked..with tinted glass…

Audi A8 – new, apparently..

What is going on with German luxury car strategy? Barely a week after the forgettable BM 5 was shown Audi have been unveiling their flagship A8, and I’m sorry to say it ain’t a looker. What was once an athletic and sophisticated car has gained some serious middle-aged spread, and even the obligatory LED lights can’t distract from the fact that it’s a bit of a brute;

There’s a fairly severe transition between bodyside and headlamp cluster, while at the rear there’s a similar feature which wraps into perhaps the most surprising area; a heavily-curved trunklid profile.

Being a bit unkind it reminds me of the Renault Safrane….

The rot set in with the previous D3 A8 which introduced the barn-door grille, which so dominated the car it kind of lead with its chin, but it did have tasty wheels;

So take a look at the original D2 A8 – there’s a simplicity to its style; a bodyside uncluttered by swage-lines or diverting detail. Audi cleverly communicated the cars’ lightweight aluminium construction with ultra clean design and minimal clutter… Look at the tiny front grille, the epitome of subtlety next to the gaping hole which adorns the latest car;

What I really liked about this car was Audi designers realised that the status and gravitas demanded with this class of car is not dependent on exaggerated grilles and visual bulk.

It’s not all bad, there are some exquisite details which Audi do as well as anybody. Check the LED signature lighting; almost menacing, damn cool..

Funky T-bar gearshift..

Ok, so I can see Audi are introducing elements of ‘edgy’ surfacing into the A8, but I’m struggling to see where the progress over the older model is. I’m sure the biggest A8 market is North America, and it’s possible that Audi’s core customer is more conservative than, say, Jaguar’s.  I’m no Jag fanboy, but they took a risk with the XJ – a big, potentially customer-alienating risk, and ultimately the proof will be in the sales figures. But park an XJ next to this A8, and the Audi looks like it’s from a different era.