Good, Bad, and Beautiful.

Renault Megane Concept

A beautifully proportioned and resolved design from Mr. LeQuement. Renault’s concept’s are invariably exciting, and, until recent years, their production cars have been remarkably close in spirit to their concepts. The recent Twingo and Laguna are evidence of the odd ‘blip’ in the company’s fortune, but this concept suggests their sense of direction has been rediscovered. The complex door arrangement and overall layout remind me a little of the 2002 Talisman concept, again from Renault, but there’s nothing wrong with improving and updating a sexy concept. Very nice renders too.

2002 Renault Talisman

Kia Soul

An upright and cheeky city car, with 3 derivatives aimed at a different demographics. Personalisation options for the interior. An interesting idea (so interesting i could imagine doing a project like this…) but the execution is a little bit bland and conventional. It’s a tricky one as this concept is a barely disguised production car (2009?), so creativity is naturally a little stifled, but even so, it doesn’t excite me.

Audi R8 V12TDi concept/production….I’m not clear what’s going on at Audi these days…the grilles are growing exponentially…this is starting to look like a bad tuning job: Are the cast of ‘Pimp my ride’ working in Audi?

….Audi Q7 Coastline Interior. I love cars painted white…on the outside.

In sharp contrast, the BBC completed its ‘Imagine’ series this week with an in-depth look at the multi-talented Aussie Mark Newson. (you can watch/download here). I wasn’t aware of how wide the guys remit spreads: everything from watches, spacecraft, and restaurant interiors, through to the Ford 021C commissioned by J.Mays for Ford in 1999. He talked a lot of sense about the design of this car, his most interesting point, i thought, was that it’s very rare to see such simplistic vision and coherence in car design - basically because the number of people involved through every component, every packaging requirement, every legal compliance etc etc, means that you end up with a car designed by committee. Anyway, the guy’s an inspiration.

Undoubted star of the show for me was Bertone’s BAT 11 concept. Full circle after the 1955 trio of concepts, this beast is how, as a child, i imagined cars would be in the future. I’m intrigued to see how the front wheels turn, but I’ll forgive it that indulgence.