Hasta La Ideas

A day in the life of creating our site makes GPS art to celebrate the new Range Rover Evoque

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Anticipating tonight’s NYC launch of the Range Rover Evoque it seems like the right time to share a video I’ve been working on as part of my involvement with the Pulse of the City campaign. While the larger program is an evolving, interactive guide to 10 cities, one component is the Pulse iPhone app that tracks your movement and converts it to a piece of digital art. This past January I used the app to track a day in New York visiting a bunch of different venues where I often find inspiration for the site.

The world’s 16 most famous art cars come together in one exhibit

Honoring the 35th anniversary of the project,
an exhibit at the BMW Museum in Munich brings together the complete set of 17 BMW Art Cars (with the exception of Olafur Eliasson’s ice sculpture) for the first time. Seeing them in one place makes for a study of the car as canvas, highlighting both similarities in the artist’s approaches (the majority are splashed with bright colors) as well as each distinct style.

While assembling all the cars is an impressive single-subject show, and many of the big names—Calder, Hockney, Lichtenstein—are familiar, there’s plenty of opportunity for discovery with some of the lesser-known works, like the shimmering surface of Matazo Kayama’s 1990 535i that welcomes visitors to the exhibit.

On a recent visit there as a guest of BMW, I also picked up a few insights that speak to the rich history of the brand initiative. As a whole, the show speaks to the savvy pairing of culture and sport, supporting the automaker’s values of performance and the joy of driving as they introduce fine art to race car driving.

A classic Warhol story, that he took all of 23 minutes to paint his 1979 M1 because he said the design of the car is so great, underlines his accompanying statement that he “tried to portray a sense of speed. When a car is going really fast all the lines and colours become a blur.” The short film on the making of this car and its race is worth checking out on the BMW Art Car microsite.

Similarly, Kayama said of his car (pictured above), “it was the attractive basic shape of the car which made my work at all possible in the first place.”

The show runs through 30 September 2011 at the BMW Museum in Munich. See more art cars—from Rauschenberg to Stella to Holzer and more—in the gallery below.

Volkswagen offers the first-ever supercharged hybrid SUV in a luxurious limited edition

Taking advantage of a sunny day in New York City, we recently put Volkswagen’s new 2011 Supercharged Hybrid Touareg to the test on a trip to Brooklyn for some of the best pizza in town.

VW describes this limited edition Touareg as “a rare beast” that can be likened to the white buffalo—strong, silent, and few in numbers. With panoramic glass consuming almost the entire roof we got full views of skyscrapers, bridges and beautiful open sky. When combined with the rest of the luxurious interior, riding around in this “beast” is definitely like no other journey.

Its highly responsive navigation system—one of our favorites—features a large full-color touchscreen that allows the driver to choose between 2D or 3D navigation. Once you’ve programmed where to go, the jamming sound system and iPod-friendly stereo let passengers sit back and enjoy the smooth ride.

While admittedly lower in mpg when compared to a compact car, the Supercharged Hybrid offers 20-24 mpg, similar to that of the TDi model. Its start-stop system saves gas when idle, and regenerative breaks recoup kinetic energy that help charge the battery. While not boasting as much torque as its diesel counterpart, the tuned suspension makes for a fun, sporty ride, and its powerful engine really helps when you’ve got a car full of gear.

We’re proud that Volkswagon chose to sponsor our Cool Hunting iPad app (iTunes link) as a way to launch this new car. Download the free app and check out some exclusive Rare Beast content.

Packed with every imaginable amenity, the Supercharged Hybrid Touareg is ideal for family vacations and urban escapes alike. To get your hands on one, contact a VW dealer near you.

See Mini’s LED-lit concept car’s dual-hinged doors and drawer trunk in our video

Making a good thing better is hard enough, but making a small thing smaller may be even trickier.
Mini invited us to see how they did both when yesterday in Milan they unveiled their new concept car Rocketman, a forward-thinking ride with features that suggest not just a future of more compact cars, but one that boldly uses materials, lighting and other features.

Lit entirely with LEDs, the all-glass roof (also embedded with LEDs) makes for a glittering look, accented by the carbon-fiber body, which also lends fuel-efficiency. Its diminutive size, measuring just over three meters and seating three, is geared for urban markets and, perhaps most impressively saves space with a sliding drawer-style trunk, that can be left open for toting snowboards or other bulky items. Hinged doors make squeezing into tight parking spaces easy and allow passengers to get in the reat seat without too much trouble.

We caught up with BMW design head Adrian van Hooydonk at dinner and learned all about the Rocketman’s spirit animal, his predictions for car design’s future and more.

Is there a danger of being too cute with Mini?

The lines are more crisp and taut on this concept, because we feel that a Mini should always be like a friend, let’s say. But if it becomes too cute, than maybe people will see it like a toy, a teddy bear. Of course we like to appeal to young customers, but Mini traditionally is a car that appealed to people of all ages, cross-gender and all around the world.

The elements in this car, we believe are elements that could do that: keep Mini exciting, interesting fun, endearing, but also something to be reckoned with, also serious. Almost like a British bulldog—a small dog, but people take it seriously.

What are the challenges of designing small?

On a big car, it’s easy to make things move, do a door opening or a trunk. On a small car, it’s much, much harder. But exactly what Mini stands for, right from the very beginning, is being clever in a small space. And this car is full of ideas for a small space. The way the trunk opens, the original Mini had that too. In a tight parking spot, if a car is parked behind your Mini, you can still open this trunk and put your stuff in. Or the side doors, they have a double hinge that allows you to open the door, even when there’s another car parked right next to you.

How much less room does the door need?

I would say one-third, if you have to put a number to it. The Mini has quite a long door, because it’s a four-seater but a two-door car. If you open it with one hinge, you hit the other door and then you have to sort of squeeze in. With the Rocketman, we solved both issues. You can crawl in the back because the door’s quite long, but you don’t have to squeeze in through a narrow opening because of the double hinge.

That’s actually why we called the car Rocketman. On the one hand, Rocketman sounds like a brave little guy—and Mini is that, a brave little guy. But this car to us is so full of ideas, that we thought it’s rocket science by Mini. That’s why we call it Rocketman.

How did you treat the interiors for this car?

Of course we are dealing with a small car, but as a designer you can do a lot to give the feeling or the sensation of more space. We did this in the Rocketman in the sense that there is no dashboard like we know it today.

The dashboard takes up a lot of space. In the old Mini there was only a steering wheel and one big dial, and that’s what we’ve done in this Rocketman as well. But the steering wheel and the big round center dial have grown together into a structure. And then the rest of the dashboard is gone, you don’t need it.

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The lighting is another feature which I believe can do a lot to create a very nice atmosphere, even in a small space. We’ve played with that a lot in the car, and we believe that the light or the light color in the future is going to play a bigger role in the whole color and material set up of the car. Right now the light is treated very separately from the materials that we use in the car, and in this concept we made it an integral part. We thought about it from the beginning, it could light up in red or blue or some other colors.

You could customize to your mood, which is something that Mini offers today. There’s just one or two LEDs in the Mini interiors today so you can change the color seamlessly from orange to blue. But in this car now, there’s big surfaces of light. And the roof of course is transparent which is another element that increases your sensation of spaciousness.

What other examples of industrial design inspired the car?

We’re constantly not just looking at other fields of design, like industrial design, furniture design or fashion design, we also have a part of our team—actually a large part of our team located in California—called Design Works. And this design consultancy, we do industrial design for other companies as well. We are actually in touch with other industries, like aircraft industry, or boating. We design airplane interiors or boats exteriors and interiors.

And you always learn, so as a designer you become more creative the more you work on different types of products, or design problems. LED light is something that is coming anyway, also in furniture, also in housing. It is simply very small, it uses less energy.

It led to a whole creative outburst, because now we can position these lights in places where in the past a lightbulb would have to go in and there wouldn’t be the space. Without LED we couldn’t have done this roof or the illumination of the door panels, or the tail lamps where the air can pass through. It wouldn’t be possible.

What about the headlights?

In the headlamps, the way we use LED is we would like to make the light in a way that is soft and homogenous. We don’t like to see the dots actually, because we think it’s a little bit too bright, a little bit too cold. And we want to have the light be somewhat soft and warm.

What are the features you think are most likely to go to market?

When you’ve just presented a concept car that’s meant to go very far in the future, then that’s probably the toughest question to ask. But, the lighting ideas for sure. I would say things like the hinges, or the way the trunk works. This would be possible to put in production.

Also a lot of the surface features, the design the ideas, the form ideas we’ve put in the car, both in the interior and the exterior. I can see a lot of potential in using those because that is not necessarily technically difficult. That’s just a matter of seeing how it was received—judging by tonight that was good but let’s see if the broader audience in Geneva sees the car.

And this was also deliberate. If people see this car as part of what could be Mini, then we have just broadened our palette. We’ve just given ourselves more room to play. Because Mini has such a strong history, such a strong heritage in one car. Of course everything gravitates towards this one original car. Does it look like that car or does it not? I think this concept car will help us widen the palette a little bit, which I think is necessary to develop the brand into the future.

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Ford’s new all-electric Focus and their Chief Creative Officer on thinking globally and making drivers happy

Ford’s revival continues with today’s launch of the electric-only Focus at CES—heralding both the latest in Ford’s technical innovations and bucking traditional auto show debuts. We got a sneak peak last night of the new model (arriving in showrooms fall 2011) and learned about the advancements in charging that come with it. The new vehicle charges in just over three hours, about twice as fast as the Nissan Leaf, and a smart charging feature allows users to leverage fluctuations in electricity pricing by programming when they want to charge. With the new Focus, an updated version of MyFord Touch
includes electric-only features, and a companion mobile app will help monitor the car’s status and performance.

These progressive tech developments—reflections of the brand’s understanding that people and their technology evolve much more quickly than traditional auto design cycles do—are part of a series of continued enhancements by Ford allowing drivers to control the car and their mobile apps through MyFord Touch
and Ford Sync AppLink. (These features are currently available on the 2011 Focus and coming next on the 2012 Mustang, which will also offer voice-activated navigation.)

To learn more about the role of design within Ford’s corporate and product evolution we sat down with J Mays, Group Vice President of Global Design and Chief Creative Officer, during the Paris auto show. He shared his thoughts on how the brand is moving forward.

Tell us about designing for a global market.

For years, Americans just didn’t buy five-door cars, because they only liked four-doors. And Europeans only like five-doors.

As we started to launch the Fiesta (and we’re getting the same feedback on the Focus), it turns out that new four-door, designed primarily for Asia Pacific and the United States, is getting a lot of attention in Europe. Just the opposite is happening in the U.S. We designed a four-door for the American and age-specific market, and suddenly everybody is going, “Yeah, but actually the five-door is really cool and I’d like that.” That’s a real cultural shift that has to do with a different generation, one that’s getting their information off the Internet. Everybody just wants the best design.

We’ve gone from being seven brands with 360,000 people in the company to two brands essentially—really one brand with a small domestic brand, Lincoln—with about 170,000 people. We’re not developing three Focuses anymore, we’re developing one.

How does this impact your customers?

You can imagine the amount of money that we save there, It allows you to put more into the car that allows the customer to have surprise and delight.

How has this shift affected your job?

I used to describe my job as an inch deep and a mile wide because I’d just go around and sort of sprinkle fairy dust on stuff and never have time to really delve into it. Now that everybody is focusing on Ford globally, it allows me to be an inch wide and a mile deep.

What does this mean for Ford’s many regional design centers?

We’re not Ford of Europe design anymore. We’re not Ford U.S. design. We’re just Ford global design because—this sounds a bit stupid—but we’re a small enough company that we can get away with that now.

How has technology facilitated that global design process?

Read more of the interview after the jump.

It’s just one more tool. Most of us in leadership positions in design at Ford have come out of university at a time when there wasn’t any such thing as PowerWalls or even two dimensional or three dimensional design. We’ve easily made the transition, but probably what it does more than anything is allow us to speed up the development process.

What is the number one problem you look to solve designing for the global market?

Making people happy. What we’re constantly looking for is that thing that will make people say “I want a Ford because I hear they’re fun to drive.” There’s the mechanical side of it; they have to be better handling cars with great quality, fast engines, great fuel economy and super aerodynamics. But that’s just kind of what you have to do to be able to be a producer of automobiles. To sell something and make a brand that’s got long-term sustainability, you’ve got to have something that brings people back time and time again.

Has what and how you hear from consumers helped the design process?

Our understanding of the kind of questions we should be asking the consumer has changed, because a contingency within Ford five or six years ago said the customer is the most important thing. And I would go, “Yeah, the right customer is.” So we’re customer-informed, but we’re not customer-driven. We have to know who our customer is, but we’re brand driven. We know our cars are fun to drive, they’re going to look fun to drive, feel fun to drive, smell fun to drive, and the customer that we need and the customer we want to sell to wants to be looking for a car that fulfills that criteria as well.

(Let me) use the Fiesta as an example. We’ve now sold over a million of them, and if you look at it compared to the last generation Fiesta, that’s about a 50% improvement. We were going to sell it to this fictitious 23-year-old Italian woman named Antonella. We laid out the entire sort of cultural map of who Antonella was. We knew she lived with her parents, we knew she liked style, we knew all the things that were important to her. That’s the customer-informed side of it and you overlay that with the fun to drive part. Fun to drive doesn’t mean in the BMW, “ultimate driving machine” way; it means what are the elements that for Antonella makes this car fun to drive.

What role does design play within the company?

Right at the top. If you look at the programs that we released—from Fiesta to Focus to what will be the new Mondeo, in fact the current Mondeo—if you judge those against the competition, we’ve got design leadership in every one of them.

Has the role of design kind of shifted at all?

I think where we are—and I credit Jim Farley—we have great brand focus so we know who we are as a brand now. I’ve been with the company now 12 years and I’d say for six of those twelve years we weren’t quite sure. We were some things in the U.S., we were a slightly different thing in Europe.

Engineering is there not for us to make it less ugly. Engineering is there to help us design and deliver the brand message. We use design as a communication tool to convey a message to the customer, whatever that message may be. So engineering helps us as a means to an end to deliver that. But design we consistently say is going to always have a leadership position.

I haven’t driven a lot of Fords in the last several years, I was surprised how much I enjoyed driving them.

It’s shocking to most people, I think. I arrived at Ford in ’97 and said at the time, based on my Audi experience, I said this is going to definitely take us 10 to 12 years before we can turn this brand around. And it’s turned around for completely different reasons than I thought it would. Had we not had the financial crisis of 2008, the Toyota meltdown and all these other problems, it would not have had Americans in particular scratching their head and going “Gee, maybe I should have another look at Ford.” Everybody was really happy that we didn’t take a loan from the U.S. government, and it was any number of things that got us on their list to possibly look at. But once they got into the car they were like “Wow, these are really good cars!” So that was the big surprise. What we’ve done now at Ford, through a combination of product and sort of big cultural change, is that we’ve gotten on the shopping list. And now we’ve got to just start ratcheting it up, but we feel pretty confident about that.